The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (“Service”) mission is to work with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The International Affairs Program delivers on this mission through its financial assistance programs by supporting projects that deliver measurable conservation results for priority species and their habitats around the world.
The goal of the Service’s Caribbean Program is to conserve priority species, habitats, and ecological processes across landscapes with high biodiversity value in the Caribbean Region. The objectives of the Caribbean Program are:
1. To reduce underlying threats and address the human elements of biodiversity conservation in the Caribbean by supporting the implementation of on-the-ground projects;
2. To conserve the flora and fauna of the Caribbean Region by strengthening the ability of local institutions, decision-makers, and civil society to deliver enduring conservation actions; and
3. To maximize conservation impact by developing strategic partnerships with key stakeholders at the local, national, regional, and international levels
Withing the Caribbean region, the Eastern Caribbean is an important hot spot for biodiversity. Each island has unique communities of endemic wildlife, making them especially vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances, including habitat loss, invasive species and poaching for the illegal pet trade. In recent years, there has been a significant uptick in the volume of Eastern Caribbean species trafficked online and in markets of Europe and the United States. This funding opportunity would provide opportunities for the source, transit and consumer countries of Eastern Caribbean to build capacity within governments to protect wildlife from poaching and illegal trade, strengthening their abilities to detect and prosecute wildlife crimes, improving national and international networking and coordination, and developing and communicating best practices.
Through this funding opportunity, the Service, in collaboration with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation (DDI), intends to fund one 18-month cooperative agreement that addresses the root causes of illegal wildlife trade by improving the capacity of Eastern Caribbean government agencies and their personnel to protect biodiversity from poaching and trafficking.
Deadline: July 18, 2023
Applicants under this program can be multi-national secretariats, foreign governments, U.S. and foreign non-profits, non-governmental organizations, community and Indigenous organizations, and U.S. and foreign public and private institutions of higher education.