Deadline: February 26, 2019
Nominations are open for the UNDP Equator Initiative Prize 2019. The Equator Prize 2019 will be awarded to outstanding local community and indigenous peoples’ initiatives that advance innovative nature-based development solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
The winners will join a prestigious network of 223 leading community-based organizations from 78 countries that have been awarded the Equator Prize since 2002.
Winning initiatives will be honored for their successes in:
- Protecting, restoring and/or sustainably managing terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and thereby help mitigate and adapt to climate change by keeping ecosystems intact, and/or
- Promoting local models for climate-smart food and agricultural production systems, and/or
- Advancing nature-based alternatives to a carbon economy.
Prize
- Each Equator Prize winner will receive USD $10,000 and will be supported to participate in a series of policy dialogues and special events during the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week in New York, in September 2019. The Equator Prize 2019 Award Ceremony will coincide with the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit and the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Equator Prize 2019:
- The initiative must have been in existence for at least three years, and/or the actions taken must have been in place for at least three years;
- The nominee must be either a local community-based initiative, operating in a rural area, based in a country receiving support from the United Nations Development Programme (for a list of eligible countries, please click here); or an initiative led by indigenous peoples in any country, operating in a rural area;
- The actions taken by the nominee must be nature-based, and must deliver benefits related to two or more Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Selection Criteria
Equator Prize 2019 winners will be selected by an independent Technical Advisory Committee, which will assess nominations based on the following criteria:
- Impact: The extent to which the nominated initiative has resulted in measurable and positive environmental, social and economic impacts that deliver benefits towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals;
- Innovation: The extent to which the nominated initiative demonstrates new approaches and models that overcome prevailing constraints, and could offer fundamentally new approaches to adapting to and/or mitigating climate change, while advancing local sustainable development;
- Scalability and/or replicability: The extent to which the nominated initiative could be scaled up sub-nationally or nationally and/or, the extent to which the initiative can be replicated within the country and beyond;
- Resilience, Adaptability, and Self-Sufficiency: The extent to which the nominated initiative demonstrates adaptability to environmental, social and economic change, resilience in the face of external pressures, and improved capacity for local self-sufficiency;
- Reduced inequalities: The extent to which the initiative reduces inequalities in income as well as those based on age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status, in particular for the poor;
- Social Inclusion: The extent to which the nominated initiative includes youth, elders, indigenous peoples, and other diverse groups in the decision-making processes and the actions that affect them;
- Gender Equality: The extent to which the nominated initiative promotes the equality and empowerment of women and girls.
Nomination
Nominations may be submitted through the online nomination system. If you are having technical issues, please contact [email protected].
For more information, visit Equator Prize.
