RRF grants are available to support emergency conservation activities within, or impacting on, a host of natural World Heritage sites worldwide. Grants are very occasionally made available to other eligible sites (see below).
RRF grants are restricted to countries that are eligible for Official Development Assistance according to the Development Assistance committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Within these countries, eligible sites include:
- All sites inscribed onto the World Heritage List under criterion N(iv) (before 2005) or criterion (x) (from 2005), indicating high biodiversity value;
- All sites inscribed onto the World Heritage List under criterion N(iii) (before 2005) or criterion (vii) (from 2005), where the value of the site relates specifically to biodiversity;
- Nominated sites whose inscription to the World Heritage List was deferred due to immediate threats to their ecological integrity;
- Sites intended for natural World Heritage site nomination that have been identified as meeting the relevant criteria for nomination (e.g. sites inscribed on national World Heritage Tentative Lists).
Review the list of eligible natural World Heritage sites and list of eligible tentative natural World Heritage sites. Please note that these lists may not be comprehensive, as sites are reviewed and added each year.
Learn more about World Heritage sites, including the criteria for selection, where they are located, and why they are important for global conservation.
RRF funds may be used to counter threats emanating from outside an eligible site’s boundaries. However, grantees must prove a direct link between those threats and the integrity of the site itself.
Other Eligible Sites
In exceptional circumstances, the Rapid Response Facility may make funding available to address conservation emergencies in sites which are currently outside of the World Heritage site network, but which are acknowledged globally as areas of high biodiversity value.
Types of site that may be considered include:
- UNESCO Man & Biosphere Reserves;
- Alliance for Zero Extinction sites;
- Ramsar sites;
- Important Bird Areas or Key Biodiversity Areas; and
- Arcadia Fund sites.
Such funds will be made available only on an occasional basis. Successful applications will clearly demonstrate the global significance of the sites’ biodiversity value, the immediacy and severity of threat to this value, and the importance of an immediate response.
Potential applicants from non-natural World Heritage sites are strongly advised to e-mail the RRF Secretariat first – at email@example.com - to establish if an application is appropriate, before investing time in the application process.