Mangrove conservation and blue carbon grants

• The lead applicant and consortium members must be charitable NGOs. The lead needs a strong operational presence in the project country and area, relevant mangrove and blue-carbon experience, experience managing public grants of comparable size, and sound financial controls. Its annual income should be about twice the proposed annual project budget or more. The lead must itself meet the requirements and take contractual and financial responsibility; merely receiving and passing on funds for an ineligible organisation is insufficient.
• NGOs headquartered elsewhere can apply with the required local presence and experience. Private companies may provide eligible match funding or contracted expertise, but cannot be consortium members. UN organisations cannot be grantees, consortium members or subgrantees; justified technical subcontracting remains possible. Universities and research institutions may be subgrantees depending on the arrangement.
• Implement the project in India, Indonesia, the Philippines or Vietnam. Target at least 1,000 hectares of mangroves in one coherent project; connected sites and existing plus expansion areas may count. Not every hectare needs to generate carbon credits. Mangroves are mandatory, although additional seagrass work can be included. The general manual describes projects lasting three to five years, and the call limits completion to five years.
• Have documented preparatory work demonstrating technical and financial viability, such as feasibility studies, carbon-stock assessments and mapping of land rights and stakeholders. An initial idea without this preparation is ineligible. Advanced projects can qualify if they explain the additional value of grant support. The team must have or obtain the expertise to measure, report and verify carbon outcomes and prepare a project design document for a recognised carbon-credit standard.
• Show how the project will generate credible carbon benefits: emissions savings that would not happen without it, lasting carbon storage, no displacement of damage elsewhere, and no double counting or claiming of the same benefit. Explain carbon and land-use rights, prospective buyers, costs, revenues and fair allocation of benefits. Blue Action does not support projects primarily designed to offset continued fossil-fuel expansion, mining or similar activities. Work towards a recognised standard aligned with the Core Carbon Principles and High-Quality Blue Carbon Principles and Guidance. Aim for national authorisation of the intended carbon-market route under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement; the application asks how you will pursue it, or for reasons if you will not. Actual credit issuance during the grant period is not required.
• Include meaningful community participation, sustainable livelihoods and gender equity. Apply environmental and social safeguards: assess risks, plan mitigation, engage affected people and provide a way to receive and resolve complaints. Free, prior and informed consent means people understand the proposed actions and can influence and agree to them without coercion before they proceed; the safeguards specifically require it for work in Indigenous Peoples' lands, waters or territories. Where resource-access restrictions could damage livelihoods, assess and manage those effects with affected communities. Complete the required livelihood assessment and obtain Blue Action's no-objection before starting livelihood activities.
• Meet the safeguards exclusion list: for example, projects cannot involve involuntary physical displacement or forced eviction. Projects with potentially significant adverse environmental or social impacts are generally not funded; an exception needs special donor approval. The conservation area must meet the required protection and management criteria, including at least the MPA Guide’s “Minimally Protected” level for an other effective area-based conservation measure. This formal classification assesses the extractive or destructive activities permitted in the area, their intensity and scale, and their overall impact. Even at the minimum level, the site must provide conservation benefits. For an area not yet formally recognised, provide a credible route through assessment, community consultation and consent, validation and recognition by the authorities; the manual requires recognition within the project period.

Statut

clos

Clôture

16 oct. 2026

Conditions de cette période de candidature

• For the Mangroves, Blue Carbon Markets, and 30x30 in Asia call.

Complete the call-specific Grant Application template and its annexes, including the budget, site maps, supporting preparatory studies, applicant information and signed consortium letter of intent where applicable. Use its results matrix, which covers conservation governance, mangroves, carbon-credit development, livelihoods and gender and safeguards. Include authority endorsement letters; if they are not yet available, state who will provide them and when. The full proposal must have the required signed endorsement, including at national level.

Email the application as a Word or PDF file smaller than 5 MB to grants@blueactionfund.org by 16 October 2026, with the subject “[your organisation] Grant Application”. The first stage is competitive. Selected applicants are invited to work with Blue Action on a full proposal, detailed budget and safeguards. Blue Action's Supervisory Board makes the final funding decision, following appraisal and organisational due diligence; successful applicants sign a grant agreement.