Media Grants to Support Coverage of 30x30 Marine Conservation Targets

EJN is offering media grants to newsrooms and media organizations in coastal countries to support in-depth and enterprise reporting projects, initiatives to train journalists and other activities designed to increase media coverage and the capacity of journalists to report on 30x30 marine conservation targets. Please read the following sections carefully, as they contain important information on eligibility and the application process.

Overview

In December 2022, more than 190 countries committed to achieve ‘30x30’ under target 3 of the Global Biodiversity Framework. This target calls for the effective protection and management of 30% of the world’s terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, by the year 2030.

Yet summits since then have made it clear the world is not on track to meet this target. In fact, so far countries have only fully or highly protected 2.9% of our oceans, far from the 30% target.

There are solutions in development: Creating marine protected areas (MPAs) and other area-based conservation measures with strong rules and enforcement are among the most effective ways to conserve biodiversity. Newly developed tools such as the 30x30 Progress Tracker will help make tracking, planning, and advocating for progress toward meeting the 30×30 goal more streamlined.

News organizations and journalists, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, often lack the resources, knowledge, or capacity to report relevant and high-quality ocean-related information. Many journalists themselves may not be familiar with ocean issues, 30x30 or MPAs.

To fill this gap, EJN is offering media grants with support from the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation to newsrooms and media organizations in coastal countries to conduct in-depth reporting, train journalists and increase the quality and quantity of coverage about the 30x30 target and efforts to reach this goal.

Eligibility

Newsrooms and media organizations in coastal countries are eligible to apply. Because 30x30 refers to marine conservation, we will not accept applications from countries with a freshwater coast; only coastal countries with a marine border will be considered.

EJN’s definition of media for this opportunity includes newspapers, online media, radio, television, multimedia platforms, journalist networks, collectives and other groups that produce and distribute news and information.

Civil society organizations, academic institutions, NGOs or environmental groups who do not fit the definition above are not eligible for this opportunity. Applications with a focus on advocacy and/or political campaigning will not be considered.

For the purposes of this grant opportunity, we will only be accepting applications in English. Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to consider applications in other languages at this time. Applicants must either have a working understanding of English or have a translator available to assist with communication with Internews staff. Projects may, however, produce content in any language best suited for their audience.

Former EJN grantees are eligible to apply. We will take the performance of former grantees into consideration during the selection. Organizations with an existing EJN grant are not eligible.

Applicants are required to be transparent about the use of generative AI tools, if any, to revise their proposals. EJN reserves the right to disqualify applicants from consideration if they have been found to have engaged in unethical or improper professional conduct, including, but not limited to, submitting AI-generated content as their own.

Project themes and objectives

EJN is looking to fund to projects that train journalists—and/or produce media coverage—on topics including, but not limited to:

• The commitments made by government(s) to meet the 30x30 target, including the activities being developed, regulations being implemented and the money being spent;
• The effectiveness of proposed or created Marine Protected Areas, including the lack of regulations on harmful fishing practices;
• The impact of transnational fishing fleets and the global fishing industry on efforts to reach the 30x30 target;
• How Indigenous and local communities were or were not involved in the creation of protected areas that intersect with their traditional territories;
• Technologies such as satellites, remote sensing, eDNA and artificial intelligence for the effective management of MPAs;
• National and international policy negotiations and instruments to achieve the 30 x 30 target.

We are particularly interested in supporting projects that use cross-border, solutions journalism and/or investigative approaches to training and/or reporting projects.

Grant amount and logistics

We anticipate supporting two organizations with grants of US$ 10,000 each.

We expect to notify successful applicants in March 2025, with work starting in April. Projects should be completed within 6 months, by the end of October 2025. Applicants should consider this timeline when developing their work plan.

All applicants must provide a detailed budget using the provided template with justification for the requested amount as part of their application using this template. We ask that the budgets be reasonable and account for the costs necessary for project implementation – budgets greater than $10,000 will not be accepted.

Applicants can use a portion of the grant to purchase equipment but should clearly state how the equipment will contribute to the expected outputs. The cost of equipment should also make up a relatively small proportion of the overall budget.

Applicants are permitted and encouraged to raise co-financing for the proposed activities, but it is not required. If you have received any co-financing, please indicate the amount and the source in your application.

Republication rights: Internews’ EJN, its partners and the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation will be granted rights to edit, publish, broadcast and distribute grantees’ stories freely.

Acknowledgement of EJN support: Published stories, resources or other output produced as a result of this grant must disclose EJN support by including this tagline: “This project was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.”

Judging criteria

All applications we receive are reviewed and discussed by a panel of international judges, comprising Internews staff and experts in environmental journalism.

Applications will be evaluated using the following assessment criteria:

• The overall quality of the proposal;
• The relevance of the proposed project in contributing to the objectives and priorities of this grant program;  
• The potential impact of the proposed project, including the quality and effectiveness of the project design;  
• The innovative characteristics of the proposed activities;
• The financial viability and cost-effectiveness of the proposed activity;  
• The ability of the applicant to carry it out;
• The geographical spread of the grantees.

How to apply

• Click the 'Apply now' button at the top of the page.
• If you have an existing account, you'll need to log in. If not, you must register by clicking “Log in” on the top right of the page and clicking the “Sign up” link at the bottom of the page that opens. Click here for detailed instructions on how to create an account, and here for detailed instructions on how to reset your password.
• If you start the application and want to come back and complete it later, you can click 'Save Draft.' To return to the draft, you'll need to go back to the opportunity and click 'Apply now' again to finalize the application.
• Applications should provide a detailed budget in an Excel spreadsheet with justification for the amount requested. Download the budget template now by clicking on this link.

Note: You'll be asked to upload these supporting documents once you start the application process, so please have them handy.

If you encounter difficulties with submitting your application or have questions about the grants, please email [email protected]. Do not contact any other Internews email regarding this opportunity, as we will not receive it.

Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

Banner image: A sea turtle in the Apo Island Marine Sanctuary, Philippines. The protected area was established in 1982 in response to rapidly declining fish stocks due to unsustainable practices such as dynamite fishing / Credit: foto amateur via Flickr.