European Tropical Forest Research Network

RGS-IBG FUNDING FOR FIELD RESEARCH

The Royal Geographical Society (with The Institute of British Geographers) is an important source of funding for research and training in Geography. The Society's grants are wide-ranging and offer support to individual researchers, expedition teams and school teachers. Grants are for work in both the UK and overseas and range in value from ££350 to ££15,000. In 2002 the Society has provided over ££100,000 in grants, supporting over 70 expeditions and research projects. Full details of all the projects approved and supported by the RGS-IBG throughout 2002 can be found in the Society's 'Researching the World 2002' press release.

The Society encourages geographical research and exploration by granting approval and financial support to expeditions with significant scientific content. To be eligible, expeditions should have strong links with host country institutions. Involvement of nationals from the host country in research is encouraged. Teams rather than individuals are supported; solo ventures are not eligible. Studies in human and physical geography, and research in a geographical aspect of discipline where the emphasis is on environmental factors, geographical relationships, survey, mapping or exploration are supported.
Deadlines for applications are:
25 Jan for the following Summer or Autumn
25 Aug for the following Winter or Spring

Details and an application form can be down-loaded from the web site at: http://www.rgs.org/grants
Email: grants@rgs.org

TROPICAL FOREST CONSERVATION ASSISTANCE

Coral Cay Conservation (CCC) is keen to learn of opportunities to collaborate with local conservation NGOs in tropical forest resource assessment and conservation.

CCC provides resources to help sustain livelihoods and alleviate poverty through the protection, restoration and management of tropical forests. The mechanism through which CCC achieves this is via working in collaboration with local in-country conservation organisations and local communities, and recruiting volunteers (internationally and locally) who work with qualified staff (recruited and managed by CCC) to undertake forest resource (biodiversity) assessments as dictated by partner organisations. CCC maintains a strong policy of collaboration by invitation from appropriate government and non-government organisations within a host country in order to provide resources to achieve tropical forest conservation management goals.

CCC can provide teams of well-qualified technical staff (scientific, logistics, and management), research equipment and a continual stream of staff and volunteers (whom all receive appropriate training) in order to undertake appropriate data collection activities for the development of resource management tools (e.g. habitat maps, Geographic Information Systems etc). CCC also provides training opportunities and information for education initiatives for wider stakeholders.

All research is undertaken at no cost to host country partners and all research is primarily self-financed through the volunteer participatory scheme. This hopefully enables local organisations and communities to make informed decisions regarding natural resource management. It should be stressed that CCC is not a funding agency and does not simply provide resources or facilitate the acquisition of equipment since the mode of operation is through partnership, collaboration and participation.

Such work is exemplified by the Negros Rainforest Conservation Project in the central Philippines which is being undertaken with the Negros Forests and Ecological Foundation Inc. Details of this and the numerous reserves, wildlife sanctuaries, and community management initiatives that CCC has helped to establish around the world are detailed on the CCC website. Ultimately, CCC prides itself on assisting host country organisations to develop sufficient capacity and human resources to deal with natural resource management issues independently.

For further details, please contact:
Craig Turner (Terrestrial Science Co-ordinator)
Coral Cay Conservation, The Tower, 125 High Street, Colliers Wood
London, SW19 2JG, UK
Phone: +44-(0)20-8545-7722, axF: +44 (0)870-750-0667
Email: ct@coralcay.org
Website: http://www.coralcay.org

THE UK FORESTRY RESEARCH PROGRAMME

What is the FRP ?
FRP is one of ten competitive grants programmes of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS). FRP intends to help country partners in the eradication of poverty by supporting research on priority developmental problems of the forest-dependent poor. These problems are identified and documented in DFID forestry partner countries through consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, including representatives of the poor.

FRP has stressed the importance of multi-disciplinarity and multi-institutionality, so that specialist research staff do not feel obliged to take on roles for which they may not be trained.

What is DFID's research strategy ?
DFID's overarching priority in all its development assistance is the reduction of poverty. DFID funds research with the aim of helping to meet the Millennium Development Goals agreed by the OECD Development Assistance Committee and adopted by the UK Government. Through its Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy 1995-2005, DFID funds studies which are exclusively related to developmental problems identified as priorities by the poor or their representatives in DFID partner countries. The mandate of the research programmes is limited to research and the promotion of research outputs.

How does FRP operate ?
FRP clearly cannot solve all the problems raised by DFID forestry partner countries. For the moment, FRP is concentrating research effort by selecting a small number of major problems, and operating through a matrix of structural and thematic clusters.

FRP issues calls for concept notes on well-defined themes on average once a year. The 2002-03 call with deadline 31 October 2002 was within FRP structural cluster 1 (Global issues and generic tools) and thematic cluster 5 (Non-timber forest products):

• Theme 1: Processing, marketing and market intelligence for indigenous tropical tree fruits.
• Theme 2: Biometrically sound assessment methods for productivity and sustainable harvests of non-timber forest products.

Which are DFID's forestry partner countries?
DFID's bilateral programme in forestry concentrates on approximately 20 countries. These are currently (October 2002):
Africa: Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya (Civil Society only), Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Asia: India, Indonesia (case-by-case consideration) and Nepal.
Latin America and Caribbean: Eastern Caribbean States, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua.

FRP projects will generally be carried out in these partner countries. If there are strong technical reasons for implementation in other countries, research results should be applicable to the needs of very poor people in at least two partner countries.

Who can apply ?
The FRP welcomes applications from institutions, both public and private sector, with a documented record of completed and published research related to tropical forestry and land use. Applications are similarly welcomed from NGOs and CBOs. For accountancy reasons, applications are not accepted from individuals without an institutional affiliation. For legal and accountancy reasons, the lead institution should be UK-based. There should be at least two collaborating institutions, one (or more) from each of two (or more) of the DFID forestry partner countries. Proposals from institutions in EU continental countries should be linked to a lead UK-based institution. Institutions in developing countries must be formally associated with a U.K.-based institution. Applications from developing countries must show how the problem has been identified as a national priority in at least one other DFID forestry partner countries.

What doesn't FRP fund ?
FRP cannot fund:
academic expenses such as tuition fees and academic residence costs unless these are necessary and integral with the research project;
study tours or attendance at conferences as stand-alone activities;
descriptive case studies on their own.

Partnerships in Framework 6
What we can offer
FRP is seeking partnerships with researchers and research management bodies throughout Europe. Our aim is to improve the livelihoods of poor forest-dependent people in tropical and subtropical countries, which has positive spin-off effects for the people in Europe – imports of ethically traded high-quality tropical tree fruits, certified tropical timber, reduction of carbon emission are few examples of ultimate outcomes from FRP-funded research.

Our well-established network of contacts of highly qualified scientists in the UK and worldwide is a valuable asset in the brokering of research alliances. Decades of experience in research management are our backbone to success. Our experience covers themes such as sustainable livelihoods, tropical and sub-tropical forestry management, watershed management, carbon sequestration and CDM tools, forest product certification and marketing, ethical trade, biodiversity conservation, non-timber forest products.

We anticipate to operate both at project level by researchers applying for research funding through the FP6 mechanisms (Networks of Excellence and Integrated Projects) and at programme level through a consortium of similar research management offices, by offering project management skills for larger forestry networks or projects.

What we seek
We are looking to establish European research alliances that will be eligible for funding through FP6. We are particularly interested to include into our network of contacts scientists with experience in the social sciences and economics of forest product and services markets to complement our existing skills base in other areas. (Also see Research cooperation Sought).

Need more information? Please contact:
Katelijne Rothschild-Van Look
FRP Senior Administrator
Park House, Bradbourne Lane, Aylesford
Kent ME20 6SN, U.K
Email: k.rothschild@nrint.co.uk
Website: http://www.frp.uk.com

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