Call summary :

...The GCBC will accept applications for projects with activities in GCBC-eligible countries in Latin America (including Central America), the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South-east Asia and the Pacific and Small Island Developing States.

RGC3 Themes

The two RGC3 themes set out below were announced in December 2024:

Theme 1: Using biodiversity to improve the climate resilience of agricultural, food and bioeconomy value chains

Transforming agrifood systems at scale to incorporate nature-based solutions that build biodiversity back into production landscapes to boost climate resilience and reduce poverty (open to all GCBC focus regions).

Theme 2: Biodiversity hotspots in Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

Building sustainable businesses from nature to adapt to climate change, protect biodiversity and tackle poverty (focused on SIDS).

Within the two themes, the GCBC aims to fund a balanced portfolio of projects which collectively:

1 Develop innovative nature-based solutions: Working with communities, businesses (including micro-SMEs) and Indigenous peoples to develop and experimentally test new approaches to managing terrestrial, freshwater or coastal ecosystems. For example, research to underpin nature-positive business models, novel forest management approaches or innovative farming systems that improve outcomes for local communities while boosting biodiversity and improving climate resilience for people and nature.

2 Apply systems approaches to inform large-scale transformative change: Research looking at the wider socio-ecological context for change, including novel policy interventions at local, sub-national or national scale. We encourage approaches that explore the factors, processes and worldviews that hold socio-ecological systems in unhelpful or unsustainable states to find new ways of intervening at scale. Innovation is needed in developing systemic interventions: identifying specific leverage points to reconfigure socioecological systems, making nature-based solutions the preferred option. For example, exploring novel markets or incentives, or improving access to data and knowledge, or applying systems frameworks to quantify multiple interacting outcomes taking into account interdependencies and feedback loops.

Eligible projects

We aim to fund a mixed portfolio of up to twenty grants covering a range of topics and geographies across both themes. Grants sums of between £100,000 and £1 million are offered for projects of 12-36 months duration. To be accepted for funding under the GCBC programme projects must demonstrate:
- Fit to GCBC: All proposals need to address poverty alleviation and climate resilience, focusing on approaches that better value, protect, restore and sustainably manage biodiversity.
- Fit to theme: Proposals must address research questions within one of the themes set out above.
- GESI: All proposals must incorporate clear plans to factor in gender, equality and social inclusion from the outset.
- R&D: Proposed work must meet the definition of research and development: creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge – including knowledge of humankind, culture and society – and to devise new applications of available knowledge (OECD, 2015).

What we’re looking for

Research should aim to generate learning, solutions, tools or methodologies that can be upscaled and replicated in other regions or countries. Uptake of research results is likely to require stakeholder involvement throughout project development and implementation. Proposed research must be carried out to a high ethical standard, including due consideration for gender equality and social inclusion.

We encourage innovation in projects. Innovation is the process of developing and testing new ideas, methods, or technologies (or improving existing ones) in ways that advance knowledge, solve problems, or create value for specific groups. Proposals should explain where proposed approaches are novel, and how they are expected to address specific and clearly identified conceptual or practical problems, knowledge gaps or challenges. We encourage applicants to consider the GCBC’s delivery principles.

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