Applications Invited for Biodiversity Story Grants 2025

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About the Organization

Created in 2004, EJN is now a truly global network of reporters and media outlets in virtually every region of the world.

Environmental and climate change reporting is now more urgent than ever, but journalists face myriad and mounting challenges in covering these topics. The media industry is in crisis, and misinformation is on the rise. Reporters working for cash-strapped news agencies often don't have the resources to research a story properly; freelancers, even less so. That’s where EJN comes in.

Earth Journalism Network (EJN) is here to ensure that media everywhere know how to tell it.

Our mission: to strengthen local journalism that serves communities and policymakers on the frontlines of climate and environmental crises, enabling them to shape solutions, hold power to account and demand action.

About the Grant

EJN is offering reporting grants to journalists to support the production of in-depth stories on biodiversity.  

Overview:

For years, scientists have raised the alarm over the accelerating biodiversity crisis. Wildlife has declined on average 73% globally over the past 50 years, and one million species across land and sea are at risk of extinction in the coming decades. From continued investment in companies linked to deforestation to the bleaching of coral reefs due to climate change, the causes of this biodiversity loss are multitudinous and ultimately human. Yet the world is moving at a snail’s pace to protect what remains. Following the lack of quorum and breakdown of talks during the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in Cali, Colombia last year, negotiations continued in Rome, Italy, in February 2025 with the aim of finalizing concrete outcomes.

Despite a breakthrough agreement on a strategy to mobilize $200bn to assist low- and middle-income countries to conserve their biodiversity, and tears of relief from COP16 President Susana Muhamad, there were abundant warnings that steps made at resumed negotiations were not the immense leaps needed to slow the current rate of biodiversity loss.

The Global Biodiversity Framework’s (GBF) 23 target deadlines are a mere five years away, nearly three-quarters of countries have still not submitted their revised national biodiversity action plans, and a recent report revealed that more than half of the countries that have submitted their plans  have not aligned them with the GBF’s target of protecting 30% of land and seas by 2030.

To ensure that local audiences have access to trusted, timely and accurate information on the current critical state of biodiversity, EJN’s Biodiversity Media Initiative is offering 5-10 story grants to increase the quality and quantity of biodiversity coverage, and to highlight the overwhelming threats to our natural world as well as promising or proven solutions.

In addition to funding, selected journalists will receive support from experienced mentors throughout their project. 

Story themes:

For this grant opportunity, we are interested in pitches for ambitious stories that make use of innovative multimedia, collaborative, cross-border or investigative approaches to deepen coverage of biodiversity or conservation topics. Proposals that use data journalism and geojournalism are also encouraged.

This year, themes we are interested in supporting include (but are not limited to):

• Under-reported stories of trade and trafficking of endangered flora and fauna and its impacts
• New methods to track environmental crimes such as illegal mining and logging, and other drivers of biodiversity loss 
• New or little-known threats to species diversity, e.g. cryptocurrency mining, seabed mining
• Biodiversity credits or biodiversity offsets
• Biodiversity and conservation in urban areas
• OECMs (other effective area-based conservation measures)
• Innovative, potentially scalable conservation solutions led by communities, governments or corporations
• Efforts to boost “green” and “blue” economies to enable development that conserves rather than exploits the environment
• New or proposed policies which could be either harmful or beneficial to biodiversity
• Benefit-sharing from digital sequence information and its possibilities and risks
• Misinformation or misunderstandings around certain species

As we are looking to raise global awareness about new threats or solutions, proposals that focus on topics or stories that have not been widely covered are preferred. Issues that have already received a lot of media coverage or don't provide unique angles are less likely to be selected.

Eligibility

For the purposes of this grant call, we are only accepting applications for stories focused on countries classified as low- or middle-income by the World Bank. Those countries are listed here, though journalists from any country can apply.

We would like to hear from applicants based in countries in which we have not offered grants to previously. We encourage applications in particular from West Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, and specifically from the following countries: Dominican Republic, Honduras and Kyrgyzstan.

We are especially interested in supporting projects in biodiversity-rich regions of the world, or projects in countries facing unprecedented biodiversity loss.

Groups of journalists are eligible. However, the application must be made in the name of one lead applicant. Lead applicants are responsible for communicating with EJN and receiving funds on the group’s behalf, if awarded.

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.

Applications are open to journalists working in any medium (online, print, television, radio) and other expert media practitioners with professional reporting experience. We welcome applications from early-career journalists and experienced reporters with a track record of covering biodiversity issues. We encourage applications from freelance reporters and staff from all types of media organizations—international, national, local and community-based.

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.

How to Apply

Application Deadline: April 29, 2025, 11:59 PM (Pacific/Niue)

Accepted languages for Applications: English

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Tags Environment and Sustainability Journalism/ Reporting Others