GCBC Awards £13.4 Million in Research Grants

February 17, 2025

The Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate (GCBC) has selected 18 projects to receive grants worth a total of £13.4 million through its second Research Grant Competition (RGC). The winners were chosen from 507 applicants across 60 eligible countries responding to the theme: “Driving innovation in how biodiversity can support climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods through practice and governance.”

GCBC, funded by the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), with DAI as the Fund Manager Lead and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew as the Strategic Science Lead, established the RGC to uncover locally driven solutions to protect biodiversity in ways that will also promote resilient, sustainable livelihoods.

The 2024 call for applicants received more than three times the 155 submitted for the first competition in 2023. From the initial concept notes, 56 applications were selected to submit full project proposals, which were assessed for how effectively the proposed nature-based solution will contribute to:  

• Improving the livelihoods of poor people by enhancing their resilience to climate change  
• Meeting resource or service demands 
• Protecting traditional knowledge and conserving biodiversity

Working in partnership with scientists, research institutions, and practitioners worldwide, the GCBC seeks to develop innovative research and find scalable approaches to biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources.

The 18 projects awarded under RGC2 include initiatives in agroforestry; integrated land and water management; forest, seagrass, and mangrove restoration; carbon markets; peatlands; land use at the landscape level; and the benefits of underutilized species for soil restoration. 

“DAI is delighted to continue our relationship with Defra and especially to welcome the successful applicants joining the GCBC’s project portfolio for the next phase of the program’s development,” said DAI Senior Vice President Luqman Ahmad. “Through this project round, we will continue to support scientists, academics, and research institutions working to build stronger capacity, increase collaboration, deliver high-impact projects, and share learning on the biodiversity-climate-livelihoods nexus that will have an impact on ecosystem resilience to climate change, halting and reversing biodiversity loss, and contributing to poverty alleviation.”

For a complete list of the awards, please visit Research Grant Competition 2.