Biodiversity Information Fund for Asia

GBIF invites the submission of concept notes for projects that enhance knowledge of Asian biodiversity through access to data from biological collections and monitoring programmes in the region.

The call is issued under the sixth phase of the Biodiversity Information Fund for Asia (BIFA) programme, funded by the Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan. It aims to address key challenges and priorities identified in connection with the mobilization and use of biodiversity data in the region. The total funding assigned to this call is approximately €220,000.

Applicants may request a maximum of €20,000 for projects implemented over a maximum period of 18 months.

This call seeks to support projects that

Strengthen the capacity of institutions in the target countries to manage and mobilize biodiversity data
Mobilize primary data on Asian biodiversity, with a preference given to the mobilization of:
- Data relating to the hosts, reservoirs or vectors of zoonotic diseases
- Data derived from DNA, for example metabarcoding and eDNA projects
- Data mobilized by the private sector through environmental impact assessments or other monitoring activities
Increase open data on Asian biodiversity to fill taxonomic and geographic gaps, within and beyond the grant period

Two types of grants are included in the call:

BIFA collections data mobilization grants that target Asia’s natural history collections, to fill taxonomic and geographic gaps in freely-accessible data relating to Asian biodiversity.
BIFA ecological monitoring data mobilization grants that target Asian biodiversity monitoring programmes and networks.

These grants are open to institutions based in eligible countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Northeast Asia. Concept notes must be submitted through the GBIF Grants Portal by 09 February 2021. Following evaluation of the concept notes, GBIF will invite applicants successful in this round to submit a full proposal.

For any additional information or questions, please contact BIFA@gbif.org.

Available grant types

BIFA collections data mobilization grants

These grants target Asia’s natural history collections to fill taxonomic and geographic gaps in freely accessible data relating to Asian biodiversity

Purpose

The BIFA collections data mobilization grant is targeted at projects that focus on Asia’s natural history collections. They should address the priority challenge for GBIF in Asia of filling taxonomic and geographical gaps in the availability of accessible data on the occurrence of species in the region. The following activities are envisaged under this type of grant:

Digitizing and publishing georeferenced species occurrence data based on specimens held in Asian collections
Organizing workshops(s) aiming to enhance national or regional capacity within biodiversity data mobilization

Learn more about the relevant data types and the process of publishing data through the GBIF network.

The GBIF Secretariat welcomes proposals from any natural history collection institution that is a legal entity in any Asian country eligible for BIFA grants and complying with BIFA eligibility criteria.

Joint efforts between institutions targeting national, regional or priority thematic data mobilization are encouraged.

BIFA ecological monitoring data mobilization grants

These grants target Asian biodiversity monitoring programmes and networks, including monitoring carried out for the purposes of environmental impact assessments, and monitoring using metabarcoding (eDNA) techniques

Purpose

BIFA ecological monitoring data mobilization grants target the various institutions, projects and networks in Asia engaged in surveys and inventories of biodiversity using standardized methodologies and protocols. They should address the priority regional challenge for GBIF in Asia of filling taxonomic and geographical gaps in the availability of accessible data on the occurrence of species in the region, including relative abundance and changes over time. The following activities are envisaged under this type of grant:

Mobilizing species occurrence and sampling-event data from observation networks and monitoring systems
Organizing workshops(s) aiming to enhance national or regional capacity within biodiversity data mobilization

Learn more about the relevant data types and the process of publishing data through the GBIF network.

The GBIF Secretariat welcomes proposals for mobilizing ecological monitoring data from any institution, NGO or network that is a legal entity in any Asian country eligible for BIFA grants and complying with BIFA eligibility criteria.

Efforts targeting national, regional or priority thematic data mobilization are encouraged.

All activities funded under the BIFA programme must comply with the following general eligibility criteria:

Concept notes and full proposals must be submitted in English through the GBIF Grants Portal by the stated deadlines
Applicants must be legal entities located in an eligible Asian country. Such entities include national government agencies, GBIF Participant nodes and their host institutions, natural history museums and collections, research institutes, universities, networks and NGOs, etc.
Applicants must be in good standing with GBIF (i.e. the lead institution submitting the project proposal has no overdue or missing reports and/or deliverables from previous projects funded under a programme led by GBIF).
No applications for funding a third year of a continuing BIFA project will be considered eligible. Applicants from projects that have already received a second BIFA grant for a follow-up project may, however, submit new proposals that differ substantially from the scope and objectives of the original project and follow-up.
Data mobilized by BIFA-funded projects should be principally within the target countries.
All projects must include a major component of data mobilization through the GBIF network. It is expected that most BIFA funding is directed towards data mobilization. As a guideline, the amount of BIFA funding spent on data mobilization activities should not be less than 60% of the total grant.
All data mobilized through the BIFA grants, as well as any other products of the projects, such as training material, must be made available under a CC0 1.0 waiver or CC-BY 4.0 licence.
All proposed project activities must fall within the stated implementation periods for each grant type.
Fieldwork and/or the collection of new field data are not eligible costs under the BIFA programme – although such activities may be included in a project plan if funded by alternative sources.
Due to the status of the COVID-19 pandemic, project proposals may not include plans or costs for international travel during 2021.
Project proposals may include plans and costs relating to international travel taking place within the eligible implementation period in 2022, only when accompanied by clear contingency plans. Costs relating to within-country travel and physical workshops may be included throughout the implementation period, but should be accompanied by risk mitigation plans in case severe national restrictions are put in force.
All BIFA funded activities must be not-for-profit, although private companies and consultancies may be included as project partners.
Applicants must commit co-funding (in-kind or cash) to their projects and provide details of this co-funding in their concept notes and full proposals. Co-funding refers to real costs that are incurred by the applicants while executing the funded project’s activities. These could be in-kind contributions that directly contribute to the project activities (like staff salaries, travel costs etc.) or any in-cash contributions to BIFA activities from other funding sources. The level of this co-funding will be taken into account when evaluating the proposal’s cost-effectiveness.
Overhead¹ costs may not be charged to BIFA Grants.
As part of the grant request, up to a maximum of €1,000 may be requested for IT, electronic and laboratory equipment, as well as bioinformatics and sequencing services to process existing materials², covering up to a maximum of 50% of the cost of each item or service order. Receipts must be provided in financial reports.
Applicants from countries or organizations in Asia that already participate in GBIF must include a statement of endorsement from the GBIF Head of Delegation or Node Manager at the concept note stage. Contact information for representatives of GBIF Participant countries and organizations can be found on the Participant pages linked from the Participant list.