Freshwater Conservation

Overview

Freshwater is essential to the functioning of our planet; it’s necessary to sustain healthy and biodiverse ecosystems, it’s inextricably linked to climate change, and humans depend on water to drink and grow crops and raise livestock. Several human activities (e.g. large-scale agriculture, resource extraction, infrastructure, and domestic uses) threaten the spatial connectivity of water, the quality and quantity of water for biodiversity, and the function and resilience of ecosystems. These stressors are compounded by current and projected climate change trends. Freshwater supply is increasingly unable to meet ecological and anthropogenic demand.

The World Water Map visualizes areas of global water gaps, which is the difference between how much water is needed and how much is naturally available. The global water gap Hotspots are regions where human demand for freshwater is outpacing renewable supplies. This leads to depletion of freshwater resources and the risk of water scarcity. Please read the FAQs for a description of how the Hotspots were determined.

In the context of this RfP, water scarcity is the demand for freshwater exceeding the renewable supply in a region due to water quantity, quality, and connectivity (hydrology), and communities may be experiencing water scarcity in the global water gap Hotspots. Freshwater resources include surface water and groundwater, including springs, reservoirs, ponds, rivers, streams, wetlands, peatlands, glaciers, lakes, etc., at any scale (e.g., river basin, watershed, lake). 

The goal of this RfP is to help highlight the real-life stories about water scarcity by funding on-the-ground, community-led conservation projects addressing freshwater scarcity challenges through impactful solutions.  These grants are highly competitive and reserved for select projects located in one of the 20 water scarcity / water gap Hotspots, as defined by the modeled water gaps in the World Water Map. Priority will be given to applicants proposing projects in the areas highlighted in bold in the list below, where historically the Society has funded fewer projects. 

Hotspot Locations

• Europe and Western Asia: Greece, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Italy, Spain
• Asia-Pacific: Central and South Thailand,Ganges/Brahmaputra river basins, India/Bangladesh, Mekong Delta, Vietnam, Indus River Basin, Pakistan, Java, Indonesia, Murray-Darling Basin, Australia, Japan, North China Plain
• Latin America: Central Chile, Coastal Peru, Mexico (various locations)
• Northern North America: Central Valley, California, US High Plains (Ogallala Aquifer)
• Africa: Nile River Delta, Egypt, White Nile, Sudan

Competitive projects will include tangible freshwater conservation goals such as creating resilient and sustainable solutions for improved water quantity, quality, and/or water connectivity (hydrology), for example, through green-infrastructure or nature-based solutions. 

 This funding opportunity is open to applicants over the age of 18, including individuals who are already National Geographic Explorers. This opportunity is best suited for individual project leaders with demonstrable experience co-creating or collaborating with the community or communities that are most impacted by the freshwater scarcity issue and proposed conservation project.

• You may submit a proposal as the project leader for only one project.
• Project must be completed within 2 years of receipt of funding
• Project must occur in a National Geographic Society World Water Map water scarcity hotspot
• Project must be focused on freshwater conservation and must not include large-scale gray infrastructure (for example, municipal-scale stormwater or wastewater infrastructure, or desalination plants)

To ensure that invited applicants are prepared to submit competitive full applications, we
recommend that applicants already understand — or are prepared to assemble — the methods,
dissemination strategies, and proposed outputs of the full project. We also recommend that
applicants are already collaborating with the community or communities that are most impacted
by the freshwater scarcity issue and the proposed conservation project. Applicants who are
invited to submit a full application will be requested to present evidence of local community
participation, from start to finish, in the development and implementation of the project.