The Iris Prize celebrates and supports young people accelerating action to protect and restore nature. The Iris Project awards three grants each year: US$5,000 for ages 14-24 awarded for a new idea; US$10 thousand for ages 16-24 awarded for an existing project; US$15 thousand for ages 16-24 awarded for an established project. Application is open to individuals, teams and organizations from all around the world. Applications are open until 15 April 2025. About the prize
marine/coastal
Pulitzer Center — Impact Seed Fund
Impact Seed Funding (ISF) is a micro-scale grant provided by the Pulitzer Center to support education activities to enrich the perspectives and knowledge of the university community— specifically students and educators—about the problems, solutions, and innovations related to the impact of human activities in tropical forests, ocean, and the climate crisis. ISF grants range from US$2,000 to US$4,000. Applicants should be professors or researchers in a higher education institution, or groups of students guided by a responsible professor, and not have the project applied in Brazil. The application deadline is 19 April 2025. Impact Seed Funding
Government of Luxembourg — Business Partnership Facility
The Government of Luxembourg provides financial support to the private sector in Europe to set up sustainable commercial projects in partnership with private or public organizations in developing countries. Project proposals should focus on one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and may not exceed €200 thousand. Applications can be submitted before 30 April 2025. Details here
Canada Fund for Local Initiatives — Community Projects in Asia-Pacific Islands
The Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) invites proposals that meet the needs of local communities in the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. The priorities under this call include women’s economic rights, decent jobs and entrepreneurship, and investing in the poorest and most vulnerable (which may include agriculture or aquaculture projects), as well as environment, climate action focusing on adaptation and mitigation, and water management. The average contribution is C$40 thousand per project. Eligibility extends to not-for-profit local, national, or community-based organizations. The deadline for submission is 30 April 2025. CFLI Asia-Pacific Islands
The University of Queensland — Online Course: Tropical Coastal Ecosystems
The University of Queensland Australia, in partnership with edX, offers an online course on tropical coastal ecosystems. Participants will develop the skills and knowledge needed to help preserve tropical coastal ecosystems and have a basic understanding of the value, vulnerability, dynamics and sustainable management, as well as learning the process of designing and implementing an experiment in a virtual ecology project. The course is free and no previous knowledge of tropical coastal ecosystems is required. Enrollment is open. Click here for details
Earth Journalism Network — Story Grants Marine Environment
The Earth Journalism Network (EJN) offers story grants to support the production of in-depth reporting on current and emerging marine issues in the Adriatic Sea, with a focus on the Western Balkans. Applications from Western Balkan countries that border the Adriatic Sea are welcome (i.e. Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania). Journalists from inland Balkan countries such as Serbia, Kosovo and North Macedonia are also eligible to apply if their stories can be directly tied to the Adriatic Sea. EJN expects to award up to 10 grants with a budget of up to €1,200 each. The application deadline is 13 March 2025. Details here
United Nations — Ocean Literacy Summer School
The EU4Ocean Summer School on Ocean Literacy & Collaboration is an intensive 5-day training program aimed at building essential skills and fostering collaborative approaches in the design and implementation of ocean-related projects. This program is open to students and early-career professionals from international universities and institutions from EU and non-EU countries of the interested region. Interested students and early career professionals can apply to the summer school by 16 March 2025. EU4Ocean Summer School
Earth Journalism Network — Story Grants Bay of Bengal Coast
The Earth Journalism Network (EJN)offers support to produce in-depth reports on climate impacts in the Bay of Bengal that are hard to quantify and not usually accounted for by policymakers. Selected applicants will be provided support of up to INR 90,000 or BDT 1.25 lakh each and 1:1 editorial mentorship to produce rigorous and impactful reports. Communicators reporting from coastal Bangladesh and coastal areas of India are eligible to apply. EJN welcomes applications from early-career and experienced communicators with a track record of environmental issues. The application deadline is 24 March 2025. Link
French-African Foundation — Young Leaders 2025
The French-African Foundation invites applications for Young Leaders 2025. The program recognizes and supports young leaders to become true agents of change in relation to global challenges. Candidates must be between 28 and 40 years old and have French nationality or the nationality of an African country. Successful candidates will spend five days in France, five days in Africa, engage in high-level meetings and receive training and mentorship. Flights and accommodation will be provided. The deadline for applications is 30 March 2025. About the program
iF International Forum Design GmbH — Social Impact Prize
The iF Social Impact Prize aims to publish and support design projects that contribute to solving urgent challenges and help to improve living conditions in the developing world. Solutions should already be established and help to solve well-known issues in any category of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The best projects will share a cash prize of €100 thousand in total. Eligibility extends to non-profit organizations, companies, and foundations (student concepts will not be accepted). Social projects can be submitted until 03 June 2025. iF Social Impact Prize