Deadline: May 1, 2022.

Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN) is pleased to announce a new travel grant fund for journalists interested in attending – and reporting from – conferences and global summits related to biodiversity issues that are taking place in 2022, including those related to the UN Convention on Biodiversity (UNCBD).

This opportunity is intended to enable journalists from around the world to cover biodiversity-related conferences and negotiations for their home audiences.

Despite the uncertainty around travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic, EJN believes it is critical for journalists representing diverse countries—and especially those from the Global South—to have the opportunity to attend and report directly from these pivotal decision-making spaces, so long as they can do so safely.

These scholarships are made possible with the generous support of Arcadia Fund.

Eligible conferences may include, but are not limited to:

• CBD negotiating session for the Global Biodiversity Framework — 21-26 June 2022 — Nairobi, Kenya
• UN Ocean Conference — 27 June-1 July 2022 — Lisbon, Portugal
• World Congress on Agroforestry — 17-20 July 2022 — Quebec City, Canada 
• UN CBD COP15 — August 2022 — Kunming, China
• World Biodiversity Forum — 26 June-1July 2022 — Davos, Switzerland
• 68th Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC68) — 14-21 October 2022 — Portorož, Slovenia 
• 19th Conference of Parties to CITES — 14-25 November 2022 — Panama City, Panama 
• Ramsar Convention COP14 — 21-29 November 2022 — Wuhan, China 

ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible for the scholarship, the applicant must:

• Be a professional journalist from or representing an established media house and reporting from a low- or middle-income country. EJN will offer scholarships to journalists from the countries listed here. They will also consider applications from Russia.
• They especially encourage women, Indigenous journalists and early-career journalists to apply. 
• Have previous experience reporting on environmental issues and clearly indicate the kinds of stories they might pursue while attending the conference.
• Commit to attending all days of the conference they are proposing to attend.
• Provide a letter of support from an editor or media outlet, committing to publish or broadcast any stories produced as a result of this scholarship. This is expected of both staffers and freelancers.
• Submit samples of their work, which can be uploaded as documents or web links. Stories can be in any language as long as they are accompanied by a short English synopsis. Story clips related to biodiversity issues are preferred.
• Allow copies of stories produced from the conference to be re-published on the EJN website and distributed via social media, with due credit being given to the original media outlet.

Note: You’ll be asked to upload these supporting documents once you start the application process, so please have them handy.

TRAVEL FUND

1. They expect to award scholarships of up to US$2,500 each. The amount may vary depending on whether international travel is needed for attendance at the conference. In general, applications with frugal requests will be viewed with more favor, so long as they include proper safety precautions.
2. Budget proposals can include economy-class airfare, accommodation, meals, travel insurance, visa costs, mandatory COVID-19 testing and transportation costs for journalists to attend the conference of their choosing.  

OFFICIAL LINK