Call for Proposal: UNEP Small Grants Programme - Innovative community-based initiatives for conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of marine and coastal ecosystems

The UNEP Small Grants Programme (SGP) is an innovative community-based initiative for the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of marine and coastal ecosystems, supporting community-led actions by civil society partners, local communities, women’s groups, youth organizations, and Indigenous Peoples involved in the management and use of these ecosystems. It focuses on critical habitats such as mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, and coral reefs that protect shorelines, store blue carbon, sustain biodiversity, and provide livelihoods for coastal populations facing heightened vulnerability from the triple planetary crises. The programme prioritizes community leadership, gender equality, the rights of Indigenous Peoples, youth engagement, financial resilience, and improved data to guide decision-making, while promoting locally led approaches that strengthen ownership, cost-effectiveness, long-term sustainability, and opportunities for replication and scale-up. The programme is guided by a theory of change that recognizes that empowering local communities with financial resources, technical knowledge, and inclusive governance structures leads to improved ecosystem management outcomes. By combining restoration activities, capacity building, and access to sustainable financing mechanisms such as carbon finance, the programme aims to generate measurable environmental benefits while enhancing community resilience, promoting social equity, and contributing to national, regional and global environmental targets.