Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN) recently announced two new funding opportunities aimed at enhancing environmental reporting in the Asia-Pacific region.

The first round of grants offered jointly by EJN’s Asia-Pacific and Bay of Bengal projects is seeking innovative ideas from organizations, civil society groups and academic institutions based in the region to build local reporting resources, networks and information exchange around climate change, natural resource management and the environment.

The grants will be given out in two lots. The first of up to US$20,000 for one year will go to groups seeking action on any environmental topic in the Asia-Pacific. The other will average around $15,000 for groups working specifically in coastal Bangladesh and the four eastern Indian states of West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Those grants will be offered to organizations focusing specifically on climate resilience and adaptation.

The media grants can be used to support innovative reporting approaches or platforms aimed at spreading news and information; resource and knowledge building to help local journalists and other information providers cover the environment more effectively; institutional capacity building for organizations that support environmental journalism; and partnerships focused on enhancing environmental reporting. 

The deadline to submit applications is November 18. Visit the EJN website for more information or to apply online.

The other opportunity is a story grant program by EJN and the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) focused on improving the quantity and quality of environmental coverage in the Asia-Pacific region. The story grants will range from $500 to $3,000 each to support reporting on climate and environmental change or natural resource management issues in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, or Papua New Guinea.

Proposed stories could include:

• A focus on women, youth and indigenous people and their ability to adapt to environmental change.
• Solutions-focused reporting that amplifies the voices of vulnerable communities and explores how they’re addressing cultural and environmental protection. 
• Global issues that have a local angle or stories that take local issues to a global audience.

We also encourage proposals that build collaboration among journalists and communities and reportage that is unlikely to published or broadcast in the applicant’s local media owing to censorship, restrictions (legal or otherwise), or risks of retaliation.

The deadline to submit story grant applications is November 16.  Visit the EJN website for more information or to apply online.