Call for proposals: financing available for energy and forestry management projects in the Andean region

Lima, Peru. August 3, 2012 (IICA). The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) issued two calls for proposals for projects in Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, and Ecuador that will be funded by Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The projects must be designed to promote renewable energies and the sustainable management of forest resources.

The aim of the call for proposals under the aegis of the Energy and Environment Partnership (EEP) program in the Andean Region is to co-finance initiatives that will enhance the use of renewable energies and energy efficiency through applied research, development, and innovation, demonstration projects, and the promotion of private initiatives, the dissemination and exchange of knowledge, and capacity building.

The call related to the Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) program is targeted at innovative pilot projects and feasibility and prefeasibility studies aimed at mitigating or overcoming the obstacles to sustainable forest management in the Andean countries.

Oliver Marcelo, regional technical coordinator of the EEP, says that each program has a Competitive Regional Fund that will provide financing of up to US$280,000 for individual projects.

The deadline for applications for financing is August 17, 2012. The final list of the proposals selected will be published on November 30.

This is the second call for proposals that IICA has handled for the EEP and SFM programs. The first was carried out in 2011, when ten sustainable forest management and nine renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives were selected.

The EEP and SFM programs were presented previously at meetings in Piura, Huancayo, Arequipa, Tarapoto, and Pucallpa (Peru), Guayaquil, Quito, and Cuenca (Ecuador), and Medellín, Bogotá, Cali, Villavicencio, and Montería (Colombia).

The programs are looking for innovative, sustainable, and replicable projects that will help reduce poverty, create greater social and gender equity, and increase inclusion for indigenous populations and ethnic minorities. The aim is also to contribute to the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change.

For more information, contact: 
oliver.marcelo@iica.int