The European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) is delighted to announce that its spring online conservation vote is now live. The 12 shortlisted projects taking part, all tackling an urgent conservation issue, have applied to EOCA for funding and the association is asking members of the public to get involved to help select their favourites.
Twice a year, EOCA invites applications from conservation charities needing funding for specific nature conservation work around the world. With nearly 200 applications arriving each time, every project goes through a rigorous scoring process, including assessment by EOCA’s team of scientific advisers, to ensure that only the most worthwhile projects, from a conservation point of view, make it on to the shortlist. Every project listed aligns with the association’s current focus, Wild for Nature: EOCA’s Landscape Legacy Project, prioritising conservation work that mitigates against the loss of biodiversity and the climate emergency in a range of threatened habitats and landscapes.
The first three projects on the shortlist to receive funding will be chosen by the public online vote, which started today. Projects have been grouped into three categories: WATER, FOREST and WILD PLACES, and voters can choose one project in each category. The project with the most votes in each category will receive the funding they have asked for. A further two or three projects will be chosen by EOCA’s members once the public vote has ended.
Tanya Bascombe, Joint General Manager of EOCA said, “The public vote is one of the most exciting times of year for us as we discover which of the excellent shortlisted projects we are going to fund. The projects have the opportunity to promote themselves and their work on an international stage, which very often brings them more support on top of the potential grant from EOCA, and involves tens of thousands of votes during the two weeks that the event is live. We are extremely grateful, as always, to our member companies without whose ongoing support this could not happen.”
Voting online can be found here until midday (GMT) on Wednesday March 29th.
INFO: EOCA
