F24AS00146 - Asian Elephant Conservation Fund FY24

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is soliciting project proposals for the conservation of the Asian elephant throughout its range. The goal of the program is to perpetuate healthy populations of Asian elephants in their native range by supporting the conservation programs of range states. The program recognizes the common goals and priorities of the 13 Asian elephant range state governments and supports projects that promote conservation of Asian elephants and their habitats. Some key aspects of the program include: • Support of protected area and habitat restoration and management in Asian elephant ranges; • Promotion of coexistence by minimizing the negative impacts of humans on Asian elephants and their habitats; • Engagement with local communities to gain their participation in biodiversity conservation and land-use planning; • Ensuring effective protections across the species’ range to prevent illegal killing of Asian elephants and the illegal trade in live Asian elephants, ivory, and other elephant body parts; • Enhancement of cooperation between the 13 range states to promote transboundary conservation of Asian elephants; • Development and execution of elephant conservation management plans; • Compliance with CITES and other applicable treaties and laws that prohibit or regulate the taking or trade of elephants or regulate the use and management of elephant habitat; • Improvement of habitat connectivity by establishing wildlife corridors and minimizing the impacts from linear infrastructure; • Applied research on elephant populations and their habitats, including surveys and monitoring. Some key eligibility requirements include: • Applicants can be individuals, multi-national secretariats, foreign national and local government agencies, non-profit, non-governmental organizations, public and private institutions of higher education, and U.S. territorial governments; • Voluntary committed cost sharing is not required but encouraged and priority will be given to projects for which there exists some measure of voluntary committed cost share or match funds.