Australia: Protecting the Great Barrier Reef – Community Stewardship Program (Round 1)

Objectives

• The objectives of the grant opportunity are to:
  • improve the health and resilience of key Reef habitats
  • enhance the commitment and participation of local communities, including traditional owners, to protect and care for the Reef through environmentally responsible practices
  • strengthen coordination and delivery of Reef protection activities by local communities across the Great Barrier Reef Catchments.
• The program will deliver the objectives by funding large coordinated, community based on-ground Reef protection projects that:
  • target key habitats for ecosystem and species health
  • build long-lasting community stewardship and enhanced commitment to protect and care for the Reef.

Grants Available 

• The Australian Government has announced a total of $12.5 million over 7 years for the program.
• For Round 1, $6.5 million is available from 2023-24 to 2026-27.
  • The minimum grant amount is $500,000.
  • The maximum grant amount is $6.5 million.
• You must complete your project by 3 years from the agreed start date.

Outcomes

• The grant opportunity will fund project activities that contribute to at least one of the following Reef Trust Outcomes:
  • Reef Trust Outcome 1: Improve the quality of water entering the Great Barrier Reef from broad-scale land use to increase the health and resilience of the Great Barrier Reef
  • Reef Trust Outcome 2: Improve the health and resilience of coastal habitats
  • Reef Trust Outcome 3: Improve and protect marine biodiversity.

Eligible Projects

Your project must:

• be aimed at building long-lasting community stewardship across the Great Barrier Reef Catchments, to enhance commitment to protect and care for the Reef through environmentally responsible practices and strengthen coordination of delivery of protection activities by local communities
• support a coordinated approach to community-based on-ground projects across the Reef that deliver tangible and reportable benefits, outcomes and improvement for key habitats for Reef ecosystem and species health, including refugial waterholes, wetlands, seagrass, bird habitats and fish nursery habitats
• support the outcomes and objectives of the Reef 2050 Plan, one or more of the Reef Trust Outcomes, and the outstanding universal values of the GBR World Heritage Area
• have at least $500,000 in eligible expenditure.

Who is this for?

• Organisations with projects that will build long-lasting community stewardship to protect and care for the Reef.

Eligible Entities

• You can apply if you:
  • have an Australian business number (ABN)
  • and are one of the following entities:
  • an entity, incorporated in Australia
  • an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth)
  • an incorporated association
  • an incorporated not for profit organisation
  • a publicly funded research organisation (PFRO) as defined in section 14 of the grant opportunity guidelines
  • an Australian local government agency or body
  • Queensland state government agency or body
• You can’t apply if you are:
  • an organisation, or your project partner is an organisation, included on the National Redress Scheme’s list of Institutions that have not joined or signified their intent to join the Scheme
  • an employer of 100 or more employees that has not complied with the Workplace Gender Equality Act (2012)
  • an individual
  • a partnership
  • an unincorporated association
  • trust (however, an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust)

For more information, visit Australian Government.