Media Grants to Support Coverage of Countries’ Progress Toward the 30×30 Marine Conservation Target 2026

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EJN is offering media grants to newsrooms and media organizations in coastal countries, with particular focus on Ghana, Mexico, and the Philippines, to support in-depth and enterprise reporting projects, initiatives to train journalists and other activities designed to increase media coverage and the capacity of journalists to report on 30×30 marine conservation targets.

Please read the following sections carefully, as they contain important information on eligibility and the application process. Please read the following sections carefully, as they contain important information on eligibility and the application process.

Overview

In December 2022, more than 190 countries committed to achieve ‘30×30’ under target 3 of the Global Biodiversity Framework. This target calls for the effective protection and management of 30% of the world’s terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, by the year 2030.

Creating marine protected areas (MPAs) and other area-based conservation measures (OECMs) with strong rules and enforcement are among the most effective ways to conserve marine biodiversity.

Yet summits since 2022 have made it clear the world is not on track to meet this target. In fact, so far countries have only fully or highly protected 2.9% of our oceans, far from 30%.

News organizations and journalists, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, often lack the resources, knowledge, or capacity to report relevant and high-quality ocean-related information. Many journalists themselves may not be familiar with ocean issues, 30×30 or MPAs.

To fill this gap, EJN is offering media grants to newsrooms and media organizations in coastal countries. Applications from Ghana, Mexico, and the Philippines will be prioritized. These grants will support in-depth reporting projects and training of journalists, with the aim to increase the quality and quantity of coverage about progress toward the 30×30 target and the challenges and solutions to reaching this goal.

This work was made possible through the support of Oceans 5 and the Bloomberg Ocean Fund.

Eligibility

Newsrooms and media organizations* in coastal countries are eligible to apply. Because 30×30 refers to marine conservation, we will not accept applications from countries with a freshwater coast; only coastal countries with a marine border will be considered. In particular, we encourage those from Ghana, Mexico, and the Philippines to apply.

Civil society organizations, academic institutions, NGOs or environmental groups are not eligible for this opportunity. Applications with a focus on advocacy and/or political campaigning will not be considered.

For the purposes of this grant opportunity, we will only be accepting applications in English and Spanish. Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to consider applications in other languages at this time. Applicants must either have a working understanding of English or Spanish or have a translator available to assist with communication with Internews staff. Projects may, however, produce content in any language best suited for their audience.

Former EJN grantees are eligible to apply. We will take the performance of former grantees into consideration during the selection. Organizations with an existing EJN grant are not eligible.

Applicants are required to be transparent about the use of generative AI tools, if any, to revise their proposals. EJN reserves the right to disqualify applicants from consideration if they have been found to have engaged in unethical or improper professional conduct, including, but not limited to, submitting AI-generated content as their own.

*Note: EJN’s definition of media for this opportunity includes newspapers, online media, radio, television, multimedia platforms, journalist networks, collectives, journalism support organizations and other groups that produce and distribute news and information.

Project themes and objectives

EJN is looking to fund projects that train journalists—and/or produce media coverage—on topics including, but not limited to:

• The commitments made by government(s) to meet the 30×30 target, including the activities in progress regulations being implemented and the money being allocated and/or spent;
• The effectiveness of proposed or created Marine Protected Areas, including the lack of enforcement to curb IUU fishing and other extractive practices;
• The impact of transnational fishing fleets and the global fishing industry, the shipping industry, oil and gas exploration and marine pollution on efforts to reach the 30×30 target;
• How Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) are or are not involved in the creation and management of protected areas that intersect with their traditional territories;
• Technologies such as satellites, remote sensing, eDNA and artificial intelligence for the effective management of MPAs;
• National and international policy negotiations and financial instruments to achieve the 30 x 30 target.
• Efforts underway to boost marine conservation in the high seas, or areas beyond national jurisdiction.

Grant amount and logistics

We anticipate supporting five organizations with grants of $10,000 USD each. One grant will be given for each focus country—Ghana, Mexico and the Philippines—and two grants to applicants from any eligible country. In general, proposals with smaller budgets will be more competitive. Larger grant amounts will be considered for projects that use innovative approaches and may be more resource- and time-consuming.

We expect to notify successful applicants in December 2025 with work starting in January 2026. Projects should be completed within 12 months, by the end of December 2026. Applicants should consider this timeline when developing their work plan.

All applicants must provide a detailed budget with justification for the requested amount as part of their application using this template. We ask that the budgets be reasonable and account for the costs necessary for project implementation.

Applicants can use a portion of the grant to purchase equipment but should clearly state how the equipment will contribute to the expected outcomes and outputs. The cost of equipment should also make up a relatively small proportion of the overall budget.

Applicants are permitted and encouraged to raise co-financing for the proposed activities, but it is not required. If you have received any co-financing, please indicate the amount and the source in your application.

For projects that involve publishing stories or other material, please note that Internews, EJN, its partners, and the grant funder will be given rights to edit, publish, broadcast, and distribute those materials freely.   

Acknowledgement of EJN support: Published work must disclose EJN support by including this tagline: “This story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.”

Judging criteria

All applications we receive are reviewed and discussed by a panel of international judges, comprising Internews staff and experts in environmental journalism.

Applications will be evaluated using the following assessment criteria:

• The overall quality of the proposal;
• The relevance of the proposed project in contributing to the objectives and priorities of this grant program;
• The potential impact of the proposed project, including the quality and effectiveness of the project design;
• The innovative characteristics of the proposed activities;
• The financial viability and cost-effectiveness of the proposed activity;
• The ability of the applicant to carry it out;.
• The geographical spread of the grantees.

How to apply

• If you have an existing account, you’ll need to log in. Since we recently updated our website, you might have to reset your password by clicking the “Forgot password?” link in the log in page. If you don’t have an account, you must register by clicking “Log in” on the top right of the page and click the “Sign up” link at the bottom of the page that opens. Click here for detailed instructions on how to create an account, and here for detailed instructions on how to reset your password. If you start the application and want to come back and complete it later, you can click ‘Save Draft.’ To return to the draft, you’ll need to go back to the opportunity and click ‘Apply now’ again to finalize the application. If you start the application and want to come back and complete it later, you can click ‘Save Draft.’ To return to the draft, you’ll need to go back to the opportunity and click ‘Apply now’ again to finalize the application.
• Applications should provide a detailed budget in an Excel spreadsheet with justification for the amount requested. Download the budget template now by clicking on this link.
• Note: You’ll be asked to upload these supporting documents once you start the application process, so please have them handy.

If you encounter difficulties with submitting your application or have questions about the grants, please email info.ejn@internews.org. Do not contact any other Internews email regarding this opportunity, as we will not receive it.