The Rainforest Reporting Grant provides short-term, project-based funding support to journalists who want to report on tropical rainforests in three key regions: the Amazon, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia. We seek ambitious reporting proposals looking into critical issues including illegal deforestation, Indigenous rights, the extraction industry, biodiversity, and more. Staff and freelance journalists are eligible. Applications accepted in five languages.

How to Apply
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GRANT OVERVIEW

Tropical rainforests play a crucial role in mitigating climate threats and sustaining livelihoods. However, decades of destructive deforestation and extraction of forest resources are having alarming impacts. Reporting on these issues raises public awareness and demands accountability from those with the power to make improvements. 

The Rainforest Reporting Grant is an evolution of the Rainforest Journalism Fund (RJF), which has supported more than 600 journalists who produced 1,700 reports in the past five years. These reports capture the various challenges, harmful industries, policy failures, scientific explorations, and inspiring practices of Indigenous communities that are taking place in forests across the three regions.

Here are examples of these inspiring reports:

Browse more rainforest reporting

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

We seek proposals that expand the scope of our rainforest reporting in the Amazon, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia. We welcome ideas that explore underreported and systemic issues affecting the regions’ tropical rainforests, such as impacts of extractive industries on local people and environment, poor forest governance, carbon market initiatives, or inspiring conservation initiatives. We encourage reporting driven by innovation, data and technology, and collaboration.

Below are topic ideas to explore:

  • Large-scale agro-industry 
  • Indigenous rights and policies
  • Cross-border timber and wildlife trade and supply chain
  • Forest and biodiversity health   
  • Chemical pollution
  • Forest fires 
  • Palm oil production and regulation
  • Green energy
  • Artisanal mining and agriculture
  • Carbon storage and market schemes

TO APPLY, YOU WILL BE ASKED TO PROVIDE THE FOLLOWING:

  • A description of the proposed project in no more than 250 words; 
  • A preliminary budget estimate, including a basic breakdown of costs; 
  • A compelling distribution plan

The Rainforest Reporting Grant receives applications in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and bahasa Indonesia. 

This opportunity is open and we are accepting applications. Please review our grant application guidelines and apply. If you have specific questions about applying please contact [email protected].

We aim to support teams that reflect the communities they report on. We also hope this grant can help our partner organizations advance their diversity, equity, and inclusion goals and commitments. We accept grant proposals on a rolling basis. You typically will hear back from us within two weeks of submitting your application.

WHAT WE DON'T FUND 

To save our grantees and staff time, we thought it would be helpful to outline editorial products and project expenses we don’t fund:

  • Books (we can support a story that might become part of a book, as long as the story is published independently in a media outlet) 
  • Feature-length films (we do support short documentaries with ambitious distribution plans) 
  • Staff salaries (with the exception of some of our yearlong fellowships)
  • Equipment purchases (equipment rentals are considered on a case-by-case basis) 
  • An outlet’s general expenses (for example, rent, utilities, insurance) 
  • Seed money for start-ups
  • Routine breaking news and coverage 
  • Advocacy campaigns 
  • Data projects aimed solely at academic research. Data should be developed to enhance/support journalism.
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