Call for Equator Prize 2022 Nominations

Nominations must be submitted by 5th April, 2022

About the Equator Initiative and the Equator Prize

The Equator Initiative is a United Nations-led partnership that brings together governments, civil society, grassroots organizations, and businesses to foster resilient communities by recognizing and advancing local nature-based solutions for sustainable development. The Equator Initiative creates opportunities and platforms to share knowledge and good practices, develops capacities of Indigenous peoples and local communities, informs policy through convening multi-stakeholder dialogues, and fosters enabling environments to replicate and scale up community action.

The Equator Prize 2022 will be awarded to outstanding Indigenous peoples and local community initiatives that advance innovative nature-based solutions for sustainable development. The winners will join a prestigious network of 264 leading community-based organizations from 84 countries that have been awarded the Equator Prize since 2002. Each Equator Prize winner will receive USD 10,000 and will be supported to participate in a series of policy dialogues and special events in the latter part of 2022.

Equator Prize 2022 Theme: Transforming our Economy and Relationship with Nature for Sustainable Development

This year’s Equator Prize will recognize innovative initiatives from Indigenous peoples and local communities that demonstrate exceptional achievements in nature-based solutions for local sustainable development. Winning initiatives will be honored for their successes in protecting, restoring, and/or sustainably managing nature for positive development outcomes. Thematic priorities include:

• Creating a planetary safety net. Protection, restoration, and/or sustainable management of ecosystems to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, and/or support communities in adapting to the impacts of climate change. This includes actions to:
  • Protect and restore nature in order to safeguard water, food, carbon, livelihoods, and biodiversity
  • Safeguard Indigenous peoples’ rights to their lands, territories, and resources, including through the use of cutting-edge technology

• Redefining Our Relationship with Nature: Redefine our relationship with nature by putting nature at the heart of local development plans and policies, and by defending the rights of land and water defenders. This includes actions to:
  • Integrate Indigenous peoples and local communities’ concepts, traditional knowledge, vision, and value of nature into local and/or national development plans and policies
  • Defend land and water defenders, advocate for land and water rights, and promote social and environmental justice

• Creating a new green economy for people and planet. Protection, restoration and/or sustainable management of terrestrial or marine ecosystems, biodiversity, and/or wildlife that enables sustainable livelihoods, green enterprises, and jobs, including the promotion of Indigenous economies. This includes actions to:
  • Accelerate regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, and sustainable fisheries
  • Ensure Indigenous peoples and local communities and their micro-, small-, and medium- green enterprises (MSMEs) at the heart of fair and inclusive sustainable supply chains
  • Develop sustainable commodity production and promote deforestation-free commodities
  • Support and strengthen Indigenous economies

Special consideration will be given to nominees working on ecosystem integrity and intactness, intergenerational equity, and gender equality.

Local nature-based solutions for sustainable development

The Equator Prize 2022 nomination process offers community-based initiatives the opportunity to share their work on the Equator Initiative’s web portal of local nature-based solutions for sustainable development. The platform connects communities around the world and shares local solutions that work for people and planet. Participation in this platform is optional when submitting nominations for the Equator Prize.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the Equator Prize 2022:

• The initiative must have been in existence for at least three years, and/or the actions taken must have been in place for at least three years.
• The nominee must be either a local community-based initiative, operating in a rural area, based in a country receiving support from the United Nations Development Programme (for a list of eligible countries, please click here); or an initiative led by Indigenous peoples in any country, operating in a rural area.
• The actions taken by the nominee must be nature-based, and must deliver benefits related to two or more Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Selection Criteria

Equator Prize 2022 winners will be selected by an independent Technical Advisory Committee, which will assess nominations based on the following criteria:

• Impact: The extent to which the nominated initiative has resulted in measurable and positive environmental, social and economic impacts that deliver benefits towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals;
• Innovation: The extent to which the nominated initiative demonstrates new approaches and models that overcome prevailing constraints, and could offer fundamentally new approaches to adapting to and/or mitigating climate change, while advancing local sustainable development;
• Scalability and/or replicability: The extent to which the nominated initiative could be scaled up sub-nationally or nationally and/or, the extent to which the initiative can be replicated within the country and beyond;
• Resilience and Adaptability: The extent to which the nominated initiative demonstrates adaptability to environmental, social and economic change, resilience in the face of external pressures;
• Reduced inequalities: The extent to which the initiative reduces inequalities in income as well as those based on age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status, in particular for the poor;
• Social Inclusion: The extent to which the nominated initiative includes youth, elders, indigenous peoples, and other diverse groups in the decision-making processes and the actions that affect them;
• Gender Equality: The extent to which the nominated initiative is led by women or ensures the equality and empowerment of women and girls.

Please Note:

• Nominators are encouraged to quantify results and include data that demonstrates positive impacts in their submissions.
• Nominations may be submitted either directly by the initiative or community, by a partner organization, or by any third party that is sufficiently familiar with the activities and achievements of the initiative or community.
• Nominators must indicate whether they agree to have the solution highlighted in the Equator Initiative web portal on local nature-based solutions for sustainable development.
• Nominated initiatives will undergo a verification process that may require nominees and/or nominators to provide additional information and/or materials.
• Nominations may be submitted in: English, French, Portuguese or Spanish. To nominate in other languages (such as Arabic, Chinese, Indonesian or Russian), please contact the Equator Initiative for instructions.

Nominations may be submitted through our online nomination system. If you are having technical issues, please contact us at prize@equatorinitiative.org.