An organisation, Rare, is looking for applicants to apply for its $30,000 grand prize on farming for biodiversity, through its initiative, Solution Search.
The Solution Search contests seek to spotlight solutions to threats confronting conservation and development in local communities around the world, with the aim that those solutions would be expanded and replicated to meet similar challenges confronting farmers around the world.
This contest seeks to, according to Rare, “increase awareness of biodiversity, its value and the many ways to conserve and sustainability use/manage it.”
According to information from Rare, unsustainable agricultural practices remain one of the greatest threats to ecosystems and biodiversity, as such, “as the global population grows, so too does the demand for food – requiring production increases and potentially even greater impacts on the environment.”
The initiative therefore, seeks agripreneurs who have solutions the challenges to apply for the $30,000 biodiversity contest.
All entries will be judged based on the following criteria:
Context Analysis: clear description of the challenges and of the context in which it operates and the challenges it faces; solution: solution is fully developed, addresses contest question and implemented at some scale; actions: clear, concrete steps in implementation.
Criteria also incluse results: strong results associated with biodiversity conservation and of other co-benefits, such as economic, food security/nutrition, water, and/or climate; sustainability: Economically sustainable solution; return on investment: positive return (financial, social, or other) associated with investment in the solution and replicability: extent to which the solution is could be replicated by other communities.
If selected as the winner, “applicant must agree to use the prize money to further the solution and organization’s goals and must agree to comply with all national and international laws governing the transfer of any prizes, monetary or otherwise, across national and international boundaries,” the statement read.
Applications must be submitted by March 10, 2017.