Rewilding Rhodopes Foundation announces:
OPEN CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Call id: Financial support to third parties for Replication projects under LIFE23-NAT-BG-LIFE Rhodope Vulture project.
Call description:
The main objective of the open call for replication proposals is to provide direct financial support to entities to ensure replication, share results, lessons learned, findings and recommendations from tо current project to other areas, regions and sites.
The following activities are eligible:
1. Develop, improve and finalize feasibility studies for Cinereous vulture and Red deer reintroduction in other areas.
2. Activities directly contributing to establishing a new Cinereous Vulture breeding colony.
3. Visits in Bulgaria and Greece to get acquainted with the project experience. Priority will be given to those dealing with reintroduction and preventing wildlife crime. Visits in other areas to select animals for reintroductions.
4. Preparatory work for establishment of anti-poisoning dog units and monitoring of threats using vultures and preventing wildlife crime. Creation, operation, and management of joint patrol collaboration of law enforcement Forest Officers with NGOs and hunting clubs using anti-poison dog units. Activities directly contributing to building and improvement of the capacity of the governmental institutions and public authorities to fight poisonings in the future and setting up clear procedures to combat the illegal use of poisons in the wild.
5. Activities that will result in replication of using the GPS tracking of wild and translocated Cinereous Vultures to help analyse and identify poisoning and other threats for vultures. The use of GPS tracking has become a major tool in conservation management in the last decades and has a growing capacity in terms of technical solutions.
6. Activities that will address the prevention of bird mortality associated with wind farms – improvement of the methods for impact assessment studies and promoted to management agencies that require energy companies to implement proper prevention protocols.
7. Activities that will increase the natural food base for vultures through the establishment of deer populations in new areas – the release of wild prey species is widely applicable in cases where prey species management is needed (e.g. hunting enterprises, areas managed by hunters, reserves or others). This result can be easily upscaled by hunting associations that want to sustain game species and manage their population in areas with low densities.
8. Activities related to the promotion of lead-free ammunition thus the threat of lead poisoning is decreased.
Call deadline: 15 November 2025
Call overall budget: 20 000 EUR
Minimum/Maximum amount of funding per project: min. 2500 EUR – max. 7000 EUR per project.
Funding body: Rewilding Rhodopes Foundation, Bulgaria beneficiary under LIFE23-NAT-BG-LIFE Rhodope Vulture project.
Eligible applicants:
Only legal entities are eligible (e.g., NGOs, public authorities, research institutions, etc.).
Natural persons cannot apply.
Applicants must be legally established in one of the following:
- Any EU Member State (including overseas territories)
- A third country formally associated to the LIFE Programme such as Iceland, North Macedonia, Moldova, Ukraine, Montenegro, see:
Applicants must have proven experience in nature conservation, species protection, wildlife crime prevention, or related applied research.
They must also have adequate financial and operational capacity to carry out the proposed action and to comply with the financial provisions of the EU grant framework.
Expected duration of projects: maximum 18 months
Weblink for further information (full call text/application forms/guidance):
LIFE Rhodope Vulture | Rewilding Rhodope Mountains
Guidelines and Application pack:
GUIDELINES OPEN CALL FSTP LIFE PHODOPE VULTURE
Annex 3_Declaration non double financing
Annex 4_Draft_CONTRACT_for reference
Contact: info@rewilding-rhodopes.com