Sustainable Daily | Up to $107,000 for communities that want to create private reserves: Conserva Aves opens its first call for proposals in Chile

A continent-wide initiative has just opened its first funding window in Chile. Conserva Aves, a hemispheric effort led by the National Audubon Society and local partners, launched its first public call for proposals to fund the creation, expansion, or standardization of private protected areas aimed at safeguarding critical habitats for threatened resident and migratory birds.

Community-based organizations, trade associations, cooperatives, agricultural communities, Indigenous communities or associations, and non-governmental organizations are eligible to apply. The deadline is July 10, 2026, and applications must be submitted through the Fondo Naturaleza Chile digital platform. An informational webinar with details about the call for proposals will be held on June 16.

The available amounts vary depending on the type of project: up to $107,000 for the creation of new reserves, $60,000 for expansions, and $50,000 for homologation processes to the new National System of Protected Areas (SNAP), created under Law 21,600. Projects can have an execution period of up to 36 months and include technical support for the design of management plans and financial sustainability.

From Alaska to Tierra del Fuego

The arrival of Conserva Aves in Chile is not an isolated event. The initiative is part of a continental strategy that seeks to close protection gaps along the migratory routes that cross the American hemisphere from north to south, prioritizing sites where declining migratory birds coincide with endemic and threatened resident species.

“Birds know no borders,” said Javiera Ferreyra, director of the National Audubon Society in Chile, an organization with over 120 years of experience in conservation. The analysis of priority sites was developed by Audubon in collaboration with the Chilean Network of Bird and Wildlife Observers (ROC), combining hemispheric science with local territorial knowledge.

“This call for proposals represents a historic opportunity to mobilize direct resources to local communities, enabling effective and long-term conservation of our most critical ecosystems for bird life,” highlighted Eugenio Rengifo, Executive Director of Fondo Naturaleza Chile.