Commission for Environmental Cooperation announces community grant recipients
NAPECA to fund 21 local environmental projects across North America
Montreal, 8 February 2016—The Council of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) today announced funding for 21 innovative local projects under its C$1.3 million North American Partnership for Environmental Community Action (NAPECA) grant program.
NAPECA supports small, nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Canada, Mexico and the United States that work closely with local communities and indigenous groups to create a shared sense of responsibility for stewardship of the environment.
Work on the 21 projects that have been awarded funding will begin in early 2016. Projects span North American’s ecoregions and support communities’ environmental efforts, from Alaska, through Canada’s Western Coastal regions, the Great Lakes and Arizona’s desert in the US, to regions in Mexico such as the sierra Tarahumara and the lush, verdant areas of Oaxaca and Tabasco.
In establishing the NAPECA grant selection criteria, the CEC Council sought to encourage project proposals that would support efforts at the grassroots level, focus on the theme of sustainable communities or urban initiatives, and produce tangible results for local communities.
A trilateral selection committee decided on 21 projects from among more than 500 proposals. The projects selected meet the Council’s strategic objectives to support model environmental initiatives that help build long-term partnerships to improve environmental conditions at the community, indigenous, local and regional levels. They include active community involvement, an emphasis on promoting partnerships, and a sound implementation plan with measurable objectives that can be achieved within the time frame of NAPECA support.
The projects will be conducted by a diverse set of NGOs, environmental groups, community-based associations, academic institutions, and groups representing Tribal nations, and indigenous peoples and communities.
The NAPECA projects address such environmental issues as protecting pollinators, monitoring water quality reducing urban storm water runoff impacts, encouraging reforestation and river conservation and reducing school waste. Others address reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector, enhancing urban agriculture, preserving agro-biodiversity, and managing insect-damaged ash trees. Importantly, several of the NAPECA projects are oriented toward helping tribal or indigenous communities improve their local environment.
The CEC Council members—Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna, Mexico’s Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources Rafael Pacchiano Alamán, and US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy—support the grant program to encourage innovative and model environmental initiatives at the community level.
Further information on NAPECA, including details on current and completed projects, can be found at www.cec.org/napeca.
List of NAPECA Grants for 2015–2016
| Project Name | Organization Name | Organization Country | Activity country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Protecting Pollinators through Community Collaboration | Edmonton and Area Land Trust | Canada | Canada |
| 2 | The Prairie Habitat Garden Project: Naturalizing to Native Prairie for Improved Learning and Engagement | Department of Educational Foundations, University of Saskatchewan | Canada | Canada |
| 3 | Restoring the Shores of The Place of Blue Grouse | SeaChange Marine Conservation Society | Canada | Canada |
| 4 | Collaborative Environmental Monitoring in a UNESCO Biosphere: A Pilot Project in the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region | Vancouver Island University | Canada | Canada |
| 5 | Communautés Innues durables: protection du territoire et maintien du mode de vie traditionnel | Société pour la Nature et les Parcs du Canada – Section Québec | Canada | Canada |
| 6 | Citizen Science for Wildlife Protection in Gatineau Park and National Capital Greenbelt | Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – Ottawa Valley Chapter | Canada | Canada |
| 7 | Iokwiráhskats ne Éhsa (The Beautiful Ash Trees) | Kahnawake Environment Protection Office | Canada | Canada |
| 8 | Toronto RainCAP Pilot Project | RiverSides Foundation | Canada | Canada |
| 9 | Yarducopia: Growing Food and Building Community in the Far North | Alaska Community Action On Toxics | United States | United States |
| 10 | We Are Water: Growing a Great Lakes Commons | Milwaukee Environmental Consortium | United States | Canada and United States |
| 11 | Hartford Solar, Global Green | Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice | United States | United States |
| 12 | People for Pollinators: An Urban Garden Initiative for the Conservation of Pollinator Insects and Native, Sustainable Environments
|
Louisville Nature Center
|
United States | United States |
| 13 | Pilot Project for Building Environmental Health Capacity through Child Care Settings | Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN) | United States | United States and Mexico |
| 14 | “Adopt-a-Sonoran-Desert-Crop” Project: Preserving Agro-Biodiversity through Citizen Participation | Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture | United States | United States and Mexico |
| 15 | Mariposas of the Milpa: Fostering Urban Biodiversity through Urban Agriculture | Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum | United States | United States |
| 16 | Impulso de productos vegetales autóctonos de la sierra Tarahumara | Asociación Nacional para la Innovación y Desarrollo Tecnológico Agrícola | Mexico | Mexico |
| 17 | Reducción de emisiones de GEI en el sector ganadero de la mesa central de Guanajuato | Ceterus A.C. | Mexico | Mexico |
| 18 | Senda verde: reforestación y conservación de los ríos Jalacingo, Alseseca, María de la Torre y Gavilanes, en la cuenca del río Bobos-Nautla, Veracruz | Unión Regional de Productores Plátano Dominico, Asociación Civil | Mexico | Mexico |
| 19 | Basura Cero en mi Escuela, programa escolar de separación y reciclaje | Organización de Educación Ambiental A.C. | Mexico | Mexico |
| 20 | Huellas verdes: conservación de la flora nativa del Estado de Tabasco | Universidad Tecnológica de Tabasco | Mexico | Mexico |
| 21 | Programa de manejo y gestión integral de los residuos sólidos municipales en la sierra sur de Oaxaca | Género y flor de maíz | Mexico | Mexico |
About the CEC
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) was established in 1994 by the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States through the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, a parallel environmental agreement to NAFTA. As of 2020, the CEC is recognized and maintained by the Environmental Cooperation Agreement, in parallel with the new Free Trade Agreement of North America. The CEC brings together a wide range of stakeholders, including the general public, Indigenous people, youth, nongovernmental organizations, academia, and the business sector, to seek solutions to protect North America’s shared environment while supporting sustainable development for the benefit of present and future generations
The CEC is governed and funded equally by the Government of Canada through Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Government of the United States of Mexico through the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, and the Government of the United States of America through the Environmental Protection Agency.