Rapid Response Facility (RRF)

Emergency Situations

Natural sites listed as World Heritage are prime areas of biodiversity. In crisis or emergency situations (e.g. forest fires, sudden increase in poaching, armed conflicts, oil spill, etc.), precious time is often lost in organizing an intervention, while during this time, the world's natural heritage can be irreparably damaged.

Such disasters include both natural and human-induced challenges such as:

• Natural disasters including earthquakes and wildfires causing sudden and unpredictable damage to ecosystems and rural livelihoods;
• Man-made crises having knock-on effects on wildlife including armed conflicts and oil spills;
• Dramatic increases in the over-exploitation of wildlife such as poaching events decimating wildlife populations;
• Uncontrolled and unregulated fast-paced development projects such as illegal road construction and dam prospecting within outstanding natural habitats.

This is why the RRF plays an essential role, making funds immediately available to provide support when it is needed most.

Mechanism

The RRF provides grants of up to US$ 40,000 and makes funding decisions within 8 working days; making RRF the world's fastest conservation funding organization.

Grant approval is subject to receipt of an application, which:

• Clearly demonstrates the severity and time sensitive nature of the emergency;
• Proposes an appropriate response to the emergency;
• Is submitted by a reputable organization, with the appropriate capacity to deliver against the project objectives.

The RRF provides support for a range of emergency activities to enable:

• Rapid threat assessment; elimination and/or impact mitigation;
• Support to vulnerable sites deemed essential to avoid a return to emergency status;
• Response to time sensitive opportunities that will significantly strengthen the biodiversity status of a threatened natural World Heritage property.

Applications to the RRF must meet each of our criteria in order to qualify for funding. Please find these criteria and application forms here.

Learn more

Partners

Launched in 2006 the RRF is a partnership between Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, having received funding from donors such as the United Nations Foundation, Arcadia, Fondation Franz Weber, Fondation Iris and the Government of Norway.

To make the best possible funding decisions that can have the largest possible impact and make efficient use of resources it is essential to make use of the best information available.

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre, with its global reach of 194 States Parties, has the global network needed to provide insight to the social, political and environmental context of unfolding emergencies.

Fauna & Flora International’s innovative and ‘on-the-ground’ approach to conservation provides practical knowledge and experience of the challenges and means of bringing about effective solutions. Through this collaboration, the RRF operates a rigorous review and monitoring process that ensures the highest possible impact of investment.

Fondation Franz Weber has been a key partner of the RRF since 2013 by providing essential financial resources and also contributing to the knowledge and experience essential to the decision-making process and the strategic direction of the fund.

Since 2019, the RRF also counts with the support of the Iris Foundation and the Government of Norway.

Watch this video to learn more about how the RRF grant helped to reduce disaster impact for the Cerrado