Who We Support

EDC provides the following types of rapid and responsive funding to resource and protect environmental defenders in communities most impacted by climate injustice.

URGENT RESPONSE RE-GRANTING
We channel grants from larger philanthropies to the grassroots to increase funding flexibility, speed, and impact.

GRANT SNAPSHOTS:

Front Line Defenders

EDC is Front Line Defenders’ exclusive source of funding specifically for environmental defenders at risk of violent repression and retaliation. Since 2017, we have provided $575,000 in urgent response grants, most frequently for security resources, relocation, legal assistance, and support for the families of targeted defenders in the event of arrest or relocation.

Cultural Survival

Cultural Survival’s Keepers of the Earth Fund is an urgent support mechanism available to the organization’s worldwide network of Indigenous activists and community leaders. Grants range from $3,000–$5,000 for technical and holistic security as well as other urgent needs for individuals and organizations. Cultural Survival’s extensive network is rooted in long-term relationships and trust, increasing the likelihood that these emergency resources will be found by those who need them most. The organization accepts requests in nearly a dozen Indigenous languages, distinguishing the Keepers of the Earth from similar funds.

STRATEGIC FUNDING OF FRONTLINE COMMUNITIES
EDC staff receive and review grants from a diverse network of contacts. This has been the most common approach since the establishment of EDC, and will continue to be an important avenue for grantmaking.

GRANT SNAPSHOTS:

Xolobeni

“This victory is not just a victory for Wild Coast communities and making our voices heard. This is a victory against capitalist extraction and destruction of our future…This is about protecting the planet and the whole of humanity,” —Nonhle Mbuthuma, Xolobeni community leader.

Since 2017, EDC has provided funding for a range of needs for the Xolobeni Community on the Wild Coast of South Africa, who have faced an array of threats to their lands and livelihoods including mining, oil and gas development, and a toll road. From support for investigation of a community leader’s murder to funding that has contributed to the achievement of a precedent-setting decision on the community’s “Right to Say No” to mining, EDC has been a cornerstone funder of both community and legal needs for this community and their tireless advocates.

Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association

Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association works to enhance the capacity of environmental human rights defenders to protect themselves against a range of security risks and to strengthen their own legal responses to rights violations cases. These efforts include access to digital, physical, and emotional security training, preparation of reports on the assets and needs of Environmental Human Rights Defenders, development of an early warning sign system, awareness raising in the community, and strategic litigation.

Shipibo Conibo

EDC funding supported Shipibo Conibo’s Legal Assistance Program, now managed alongside Coshikox, the Council of Self-Governance of the Shipibo-Konibo-Xetebo People of the Peruvian Amazon. A full-time in-house legal office was opened to the public for consultation and assistance free of charge in environmental and intercultural legal matters, soon becoming an indispensable resource at the service of the Indigenous communities and others who have been historically denied of their rights and access to the justice system. The program assists the Shipibo People in any legal matters involving environmental crimes, discrimination, intimidation against Indigenous activists and land defenders, territorial rights, and other rights violations. Whenever unfolding events brought about an onslaught of threats or violence, funds enabled Indigenous leaders to temporarily relocate for their own safety.

WHERE WE WORK

EDC’s grants primarily support activists, groups, and networks across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Previous grantees have worked in the following countries:

AFRICA

Angola / Cameroon / Democratic Republic of the Congo / Ethiopia / Ivory Coast / Kenya / Liberia / Namibia / Nigeria / Senegal / South Africa / Tanzania / Togo /Tunisia / Uganda / Zambia / Zimbabwe

ASIA

Armenia / Azerbaijan / Bangladesh / Cambodia / India / Indonesia / Jordan / Kazakhstan / Laos / Lebanon / Liberia / Malaysia / Mongolia / Myanmar / Nepal / Philippines / Russia / South Korea / Thailand / Vietnam

EUROPE & THE AMERICAS

Bosnia and Herzegovina / Brazil / Canada / Chile / Colombia / Dominican Republic / Ecuador / El Salvador / Guatemala / Haiti / Honduras / Mexico / Nicaragua / Panama / Peru / Sweden

OCEANIA

Australia / Papua New Guinea

WHO WE SUPPORT

EDC provides the following types of rapid and responsive funding to resource and protect environmental defenders in communities most impacted by climate injustice.

URGENT RESPONSE RE-GRANTINGWe channel grants from larger philanthropies to the grassroots to increase funding flexibility, speed, and impact.

GRANT SNAPSHOTS:

STRATEGIC FUNDING OF FRONTLINE COMMUNITIES EDC staff receive and review grants from a diverse network of contacts. This has been the most common approach since the establishment of EDC, and will continue to be an important avenue for grantmaking.

GRANT SNAPSHOTS:

WHERE WE WORK

EDC’s grants primarily support activists, groups, and networks across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Previous grantees have worked in the following countries:

URGENT RESPONSE RE-GRANTING
We channel grants from larger philanthropies to the grassroots to increase funding flexibility, speed, and impact.

STRATEGIC FUNDING OF FRONTLINE COMMUNITIES
EDC staff receive and review grants from a diverse network of contacts. This has been the most common approach since the establishment of EDC, and will continue to be an important avenue for grantmaking.