The Barcelona Zoo Foundation has awarded its annual grants to fund biodiversity and wildlife research, conservation, protection, and preservation projects (PRICs in Catalan). In all 24 applications were received this year, and the Foundation will be donating €50,000 to fund the 8 selected projects.

Most of the grants awarded this year (7 out of the 8, or 87%) are for research projects that focus on Mediterranean wildlife and ecosystems. Five of the projects will be carried out in situ, i.e, in the species’ natural environments, while one will be undertaken in the Zoo itself. The two remaining projects will be approached from the perspective of integrated management, or in other words, using a strategy that integrates management and conservation actions in the natural environment and in a controlled environment. It should also be noted that 5 of the 8 projects (62%) are geared towards producing doctoral theses.

The main zoological groups the projects focus on are birds (2 projects), bats (2), amphibians (1), fish (1), reptiles (1) and land mammals (1).  

These are the projects have received grants from the 2020 campaign:

From 2009 to 2020, the Barcelona Zoo Foundation directly donated €3.5 million to in situ research and conservation projects, a clear indication of the Zoo’s commitment to studying and conserving biodiversity, especially in the Mediterranean. In those 12 years, over 380 projects have been undertaken, 140 of them through the Grant Programme. which the Foundation organises every year. This annual grants campaign has become a major event for researchers at universities, research centres and national and international NGOs devoted to wildlife conservation. Since its inception, the Foundation has allocated €1 million to its Grants Programme.

Subsidy applications announcement
https://www.zoobarcelona.cat/ca/noticies/obrim-la-convocatoria-de-beques-de-la-fundacio-barcelona-zoo-2020

Terms and conditions

https://www.zoobarcelona.cat/sites/default/files/2020-10/BCNZOO_Bases_Beques_2020.pdf