Since 1888, the National Geographic Society has advanced considerable impact by investing in international changemakers who help define some of the critical challenges of our time, advance new solutions, and inspire positive transformative change.
The National Geographic Society employs the power of science, exploration, education, and storytelling to illuminate and protect the wonder of the world.
The National Geographic Stories of Tropical Rainforest seeks to support storytelling projects that highlight ecosystem-scale stories and solutions-oriented attempts to mitigate or reverse human impacts.
Tropical rainforests cover about two percent of Earth’s total surface area, but they provide habitat for half of terrestrial plants and animals on earth.
Millions of indigenous peoples who call these rainforests home — as they have for millennia — have proven to be the best guardians of these forests, but other human influences have never been a more imminent threat.
Currently, there’s a great challenge and great opportunity in the rainforests of the Amazon River basin, the Congo River basin, and the Indonesian and Malaysian archipelagos.
This request for proposals is for individuals who can show the world what will be lost if these biomes are not protected and highlight potential solutions that have the power to create real, practical improvements.
To put the issue into perspective, the dry season is now longer in some parts of the Amazon, and more drought-tolerant tree species are starting to appear. Continued loss of tree coverage in any tropical forest can alter water cycles in ways that could lead to further degradation.
However, there is hope that global recognition of these problems and the discovery of locally grounded solutions can halt or reverse them.