Belmont Forum: Tropical Forests call for proposals

Since 2009, the Belmont Forum, whose members include funding organisations, scientific councils and regional consortia, has been funding calls for proposals, also known as Collaborative Research Actions (CRA), to promote international transdisciplinary research in the context of global environmental change. As a full member of the Belmont Forum, the SNSF is participating in the Tropical Forests CRA.

This CRA aims to coordinate transdisciplinary measures and projects to develop innovative solutions to address the challenges faced in tropical forest regions. It focuses on all the world's tropical forests and the interconnected ecosystems that influence them. The tropical ecosystems are located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, regardless of altitude.

Applications must include elements from at least two of the three areas listed below:

1. Reduction in deforestation and promotion of sustainable development and of local economies
2. Functioning of ecosystems, connectivity and climate change
3. Environmental justice and governance

Given the complexity and scale of the challenges, research consortia must be transdisciplinary and therefore include researchers in the fields of:

• social sciences/humanities/economics and
• natural sciences/physical sciences/engineering, as well as
• social partners (i.e. citizens, industry, community organisations and other stakeholders), using a participatory, joint design, joint development and joint implementation approach.

Each project must include at least three partners eligible to receive funding from at least three different countries participating in the programme. Having at least one country from a tropical region as a partner is recommended. At least one non-academic partner (e.g. a community or industrial organisation) must be included in the consortium.

This CRA has a two-stage submission process: project outlines and full applications. Please note that a pre-proposal must be submitted by 12 November 2024 before a full proposals can be submitted by 30 May 2025. Pre-proposals should not be submitted on mySNF but only using the BFgo system. Applicants will then be informed at the start of 2025 whether they are being invited to submit a full proposals. Full proposals should be submitted on the platform indicated by the Belmont Forum and in parallel on mySNF for applicants based in Switzerland.

The full conditions for submitting an application are outlined in the call for proposals document and in the national directives on the Belmont Forum website.