The Darwin Initiative

The Darwin Initiative is a UK government grants scheme that helps to protect biodiversity and the natural environment through locally based projects worldwide.

What we do

The initiative funds projects that help countries rich in biodiversity but poor in financial resources to meet their objectives under one or more of the following biodiversity conventions:

Apply for funding

Read the details of the different schemes and how to apply.

Projects typically try to address threats to biodiversity such as:

over-exploitation
invasive species
habitat degradation and loss
climate change mitigation and adaptation
pollution

You can look up current and past projects in the Darwin projects database.

Darwin Expert Committee

The Darwin Expert Committee (currently chaired by Professor Stephen Blackmore), consists of experts from government, academia, science and the private sector. The committee advises ministers on development of the initiative, reviews applications and makes recommendations to ministers on applications for funding.

Name	Organisation
Professor Stephen Blackmore (Chair)	Independent
Mr Jonathan Barzdo	Independent
Mr Martin Brasher	Independent
Dr Abigail Entwistle	Fauna and Flora International (FFI)
Dr Essam Yassin Mohammed	International Institute for Environment and Development
Dr Geoffrey Hawtin	Independent
Dr Keith Hamer	University of Leeds
Mr Matthew Hatchwell	Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
Dr Frances Humber	Blue Ventures
Professor Julia Jones	University of Bangor
Dr Gary Martin	Global Diversity Foundation
Professor EJ Milner-Gulland	Oxford University
Dr Jay Mistry	Royal Holloway, University of London
Dr Howard Nelson	University of Chester
Dilys Roe	International Institute for Environment and Development
Dr Shaun Russell	Bangor University
Dr Paul Smith	Botanic Gardens Conservation International
Dr Juliet Vickery	RSPB
Dr Mark Watson	Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh
Ex-officio members:
Dr Vincent Fleming	JNCC
Professor Monique Simmonds	Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Chris Lyal	Natural History Museum