Learn about the winning projects of the FMA 2023 competitive fund

Community water monitoring, recovery of the knowledge of orchard women, citizen science for children and a documentary series on artisans, were some of the themes and projects that stood out in this year’s call. The FMA competitive fund is aimed at transdisciplinary initiatives that promote research, adaptation actions and mitigation to climate change, as well as education to generate concrete advances in relation to the care of nature.

Among the topics that are sought to promote are the conservation of native flora, fauna and funga, as well as coastal ecosystems; conservation and socio-ecological restoration at the landscape scale; Water management; research on climate refuges and nature-based solutions; in addition to strategies and/or actions for the prevention and control of forest fires, among others.

FMA Fund provides a financing of $5,000,000 for each project, and also a support work in the different stages of the projects. It should be noted that the selected proposals can apply for up to 3 consecutive years for the development of different stages of their project with the aim of providing long-term sustainability and continuity, so that the proposals can be replicated in other contexts.

 List of winning projects: 

1. “Participatory community science for sustainable water planning in Chile: Consolidating the Global Water Watch Chile participatory community monitoring network” , promoted by Fundación Manzana Verde. Creating resilient and creative communities in the face of water scarcity, water pollution and climate change has been the transversal motivation of a project that received support from our foundation through the FMA Fund and which will continue. The initiative has already impacted various organizations in the communes of Penco, Concepción, Laja, los Álamos, Tomé, Hualpén, San Pedro –and soon, Isla Mocha– for the use of the “Kit Alabama Water Watch Lamotte”.
2. “Citizen science in Curarrehue, methodology for environmental education of boys and girls about contamination in the Trancura River.” Scientific workshops for children, related to water management: water scarcity, decontamination of surface and/or groundwater, wastewater management. Generation of experiences for the creation of micro-wetlands and installation of methods for the treatment of gray water in schools. Registration of processes with a view to disseminating its methodology. It will benefit rural schools where the garbage scientists methodology will be implemented.
3. “Elqui Ice”. Art and science training program with eighth grade students from the Ríos de Elqui School in Rivadavia, Vicuña district. The object of study is the Estero Derecho Nature Sanctuary, a key territory in the water supply of the Elqui Province. The initiative contemplates the management of visits and tours of the students to the sanctuary, where they will collect samples that will be raw material to experiment in a creative laboratory, which will conclude with collective works exhibited in the Casa de la Cultura de Vicuña. The objective of this project is to disseminate in the educational communities of the sector, the relevance of the Estero Derecho and the fragile ecosystems that supply water to the most important river in the Province of Elqui.
4. “Leonor Mascayano Therapeutic Park, Phase 1: Soil management and restoration”. First of three phases of a soil restoration project on a hillside affected by fires in 2015 and 2023, where the ONG Rebrota is located together with the Psychiatric Responsibility Center of Concepción, CESFAM and PRAIS. Spaces for meeting, learning and community strengthening will be created, through art-therapy activities based on soil analysis procedures and interpretation of laboratory results, students and teachers from first to fifth grade of three schools in the territory.
5. “Women of water: participatory research for the enhancement of coastal heritage refuges”. Research and co-construction of a script for audiovisual production around three artisans –representatives of the Yagán and Huilliche people– protagonists of a documentary series and carrying out participatory actions for the creation of soundscapes and affective cartographies. The project seeks to make visible, support and value the permanence of the indigenous identity and the ancestral legacy of women caretakers of natural refuges and craft trades that keep biocultural memory alive
6. “Transfer of scientific knowledge and local biocultural knowledge for the conservation of native flora associated with wetlands and their contributions”. Continuity of the “Local biocultural knowledge at the service of wetland restoration and its contributions” project, amplifying its results and consolidating initiatives that allow strengthening capacities in the youth and adult community, through the leadership of local women around learning identification of native species with nursery potential for use in agroecological orchards and pilot reforestation actions.

We thank all the projects that participated in the FMA 2023 Fund call. If you want to know the bases of the current call, check the following link .