The World Bank approved a US$4.9 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to support five years of Save our Species (SOS), a unique partnership of the GEF, the World Bank, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and private sector sponsors, such as Nokia.
SOS was launched in 2010.
5 April 2011: The World Bank approved a US$4.9 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to support five years of Save our Species (SOS) work, complemented by an additional US$5 million from the World Bank’s Development Grant Facility.
The Save our Species (SOS) program was launched in 2010 at the 10th meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP 10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya, Japan. It is a unique partnership of the GEF, the World Bank, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and private sector sponsors, such as mobile phone supplier and telecom networks provider Nokia.
SOS aims to tackle the challenge of biodiversity loss by matching financial support from private business with international conservation expertise and countries facing species extinction. SOS is establishing a grants program, with grants ranging from US$25,000 to US$800,000 awarded to civil society organizations able to show strong conservation outcomes for threatened species. More than 60 grants are expected to be made over five years. [World Bank Press Release] [SOS Project Website]