Call for Proposals: “Environment, Climate Change and Human Rights” in Zimbabwe

The call for research grant proposals is centered on the interlinkages and nexus between the environment, climate change and human rights.

Areas of Research 

• They encourage research related to the following areas:
  • Environment: This sub-theme explores the interdependencies between environmental protection and human rights, emphasizing how environmental degradation directly threatens fundamental rights such as life, health, food, water, and cultural survival. Research should investigate how environmental safeguards influence human rights enjoyment and how international human rights law shapes national environmental policies and climate action initiatives. Proposals might focus on:
    • The influence of international human rights law in environmental law and/or climate action: justifications and application
    • The relationship between substantive and procedural environmental rights and other human rights
    • Environmental issues affecting human rights e.g biodiversity loss, pollution, development projects, environmental degradation, etc.
  • Climate Change: This sub-theme explores the human rights implications of climate change, particularly for vulnerable communities in Zimbabwe. Climate-induced disasters such as droughts, floods, and cyclones are increasingly threatening food security, water access, health, housing, and sanitation, deepening poverty and inequality. Research should examine how human rights frameworks can strengthen climate resilience, ensuring that mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage strategies prioritize those most affected. Proposals might focus on:
    • The relationship between climate change and the enjoyment of specific human rights such as the right to health, right to food, right to water and sanitation, right to adequate housing
    • The importance of regional and sub regional developments in Africa on human rights, environmental rights and climate change law, and its relevance to Zimbabwean domestic law
    • Planned relocation of communities in response to climate change
    • Loss and damage assessments and accountability
  • Environmental governance: This sub-theme explores how climate change and human rights considerations can be effectively integrated into Zimbabwe’s multi-sectoral development framework. It seeks research that examines how government authorities at national, provincial, and local levels can adopt human rights-based approaches in climate and environmental governance while advancing development goals. Research should investigate practical mechanisms for ensuring that environmental and climate policies respect human rights principles, promote equity, and enhance inclusive participation and accountability. Proposals might focus on:
    • Exploring human rights based approaches to environmental governance at national, provincial and local levels
    • Interrogating the role of institutional mechanisms in responding to environmental problems
    • Climate adaptation and environmental management in practice at national, provincial and local levels
  • Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): This sub-theme explores the interconnection between environmental protection, climate action, and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Zimbabwe. It seeks research examining how environmental rights can drive climate resilience, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable economic development at both national and local levels. Priority will be given to research that provides practical policy recommendations for integrating environmental governance with sustainable development objectives, ensuring that climate action promotes social justice and protects vulnerable communities. Proposals might focus on:
    • Conservation
    • Sustainable agricultural practices
    • Poverty eradication
    • Tourism
    • Waste management
    • Other specific Goals and Targets under the SDGs
  • Business: This sub-theme examines the role of businesses—both formal and informal—in shaping environmental sustainability and human rights in Zimbabwe, with a particular focus on the extractives industry and natural resource governance. Research should investigate how corporate activities impact forestry, fisheries, wildlife, and land, as well as their effects on local communities’ rights and livelihoods. Proposals might focus on:
    • Extractives industry in Zimbabwe
    • The role of businesses in climate change action and the protection of human rights (corporate social accountability)
    • Private sector engagement with natural resources governance, including forestry, fisheries, wildlife, land, etc.
  • Mitigation Projects and Green Transition: This sub-theme explores the intersection of human rights and the transition to green energy, focusing on policies and legal frameworks that promote sustainability while ensuring social justice. Research should examine human rights considerations in developing carbon market regulations, ensuring equitable participation and benefits for all stakeholders. Proposals might focus on:
    • Carbon market legal framework
    • Green trade
    • Green procurement, green technology
    • Green energy security especially in rural contexts
    • Resettlement of communities away from areas where green energy or other mitigation projects will take place
  • Disaster risk reduction and management: This sub-theme explores the critical link between disaster risk reduction (DRR) and human rights, emphasizing the need for rights-based approaches in prevention, response, and recovery. Research should investigate how early warning systems, evacuation plans, temporary shelters, and technological innovations can be designed to uphold human dignity and ensure equitable access to protection. Proposals might focus on:
    • Human rights based approaches to disaster risk reduction – prevention, response and recovery mechanisms; early warning mechanisms, evacuation, temporary shelter and humanitarian relief
    • Human rights dimensions of technology in DRR
    • Human rights implications to sectoral approaches to disaster risk reduction, e.g agriculture, forestry, fisheries, wildlife, land, etc
    • Disaster risk reduction governance and human rights – with particular emphasis on multi-level, multi-sectoral, multi-stakeholder dynamics
  • Gender Equality: This sub-theme explores the intersection of gender equality, climate action, and human rights, recognizing that climate change disproportionately affects women and girls, particularly in rural and marginalized communities. Research should examine how climate policies can better protect women and girls by integrating gender-responsive measures into adaptation, mitigation, and resilience strategies. Proposals might focus on:
    • Human rights-based gender perspectives on climate action and environmental protection
    • Women’s participation and leadership in climate governance at local, national, and international levels
    • The impact of climate-induced displacement/migration on women and girls
    • Access to climate finance and technology for women-led initiatives
  • Climate justice and the courts: This sub-theme invites research on the evolving role of courts in environmental rights litigation, exploring how legal frameworks can strengthen climate action. Proposals might focus on:
    • The role of courts in advancing environmental constitutionalism for climate action
    • The relationship between constitutional environmental rights and duties of state and non state actors
    • Exploring the influence of the growing (global) jurisprudence on climate litigation in their jurisdiction
  • Sustainable Climate Financing: This sub-theme invites research on sustainable climate finance strategies in Zimbabwe, focusing on resource mobilization, allocation, and utilization at national, regional, and international levels. Studies should explore access to global climate funds for marginalized communities, corporate accountability in climate finance, and innovative financial instruments such as debt-for-climate swaps, climate taxation frameworks, and public-private partnerships. Proposals might focus on:
    • Resource mobilisation, resource allocation and resource utilisation at national, regional and international level
    • Debt swaps for climate resilience
    • Corporate accountability in climate finance
    • Access to climate finance for marginalized communities
  • Public Health: This sub-theme focuses on the critical intersection of climate change, environmental degradation, and public health, highlighting the disproportionate impacts on vulnerable populations and the need for a human rights-based approach. Research should explore the cascading effects of climate change on public health, particularly air quality, water scarcity, and food security, and how these factors exacerbate health disparities. Proposals might focus on:
    • The impact of air pollution, extreme heat, and climate change on the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and other human rights, such as the right to work
    • The relationship between water scarcity, sanitation, and public health outcomes from a right to water, right to health, or other human rights perspective
    • Food security, nutrition, and climate-induced malnutrition
    • The rise of climate-sensitive diseases (e.g., malaria, cholera, dengue) and public health preparedness
  • Technology: This sub-theme highlights the essential role of technology in climate action, offering innovative solutions for climate adaptation, mitigation, and environmental management. Research in this sub-theme should explore the contributions of technological innovations to climate resilience, while critically assessing potential risks and ethical issues from a human rights perspective. Proposals might focus on:
    • The role of technology in climate mitigation and adaptation strategies
    • Access to climate technology as a human right—barriers and solutions
    • The ethical implications of climate surveillance and AI-driven environmental monitoring
    • The role of digital tools in disaster preparedness and response
    • Renewable energy innovations and equitable access to clean energy.

Funding Information

• The budgets for individual research projects should not exceed USD 1000 and for a team of two on a research project USD 2000.

Eligibility Criteria

• Academic faculty members and researchers from Zimbabwean universities, independent research centers, independent commissions and civil society organisations are eligible to apply both individually and jointly. Proposals must demonstrate necessary support by the applicant’s dean/director (or equivalent).
• Prospective applicants are encouraged to submit only one application. Should multiple applications be received from the same applicant, only one proposal will be considered.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Previous research grant recipients are not eligible.

For more information, visit Raoul Wallenberg Institute.