The problem statement is where you build a case for what is known about a problem and why your research is going to significantly improve our knowledge. The project objectives section is like a big bullseye surrounded by hunters with assault rifles. This is the part of the proposal where you lay out your objectives and hypotheses. In addition, your hypotheses must be testable. Changing this around a bit, we can make it testable.
Pine trees living in sandy-textured soils grow better than pine trees grown in clay soils.
Proposals with vague, unimportant, or nontestible hypotheses will not get funded. Methods should describe the experimental design of your study. Be specific about the techniques you are using, the sites you are choosing, and the numbers of samples you are collecting. The bottom line is that you need to think of sexy and important questions that have a broad impact in your field. Specifically, you want your results to be generalizable to many different ecosystems as possible.