Financing

These guidelines address one of the most critical issues which protected area planners and managers face in the East Asia region: obtaining the funds needed to ensure the survival and success of protected areas. The publication explains how protected areas can generate more finance to help meet their needs, and contains brief case studies. It also includes a list of potential funding sources in the region.

The Community Conservation Support Fund (CCSF) in Sri Lanka supports innovative, community-based and natural resources management initiatives with the help of small grants. This booklet is an attempt to document achievements from several projects that were supported by grants from the CCFS, with emphasis on lessons that may influence future project work and also policies.

This work stems from the Inter-American Development Bank's support to Latin American and Caribbean participation in the IVth World Parks Congress. The region's experts who contributed to the Congress workshops focused on four specific areas: expanding the system of protected area wildlands, economic and ecological valuation of protected areas, financing the protected wildlands systems, and investment opportunities in protected areas.

Protected Areas in the Mediterranean significantly contribute to sustaining the economy of the region. Covering around 300,000 Km2, they provide freshwater flows, resources for hydropower, recreation and tourism, fisheries, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services. Regional assessments have concluded that a major effort needs to be made to solve their state of chronic under-funding.

Protected areas are the cornerstone of virtually all national and international conservation policies. About 10% of the world's forests are to be found in protected areas, and Forest Protected Areas make a critical contribution to conservation. The purpose of this publication is to address two questions, both of which are strategic, complex and politically significant: What is, and what is not, a Forest Protected Area?

It has become clear during recent global deliberations on biodiversity conservation that achieving Protected Area (PA) financial sustainability will require major changes in the way that PA funding is conceptualized, captured and used.