How External Financing Influences National Commitments to Biodiversity Conservation (Spring 2020)

Using expert interviews, this Bass Connections team compiled and analyzed a set of case studies exploring the conditions under which low- and middle-income nations finance some, or most, of their protected areas’ operating costs. This project was conducted in partnership with the Conservation Measures Partnership, a consortium of conservation organizations that seek better ways to design, manage and measure the impacts of conservation actions.

By designing an interview instrument and conducting 15 semi-structured interviews of conservation professionals working on specific protected areas and protected area networks, the team analyzed and synthesized findings across three global regions: Asia/Pacific, Africa and Latin America.

In addition to qualitative data collected through interviews, the team collected data on the protected area systems, and basic legal, historical and economic information for each focal country.

The team found that internal funding for protected areas was generated by park entry fees, ecosystem service payments and general taxation, while external funding was largely supported by international nongovernmental organizations and private foundations. The overwhelming majority (90%) of respondents discussing protected area networks indicated that internal and external funds were not evenly distributed across all the protected areas within a network. For specific protected areas, they found that the most common funding mechanisms are conservation trust funds and public-private partnerships.

Timing

Spring 2020

Team Outputs

Image: Measuring impact, courtesy of Conservation Members Partnership