Port Honduras Marine Reserve context

The Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE), established in 1997 as one of the Toledo District’s first NGOs, is the co-manager of Port Honduras Marine Reserve (PHMR) in southern Belize. The reserve includes mid-lagoonal reefs, unique in Belize – with characteristics of both inshore reef and offshore barrier reef environments – and extensive seagrass beds and mangrove islands. The area supports the local traditional fishing industry and is also popular for sports fishing and a growing tourism industry. 

In 2011, TIDE piloted a managed access programme for territorial fishing rights, which has since been rolled out to the rest of the country. Among other things, this programme provides fishing licences to fishers who customarily have used the reserve, improves compliance with fishing regulations and promotes stewardship of the area and its resources. 

PHMR is a multi-use MPA and has three types of management zones. The co-management arrangement for PHMR is governed by a memorandum of understanding signed between the Fisheries Department and TIDE in 2001. 

Figure 1. Location of Port Honduras Marine Reserve and other protected areas co-managed by TIDE: Payne’s Creek National Park (PCNP) and TIDE’s Private Protected Lands (TPPL). Copyright 2019 by TIDE. Reproduced with permission.

TIDE manages and/or co-manages three protected areas and is currently requesting co-management of the recently expanded Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve, east of Port Honduras. TIDE manages its MPAs in an integrated manner, with a ridge-to-reef approach, and has individual management plans for the different protected areas. Financial planning is carried out to achieve management effectiveness of each protected area. TIDE is innovative in generating unrestricted income that helps to bridge funding gaps in protected areas management. Figure 2 shows a breakdown of TIDE’s income from 2015 to 2019.

Figure 2. Sources of income for TIDE from 2015 to 2019. Based on TIDE external audits 2015–2019.

The majority of funding for TIDE comes from grants, followed by MPA enterprises then the Protected Areas Conservation Trust (PACT), Belize’s public national conservation trust fund, and government funding through a debt-for-nature swap agreement (specifically for the management of the TIDE Private Protected Lands). PACT has gained weight as a source of funding through the years with three grants for protected areas management.

The TIDE annual budgets are broken down by co-managed protected area, the cost of implementing their enterprise development activities and support services, which include personnel and administration costs that apply across all TIDE initiatives (e.g. supporting staff, accounting, external audits, required certifications, etc.). 

In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Port Honduras had five dedicated staff (a manager and four rangers) plus a percentage of the time of supporting staff: executive director, development director, science director, marine biologist, education and outreach coordinator, communications officer, operations manager, financial administrator, accountant, accounts clerk, receptionist and security officers. 

Figure 3 shows the 2019 expenditures for PHMR, support services and TIDE’s enterprise development activities distributed across general budget items. The financing picture for PHMR is somewhat complicated by the fact that some management resources, such as head office or programmatic staff, equipment and consumables, are shared across TIDE’s sites. In its budget processes, TIDE tries to determine the proportion of these shared resources that are allocated specifically to PHMR. In this case study, many of the lessons derive from organizational management by TIDE but these nonetheless relate directly to PHMR as the MPA. 

Figure 3. 2019 PHMR management, support services and enterprise development expenditures grouped by general budget item, based on TIDE 2019 external audit (TIDE, 2015-2019).

Challenges

In spite of TIDE’s visible success in fundraising, its executive director, Celia Mahung, says that budgets have never been optimal. They are revised annually to prioritize activities that can be carried out, based on secured income. 

Neither TIDE nor other MPA co-managers in Belize receive budget allocations from the government for the management of protected areas. They need to fundraise to cover the management costs and can also apply for funding from PACT. However, TIDE and other MPA managers benefit from capacity building offered to MPA staff by the Belize government.

TIDE has faced a number of challenges in achieving sustainable financing for PHMR. Managed access has been positive for fisheries management in the reserve, but has been a heavy lift in terms of the additional funding needed for community consultations, community development, outreach and communication, initial enforcement efforts to achieve compliance, and capacity building for fishers and TIDE staff.

Figure 4. The Port Honduras field station at Abalone Caye. Copyright by Ximena Flamenco (MAR Fund). Reproduced with permission.

Although MPAs can request, and often obtain, project funding to cover the costs of investment in infrastructure and equipment, unrestricted funding is typically needed for their maintenance and/or refurbishment. This is the case for PHMR. Unrestricted funding has also proven essential to continue programmes that originally relied on donor funding, such as TIDE’s community development programmes which are an important element of its success. Designed to develop and enhance stewardship of the protected area and its resources, these include youth programmes (Community Researchers and Scholarship Students), the Community Stewards programme for local resource users, and alternative or supplemental sustainable livelihood projects in several local communities. The need for unrestricted funding to continue these programmes was a trigger for TIDE’s development of sustainable financing strategies.

As with many MPAs worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on PHMR and its co-managers. In 2020, TIDE reduced staff salaries for one month and made four staff positions redundant. One position was the manager of TIDE Tours (see below), and the executive director and the programme manager took over the operation of the business. However, with the diversity of financing mechanisms, strong donor relations and commitment of staff, TIDE remained resilient and was able to achieve its core goals and objectives.

Approaches and strategies

TIDE has grown steadily since its establishment thanks to its institutional capacity, its ability to network nationally and regionally and its success in seizing funding opportunities available to NGOs. TIDE’s sustainable financing mechanisms are diversified and fit with the unique context of the MPA. 

Dedicated grant writer/development director 

“Fundraising is a 24/7 activity.” – Executive director

“Ever since its inception, TIDE has placed significant effort on fundraising with dedicated grant writers – a strategy that has enabled the organization to sustain its programmes and achieve long-term impacts.” – Development director

TIDE prepares 8–10 proposals for grant funding annually, with a high success rate of around 90%. The sizes of proposals vary depending on the opportunities that arise, which may change from year to year. Although most are small grants averaging US$40,000, the usual range is between US$10,000 and US$200,000. Depending on the complexity/size of a proposal, it may take 2–10 days to prepare it. The grants that require more time (5–10 days) are usually for PACT, the GEF Small Grants Programme and different programmes funded by the Mesoamerican Reef Fund (MAR Fund). TIDE is also fortunate to receive financial donations from friends – individuals who visit the protected areas and are impressed with the work of the organization.

“One of the benefits of having a dedicated development director is that you are in a better position to secure and diversify funding needed to absorb economic shocks like those triggered by COVID-19.” – Joe Villafranco, former development director.

Financial planning

TIDE’s starting point for financial planning for PHMR is the MPA management plan and the long-term work plans that stem from the organization’s strategic plan. Work plans include strategic actions, main activities, programme areas, timelines, cost calculations and donors. Having these plans readily available aids fundraising.

Key to developing sustainable financing is having solid financial planning tools that allow TIDE to budget for different activities. TIDE has received training in planning and budgeting from organizations including MPAConnect and NESsT. This brought about an awareness on the importance of solid planning and budgeting. Most recently, TIDE worked with Wolfs Company as part of a larger programme that involved financial planning across several MPAs. From advances on its own planning tool, TIDE was able to help Wolfs design a budgeting tool which it hopes to continue modifying to make it as user-friendly as possible.

MPA enterprise development

TIDE Tours and Ridge-to-Reef

TIDE has successfully developed MPA-related enterprises to help generate unrestricted income. TIDE Tours was the initial market venture, offering tourism services such as local tours, accommodation and flight reservations. After TIDE Tours was established in 1999, TIDE received feedback from local tour operators that it was a source of competition, but TIDE argued the venture could be a source of income for locals. TIDE highlights to guests and community members that as a tour operator it prioritizes contributing to protected areas.

The Ridge-to-Reef (R2R) programme was launched in 2014, and became part of TIDE Tours administratively in 2019. This unique programme offers educational expeditions, mostly arranged with overseas universities, families and individuals that contact them directly. R2R employs trained community researchers to assist with the visiting students, and other service providers such as tour guides, cooks, cleaners and boat captains, generating employment for locals. Some of the visiting groups stay in local hotels, contributing to businesses in Punta Gorda and its surroundings.

The pandemic affected the R2R programme, but TIDE has received expressions of interest from different universities/organizations looking ahead. In the meantime, TIDE is fine-tuning its conservation packages for the programme, by reviewing and planning activities to undertake with visiting students based on current monitoring and research needs in PHMR and its other protected areas.

Although R2R has been very successful and is being taken up as a business model by at least one other protected area in northern Belize, it is costly. Ongoing marketing is critical, and investments in equipment and infrastructure are required. TIDE has successfully approached marketing via its extensive international network of former interns and volunteers who give back to TIDE by representing R2R at their universities and schools. 

In preparation for the return of tourism/visitation activities in the country after the COVID-19 pandemic the Belize Tourism Board developed and promoted the Gold Standards certification. International visitors were required to go to places with Gold Standards certification to minimize the spread of COVID-19. TIDE took this opportunity to obtain the certification. Although visitation is still slow, 2022 projections seem positive and TIDE Tours is visitor-ready. 

Figure 5. Installations of the Ridge-to-Reef programme in Payne’s Creek National Park, with paying volunteers enjoying a football game in their spare time. Copyright by TIDE. Reproduced with permission.

TIDE’s foray into the restaurant business

TIDE has been willing to take risks in order to explore innovative sustainable financing mechanisms. One example is its operation of a restaurant in Punta Gorda, located beside its office grounds. Walucos, a well-known and popular restaurant, complemented the managed access programme by offering TIDE the opportunity to purchase seafood from managed access fishers to sell to the restaurant. However, to turn a profit required the TIDE staff to be involved in managing the restaurant instead of hiring a full-time manager, so after one year, TIDE gave up this venture.

Professional services

TIDE has offered staff expertise for a fee. It has provided consulting services in the Mesoamerican Reef on fire management, leadership, planning and activity-based budgeting for MPA management using the tool it developed, which can be modified to suit different organizational needs. The staff involved receive a commission as an incentive.

Working with donors

TIDE has established strong donor relationships based on trust by consistently delivering and communicating results effectively. This, in turn, has helped it cultivate a diversified donor base. From 2015 to 2019 TIDE had an average of 13 donors annually, including PACT. Of the 23 donors in that period, 16 (or 70%) were private foundations. The remaining 30% were government (such as PACT), bilateral and multilateral organizations and one private consulting organization. These strong donor relations helped TIDE obtain emergency funding given the loss of tourism and revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

More donors means a larger reporting responsibility. Project management is shared with different managers who provide weekly updates during team meetings and submit draft reports to the project director, who reviews and submits to donors.

Practical tips

To advance in sustainable financing, TIDE recommends MPA managers have the following in place:

Budgeting, planning and governance

Community and stakeholder participation

• Work with and for local communities and key stakeholders to develop local stewardship for the protected area

• Ongoing communications about the benefits of protecting and using resources sustainably (see Module 3 Sharing costs and benefits with stakeholders Q&A, and Module 4 Meaningfully engaging with Indigenous peoples Insight)

• Investment in community development initiatives to strengthen community participation (see Module 4 Module 4 Arnavon Islands case study and Module 3 Communicating sustainable financing Q&A)

Figure 6. Fisher Forum. Copyright by TIDE. Reproduced with permission.

Communication and networking

Invest in staff and technology

• Use of technology for resource management (e.g. drones, Spatial Monitoring And Reporting Tool (SMART) – see below) and for outreach (online platforms such as Zoom) – this can be very effective and reduce operational costs

• Well-trained staff – TIDE continuously seeks out training opportunities, which have included several related to financial planning and budgeting. It has participated in MPAConnect-led courses and exchanges, as well as the Mesoamerican Reef Leadership Program. TIDE frequently informs the Belize Fisheries Department of capacity-building activities. In addition, TIDE runs training on different topics for its staff.

Figure 7. Health and safety training at the TIDE office in Punta Gorda. Copyright by TIDE. Reproduced with permission.

Limitations

• Limited in-house capacity and seed funding to implement other income-generating activities for PHMR

• Lack of continued funding sources to replicate successful supplemental income activities, such as skills training for youth

• Uncertainty regarding conditions of new co-management agreements especially as they relate to user fees. Currently, TIDE collects fees for PHMR (a small annual sum of approximately US$7,000), which it accounts for in its external audits. The Belize government is consulting on a new mechanism, which may be to pay fees online and have them automatically deposited to a central account.

• Obtaining information on the financial results of sustainable livelihood activities that TIDE has developed with community groups