In this chapter, we present a selection of persistent challenges we have identified through our work on sustainable financing strategies with MPAs in Latin America and the Caribbean, and workshop inputs from international MPA practitioners.
Key takeaways
Key takeaways
Developing a compelling case for specific MPAs as nature-based solutions that address urgent societal and environmental issues can be an effective approach for promoting collective efforts and help overcome finance challenges.
Key takeaways
Robust and systematic budgeting and financial planning for MPAs are also necessary to inform collective resource mobilization efforts and promote cost-effective achievement of MPA management goals.
Key takeaways
Context-specific strategies for sustainable financing are in turn critical for MPAs to tap into the best available opportunities.
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What is the MPA lifecycle?
The MPA life cycle is a framework designed to ensure that, from design to implementation and revision, MPAs are built to withstand change and address the issues that inspired their creation.
Although increasing global connectivity has made plenty of resources accessible (e.g., digital reports, webinars, websites and other online platforms) to support MPA financing efforts, success stories from MPA sites still seem slow to emerge. “There are many financing mechanisms out there, but none of them works on its own,” says Ramón de León, who managed the Bonaire National Marine Park for more than a decade and currently runs Reef Support, an online payment platform he designed specifically to help MPAs optimize their fee systems. “While a combination of mechanisms and strategies may work best, MPAs still face many challenges to successfully implement them.”
The challenges De León mentions can relate to highly context-specific factors. These include the:
Type of management entity
Management capacities
Administrative or financial requirements of some mechanisms
MPA geography
Natural resource base
Socioeconomic conditions around the MPA
Legal and political system
Below, we present a selection of persistent challenges we have identified through our work on sustainable financing strategies with MPAs in Latin America and the Caribbean, and workshop inputs from international MPA practitioners.
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Administrative and financial challenges
The time, technology, infrastructure and management processes required to improve financial health and build sustainable financing can pose administrative and financial challenges.
Legal and regulatory restrictions on fund generation
Legal systems may not allow MPA management entities to collect or retain fees and fines. For example, public MPA management entities might not be allowed to raise and directly manage funds outside government budget allocations. In other cases, funds collected in the MPA might go to the central government budget and then not be redistributed. Legal and regulatory restrictions on the types of financing that the MPA or its managers can raise also limit their opportunities to generate funds.
Lack of influence on public budget allocations
Government budget processes and rules can be difficult for MPA managers to navigate and limit their ability to seek increased budget allocations. In addition, MPA managers might not be involved in negotiating budgets for protected areas.
Ineffective policy implementation
Even if relevant policies and strategies are in place, lack of guidance, slow implementation or difficult institutional and legal reforms can pose challenges to the use of financing mechanisms such as concessions or user fees.
Compliance and enforcement
The lack of robust compliance and enforcement frameworks can affect MPAs’ overall effectiveness (OECD, 2017) and their ability to collect fees or enforce permits and licences.
Property rights
The lack of, or uncertainty about, property rights in coastal and marine areas, especially for communities or for marine conservation agreements, can prevent the use of concessions or other private sector management approaches. Unclear or complex shared tenure or resource rights can, for example, create high transaction costs for specific financing mechanisms.
Unclear mandates
When there are co-managers, or management is delegated by the government to a private entity, these co-managers or delegated managers usually lack funds and/or support to create a sufficient stream of revenues. Overlapping or conflicting enforcement mandates among agencies, or co-managers, can also affect compliance and enforcement.
Social and economic challenges
Implementing financing mechanisms in an MPA usually requires local stakeholders (e.g., sectors, institutions, communities or individuals) to transform processes and activities. Stakeholders may not be willing to engage or adapt without a compelling case that illustrates the socioeconomic, financial and ecological benefits of a financing mechanism or an equitable benefit-sharing structure that gives them an incentive to support its adoption. MPAs may also need to overcome negative perceptions or mistrust, and (cultural) attachment to existing processes and activities.
In some contexts, such as in small island developing states, high staff turnover can be a result of political changes, migration or the inability of the conservation sector to offer competitive salaries and career development opportunities. This can make it difficult to develop and maintain a consistent level of staff capacity (technical, managerial, executive, etc.) to provide continuity of administrative and financial processes. Expertise in sustainable financing is also in demand in the private sector, development banks, UN agencies and NGOs, so is especially hard to retain. The difficulties to attract and retain key staff have cross-cutting implications and can create or exacerbate, for example, administrative challenges.
The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized how global trends can greatly affect local economies and the MPAs that financially depend on them. Depending on financing sources that are closely linked to specific economic sectors (e.g., tourism) makes MPAs vulnerable to economic trends outside the control of the site itself.
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Legal and political challenges
Legal challenges can relate to specific rules that hamper MPA financing efforts. Political challenges may emerge from stakeholder interactions and policy implementation.
Decision-makers and budget-holders may lack awareness of the benefits of MPAs. This can translate into insufficient or variable political will, which can in turn affect:
Support for financing mechanisms such as fee systems, permits or licences
Funding for enforcement, particularly where significant economic actors disregard laws and regulations to access resources
Integration of MPAs with other government budget priorities (e.g., healthcare, education, social programmes, etc.).
Legal and regulatory restrictions on fund generation
Legal systems may not allow MPA management entities to collect or retain fees and fines. For example, public MPA management entities might not be allowed to raise and directly manage funds outside government budget allocations. In other cases, funds collected in the MPA might go to the central government budget and then not be redistributed. Legal and regulatory restrictions on the types of financing that the MPA or its managers can raise also limit their opportunities to generate funds.
Lack of influence on public budget allocations
Government budget processes and rules can be difficult for MPA managers to navigate and limit their ability to seek increased budget allocations. In addition, MPA managers might not be involved in negotiating budgets for protected areas.
Ineffective policy implementation
Even if relevant policies and strategies are in place, lack of guidance, slow implementation or difficult institutional and legal reforms can pose challenges to the use of financing mechanisms such as concessions or user fees.
Compliance and enforcement
The lack of robust compliance and enforcement frameworks can affect MPAs’ overall effectiveness (OECD, 2017) and their ability to collect fees or enforce permits and licences.
Property rights
The lack of, or uncertainty about, property rights in coastal and marine areas, especially for communities or for marine conservation agreements, can prevent the use of concessions or other private sector management approaches. Unclear or complex shared tenure or resource rights can, for example, create high transaction costs for specific financing mechanisms.
Unclear mandates
When there are co-managers, or management is delegated by the government to a private entity, these co-managers or delegated managers usually lack funds and/or support to create a sufficient stream of revenues. Overlapping or conflicting enforcement mandates among agencies, or co-managers, can also affect compliance and enforcement.