Financial Sustainability of Private Protected Areas
Symposium: 19-23rd May 2008, Belize
In September 2006 we held a Symposium in Amsterdam, inviting our partner organizations (from all over the world) to join us to share their experiences in "Land Purchase: an Intervention Strategy for Conservation". This symposium was very successful and generated a lot of discussion on the issues relating to land purchase, including legal aspects, political aspects, fundraising, sustainable financing etc. Click here to access the online publication.
This May the follow up Symposium will focus on the “Financial sustainability of private protected areas” , understandably, a topic that all of the attendants at the first symposium identified as very important in all their projects, and will again relate to land purchase projects directly. Once again, drawing together a consortium of conservation experts from around the world, this symposium aims to collectively discuss how private protected areas can achieve long term financial sustainability for a lasting and effective impact on international conservation.
Attended by project partners of the Small Grants for the Purchase of Nature Programme (SPN) within the IUCN National Committee for the Netherlands, and UK-based organisation, the World Land Trust, the consortium will be made up of senior managers from conservation organisations located from Central and South America, to Africa and South-East Asia.
The four-day symposium will allow sharing of knowledge and experience in working towards financial independence and sustainability, taking into account a variety of different approaches and project-specific issues.
Beginning with an initial introduction by the participating organisations describing their background as well as the setbacks and developments made since the last Symposium in 2006, this year’s symposium will be organised as a series of workshops focussing on the following suggestions for achieving financial sustainability:
- P.E.S
- Carbon issues
- Ecological Restoration/Avoided Deforestation
- Tourism, volunteers and education
- inter)governmental funding
- Trust/Endowment funds
- Private sources
- Corporate funding
- Social sustainability / community involvement and impacts
For each workshop a participant will present a case study to express their own experience in this area, which will act as a springboard for further discussion.
As well as specific workshops, there will be a series of open discussion sessions for participants to discuss issues they feel are relevant or that have transpired from previous sessions.
A report will be published to document major issues flagged during discussion and will include: opportunities, pitfalls and solutions, details of represented organisations; and specific case studies provided by participants. This resource will be freely available to those interested in the subject, and will be published online.
A public reception will be held in Belize City, immediately following the Symposium on 23rd May. Any press enquiries should be directed to jfinch@worldlandtrust.org