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SUSTAINABLE FINANCING OF MPAs IN THE MEDITERRANEAN: A FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

2.1.3 Financial sustainability of MPAs in the Mediterranean

For Bovarnick et al. (2010), financial sustainability is defined as the ability of a funding
system, “1) to secure sufficient, stable, and long term financial resources and, 2) to allocate
these resources in a timely manner and in appropriate forms, to cover the costs necessary”
for effective and efficient management of an MPA with respect to its objectives.
The financial situation of individual Mediterranean MPAs was reviewed as part of the
analysis conducted for the Status of Mediterranean MPAs published in 2012 by MedPAN and
RAC/SPA (Gabrié et al., 2012): out of the 80 MPAs surveyed, only half answered questions
on funding. This is an initial indication that financial aspects are either unknown or not
considered relevant to MPA management in many cases.
For MPAs that responded, the total annual operating budgets (for both terrestrial and marine
environments, if applicable) range from 0 to €6.345M, with a median of €287,000 and capital
budgets ranging from 0 to €974,440, with a median of €100,000. Operating budgets of MPAs
in EU countries are greater (annual average €682,845 for EU countries vs. €453,125 for non-
EU countries).

MPA financial resources mainly came from national public funds dedicated to the creation
and management of MPAs (for 89% of MPAs (Gabrié et al., 2012)), the United Nations
Environment / Mediterranean Action Plan for the Mediterranean (UNEP/MAP), sub-regional
projects (MedPartnership, European projects, etc.), European countries international
cooperation, private funds (foundations), and revenues generated on-site for some MPAs
(entrance fees, etc.).
However, many MPAs in the Mediterranean still faced operational difficulties, especially in
non-EU countries. Among the MPAs analysed in the 2012 Status, the North-Western ones
(from Spain, France, Croatia, Greece or Italy) were the only ones with sufficient budget to
ensure effective management (Gabrié et al., 2012): among the 677 existing Mediterranean
MPAs (161 MPAs of national status, 9 of only international status and 507 marine Natura
2000 sites), it was estimated that several hundred had no budget at all. In general, existing
MPAs suffered from a significant lack of resources to finance operating costs including staff
costs and also equipment costs, monitoring, research, training and management, boundary
demarcation, effective law enforcement and the provision of adequate park infrastructure.
Existing financial contributions were well below requirements and reveal a strong disparity
between the northern and southern basin. This lack of funding threatens MPA performance.
In the Mediterranean, some reports have already quantitatively estimated the financial
requirements of PAs:
 Through a RAC/SPA questionnaire (1997), only 3% of PA managers in Southern and
Eastern Mediterranean countries declared that funding levels were satisfactory, while
almost 94% declared that funding was either moderate (23%), low (32%), very low
(13%) or even nonexistent (26%).
 Balmford et al. (2003) estimated that Northern Africa / Middle East would be financing
a mere 5% of their basic needs; Europe as a continent would cover around 20% of its
PA financial needs.
 In 2006, the annual operating budget of Protected Areas in the Mediterranean was
estimated as being covered at only 30%, with individual funding requirements
depending on site management (Lopez et al., 2006).

May 2015 – Vertigo Lab, for MedPAN, RAC/SPA and WWF Med. Page 21