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SUSTAINABLE FINANCING OF MPAs IN THE MEDITERRANEAN: A FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

As expected, autonomous MPAs have higher operating costs than pioneer MPAs, which
highlights a certain level of organisational and financial autonomy.
Contrary to total budget results, non-EU MPAs present operating costs per unit surface area
higher than EU MPAs on the average. This result can be explained by the relatively lower
size of sampled MPAs in non-EU countries. Previous studies have already demonstrated
that smaller MPAs incur higher costs per unit surface area (Gabrié, 2010).

In addition to operating costs, annual investment was scrutinised, and shows fewer
variations.
Table 5 presents the average annual investments for sampled MPAs, ranging from 0 to
2
2
€15,026 per km per year for MPAs in the autonomous phase (median €1,805 per km per
2
year) and from 0 to €2,696 per km per year for MPAs in the pioneer phase (median €180
2
2
per km per year); 1 MPA has an annual investment budget above €10,000 per km , 2 MPAs
2
range between €5,000 and €10,000 per km per year, 12 MPAs between 0 and
2
€5,000 per km per year and 5 MPAs did not report investment costs.

Autonomous MPAs Pioneer MPAs
Region 2 2
(in euros per km per year) (in euros per km per year)
Mediterranean 3,479 (12) 764 (3)
EU MPAs 12,156 (10) 265 (1)
Non-EU MPAs 3,322 (2) 930 (2)

Table 5: Average annual investments expenditures per unit surface area for sampled MPAs in 2014

Figure 9 presents the breakdown of annual costs among autonomous and pioneer MPAs:

Figure 9: Average distribution of annual costs

Despite a similar distribution of investment and operating costs on total expenses, pioneer
MPAs present a higher variation of their operating costs than autonomous MPAs for the
period 2012-2014. On the contrary, pioneer MPAs present fewer variations in their annual
investments than autonomous MPAs for the same period (Figure 10).

May 2015 – Vertigo Lab, for MedPAN, RAC/SPA and WWF Med. Page 41