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SUSTAINABLE FINANCING OF MPAs IN THE MEDITERRANEAN: A FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

th
Union programs (National Strategic Reference Framework -NSRF, INTERREG, 7
framework program).
Self-generated revenues are the second largest source of funding for the autonomous
MPAs in the sample: site-based revenues represent 10% of total funds in the sample. They
correspond to revenues from commercial activities and services. Extrapolating trends to the
regional level suggests that the region is far from achieving self-sustainability in MPA
financing. Only 3 MPAs in Spain and Italy present self-generated revenues accounting for
more that 20% of their total financing .
Local MPAs have also benefited from international cooperation (ODA, GEF, EU LIFE
projects). However, these resources represent less than 1% of the total.
Regional projects such as RAC/SPA and 2012 FINDINGS ON FINANCIAL SOURCE
MedPAN have provided strong support DIVERSITY
to local MPAs in the Mediterranean. The
investments amounted to €4,400,233 Funding comes primarily from governments (89% of
MPAs - including MPAs who did not give their budgets);
over 2010-2014. only 12 MPAs have funding from NGOs and international
The remaining 14% of available financial donors (see Fig. 83).
resources in the region originate from a Self-financing is present in 36% of MPAs (29 MPAs
variety of sources (including unspent including Lebanon, Slovenia, Croatia, Turkey, Greece,
revenues from the previous year). France, Italy, Spain) which is still too low to ensure the
sustainability of an MPA which has no other resources,
Scarcely reported, non-monetary this is especially the case in some countries in the South
contributions can also be important: or the North-East (8 no responses).
volunteers can provide a substantial The private sector’s commitment is still very low (only 8
human resource for managers of MPAs, MPAs benefit from it – Croatia, France, Greece, Spain,
from site maintenance to site monitoring. Italy, Slovenia, Lebanon) (Gabrié et al., 2012).
This can be a useful complement to
professional activities and can cover a
large part of financing gap, as noted by Watson et al., 2014. In some cases, partnerships
between MPA managers and scientists cover research and monitoring needs in the MPA.
These two examples of non-monetary contribution were not taken into account in the
analysis but could significantly change results in some cases.
For MPAs in the pioneer phase, one initial observation that can be made from the results is
the lower diversity of funding resources for MPAs in the pioneer phase in comparison with
autonomous MPAs. This result highlights the lesser financial autonomy of pioneer MPAs in
comparison with autonomous MPAs. Also, a larger portion of international and private funds
is observed for pioneer MPAs.

May 2015 – Vertigo Lab, for MedPAN, RAC/SPA and WWF Med. Page 44