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SUSTAINABLE FINANCING OF MPAs IN THE MEDITERRANEAN: A FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

The GEF trust fund allocated almost €12M to projects related to Coastal and Marine
Protected Areas, representing 25% of the total value of GEF projects in biodiversity-related
aid. These resources are associated with €36M of co-funding, mainly from governments (see
Table 20). The duration of the projects generally covered four years of implementation. It is
worth noting that Israel, Libya, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia have not recorded any financial
assistance from the GEF trust fund.
The total allocation from the GEF trust fund for biodiversity-related issues amounted to €21M
for 2010-2014, from which Croatia, Montenegro, Egypt, and Albania had the largest share of
their GEF grant devoted to Marine Protected Areas, representing 96%, 90%, 56%, and 55%
of total GEF allocations in these countries respectively.

The GEF grant is a useful instrument for raising additional financial resources for Marine
Protected Areas. The share of governmental expenditures is quite high. The government
share amounted to €30,847,052, representing almost 75% of the total value of the GEF
projects. Croatia and Egypt recorded the highest share of co-funding. The contributions are
provided in kind or as grants, and they should be accounted for in the national budget. The
amount of co-funding depends on the size of the project and on the type of activities to be
implemented. The private sector contribution amounted to €162,193.

Figure 17: GEF Projects and the structure of co-funding

Table 16 below presents projects funded from 2008-2014 The types of co-financing and the
share of each donation provided by governments, GEF agencies, and private NGOs are
stated.

Co-funding (in
Country 2008/2009 2010 2012 Share of co-funding
euros)

Improving
coverage Ministry of 95% - Government
Albania and effective Env.:1,877,500; (Ministry of Env.);
management UNDP: 100,000 5% - UNDP
of MPAs

May 2015 – Vertigo Lab, for MedPAN, RAC/SPA and WWF Med. Page 61