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SUSTAINABLE FINANCING OF MPAs IN THE MEDITERRANEAN: A FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

be considered very carefully because no country has developed systems to determine their
financial needs: this information is based on local surveys.
However, the calculated needs estimate is certainly a minimum. These figures do not include
several potentially important costs: the costs associated with management by central
agencies, and associated regional and national management costs being the most
important. These costs can therefore be considered as a minimum and further research
should be carried out to assess, by country, the costs associated with MPA management at
regional and national levels.
Furthermore, these needs are likely to increase in the near future due to (i) the need to
expand MPA systems by an estimated additional 3.06 million hectares, to achieve Aichi
Target 11 by 2020, and (ii) the anticipated increased costs of management due to climate
change vulnerabilities, for example, the increased risk on coastal protection.

5.1.3 Financing gap for the optimal management scenario

The available resources consist of national budget from central governments and funding
from international cooperation. Two different samples were analysed: the first describes the
financing gap for EU countries. For these, international funding comes mainly from EU LIFE
projects. The second sample describes the financing gap for non-EU countries. For these,
funding from international cooperation comes from bilateral ODA and GEF.
The assessment only considers those countries where there is a high level of confidence in
the financial data, except for Spain and Montenegro which are in the medium level of
confidence group.
The financing gap for the 14 countries assessed under the optimal management scenario
is estimated to be €475M if annual average investment costs are not taken into
consideration. This gap amounts almost €700M if investment costs are included.
Current revenues only cover 12% of financial needs for Mediterranean MPAs as a whole
(9% if investment costs are included).
The table and figures below detail these results for EU and non-EU Mediterranean countries.
As might be expected, countries with the largest MPA networks are the ones with the
largest financing gaps: Italy, Spain, France and Greece.
The financing gap for the EU countries assessed under the optimal management scenario
is estimated to be €458M in 2014 (covered at 11% by current revenues in the same
countries).
The financing gap for the non-EU countries assessed under the optimal management
scenario is estimated to be €17M in 2014 (covered at 8% by current revenues in the same
countries).
Hence, non-EU countries have a relatively larger financing gaps. Despite their rather small
number of MPAs, these suffer from important financing gaps. This can largely be explained
by the financing available to MPAs, which is lower in non-EU countries.

May 2015 – Vertigo Lab, for MedPAN, RAC/SPA and WWF Med. Page 75