In order to share with various actors involved in the conservation of Natural Protected Areas and participate in collaborative networks, the conceptual model for improving governance was presented at the III Latin American and Caribbean Congress on Protected Areas, organized by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Commission on Protected Areas in Lima, Peru.
The presentation by Mariella Sáenz, Coordinator of the Program to Support Natural Protected Areas, proposed a model that integrates evaluation, participation of actors, management instruments, capacity building, financing, and regulation compliance as core elements.
“It was a good learning experience, governance is on the global agenda; the congress allowed me to learn how other countries have made progress with this issue, the challenges they face, at what scale, and how they are implementing activities [since] our contribution is a methodological one,” said Sáenz. She also stressed that governance is one of the four pillars of the Green List, a recognition of NPA management — based on a global standard of sustainability — promoted by IUCN.
This model was developed by Pronatura Noroeste in collaboration with the Commission of Natural Protected Areas and its partners in six areas in Northwest Mexico: Islas Marietas, Isla Isabel, Cabo Pulmo, and Bahía de Loreto National Parks; the Marismas Nacionales Biosphere Reserve – Nayarit, and the NPAs in the Bahía de los Ángeles region.
The program coordinator explained that this methodology proposes a model of intervention to promote intersectoral and interinstitutional collaboration, through which people: identify points of interest, intervene in a better way, negotiate, coordinate, make agreements, and make commitments exercising power for the benefit of the majority, strengthening the management of NPAs, and providing benefits to the surrounding communities. It is expected this model will permeate in national working groups and other protected areas, beyond those in which is it already implemented.
