To calculate the financial cost needed to reverse global pollution, not to mention the cost of global warming, would take us to unimaginable numbers. Since this is a problem that affects us all, it is essential to have financing schemes for conservation.
In this sense, the activities that we develop as Pronatura Noroeste and that require financial support are ecosystem reforestation, training in environmental issues, custody in vulnerable sites and monitoring of migratory species, among others. In all of them, it is essential to guarantee human, technological and financial resources to pursue the conservation efforts.
Natural Protected Areas (NPAs) are partially financed by fees collected by tourism service providers from visitors. Resources go to the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) and to the NPAs to carry out conservation actions. This strengthens the habitat and species management in these areas. In particular, we focus on financing schemes to manage Natural Protected Areas (NPAs). One of them is the collection of fees used by tourist service providers in some NPAs, through the use of bracelets for tourists who, with their economic cooperation, promote sustainable practices and the care of ecosystems.
It is also relevant for us to know the financing options granted by the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) for conservation purposes. Hence, we aim to be part of the advisory councils of the NPAs in which we promote conservation actions, in order to achieve a strong link among the community, financing entities and authorities in each natural site. For example, we participate in the advisory councils of Bahia de los Angeles, Baja California; Cabo Pulmo, the Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve and the Sierra de la Laguna Biosphere Reserve, in Baja California Sur; Isla Isabel and Islas Marietas, Nayarit; and the Upper Gulf of California, Sonora.
In the specific case of Islas Marietas, we agreed on a working mechanism with the service providers of the Bahía Unida Cooperative and CONANP, with a double bracelet for tourists who pay to visit this extraordinary natural site. The obtained resources are used to hire park rangers for inspection and surveillance, based on an annual work plan.
Another support scheme are the so-called Grants, which consist of financial subsidies for specific purposes in conservation, monitoring, reforestation, restoration, education, research and community development. In our case, Pronatura Noroeste’s Grants are used for conservation actions in the region’s coastal and marine NPAs. We also finance actions in terrestrial sites, according to the conservation needs of the protected sites.
Grants require planning, objectives and goals, and a breakdown of activities and products in an accountability scheme. In this sense, Pronatura Noroeste’s credibility is of great relevance due to its more than three decades of experience and environmental commitment, as well as the results achieved in different natural sites.
As we can see, financing conservation tasks translates into a benefit not only for wildlife, but also for the sustainable development of communities and their natural environment.
Financial support is of vital importance to Pronatura Noroeste. Be part of the environmental commitment for the planet, a goal of great impact and transcendence.
