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		Protected Areas Protected Areas What's New Threats to Protected Areas Benefits of Protected Areas What We Do   Create new   protected areas   Increase funding   Build support   Improve   management What You Can Do Where We Work Contact Us

Protect Nature! With your help, we can strengthen protected areas and conserve our planet’s lands and waters. Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado The Conservancy worked with farmers, ranchers, local leaders and state and federal partners in a decade-long collaborative effort to make the Great Sand Dunes National Park a reality.  Raising the funds to acquire the 151 square mile Baca Ranch was essential to achieving success.

Achieving successful conservation of habitats through protected areas, whether an individual site or a national system, requires significant funding. Money is needed to cover staffing, equipment and programs to ensure adequate conservation and mitigate threats such as invasive species, illegal logging or fire. In the United States and abroad funds are needed to purchase privately-owned lands or manage publicly-owned lands essential to conservation. The Nature Conservancy is working at local, national and international levels to help ensure that sufficient funds are being directed towards protected areas.

Improving State and National Funding

We have supported governments in more than 20 countries to carry out financial assessments that evaluate the funding requirements for protected areas. Once the financial gaps have been identified, we help to mobilize the resources required to fund protected area systems. To ensure financial resources are used efficiently and directed to protected areas, we advise on the development of rigorous and accountable systems for distributing funds.

In the United States, the Conservancy works with both state and federal agencies to secure funding for protected areas.  In recent years we have helped raise billions of dollars in public funding to protect lands and waters that provide essential plant and wildlife habitats.

Tapping Local Sources of Income

The Nature Conservancy is supporting national governments and park agencies to improve local sources of revenue for protected areas. Our efforts include developing park entry and recreational fee systems to capture greater revenues from tourism. In Belize, The Conservancy worked with the government and a local conservation organization to develop a system to collect fees from diving and boats mooring in the Gladden Spit Marine Reserve in Belize. These fees now generate an important and permanent part of the income for the park. The Conservancy also supports the establishment of other financial mechanisms that drive funding to protected areas including endowment funds, and payments for the natural resources and services that protected areas supply, such as drinking water.

Increasing International Funding

Large multilateral organizations such as the Global Environmental Facility provide important sources of funding for protected areas, especially in developing countries. The Conservancy works with national governments to develop proposals for financing protected areas, providing some of the initial capital required to attract greater funds. We have also helped increase funding for protected areas by facilitating debt-for-nature swaps. These swaps enable countries to invest part of their debt repayments to international creditors into national conservation efforts instead.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Daniel & Robbie Wisdom (Fiji Islands); Photo © Andy Drumm (Ecotourism in Ecuador); Photo © Ron Semrod (Medano-Zapato Ranch near Great Sand Dunes National Monument).