Training on financial planning for Mediterranean marine protected area managers

Implementation

Mediterranean Sea

January 2021

Official project name

Designing and Conducting a Training on Business Planning for Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas

Affiliation project

EU Interreg Med MPA NETWORKS project

MedPAN Regular Training Programme

Financing

Coordinator(s)

Partner(s)

Project background

The funding gap for Mediterranean marine protected areas

Despite efforts to strengthen and develop Mediterranean marine protected areas (MPAs), achieving conservation goals depends directly on the size and capacity of the management teams and administrations in charge, as well as on the funding available to support these MPAs.

Adequate financial resources are a prerequisite for ensuring that MPAs are well managed and play their role as protectors of biodiversity. However, MPAs remain underfunded, resulting in less effective protection of species and habitats.

The precarious financial situation of MPAs leads to a cascade of management problems: funds are needed to hire and train staff, manage and monitor the area, collaborate with stakeholders, invest in infrastructure and equipment, and enforce regulations.

Establishing sustainable funding for MPAs is therefore a prerequisite for effective management. The problem of under-funding is seen as stemming directly from a lack of reliable information on the costs of creating and managing MPAs, and a persistent perception of MPAs as generating costs rather than ecological and socio-economic benefits.

BlueSeeds strengthened the skills of 11 managers of 10 Mediterranean marine protected areas in developing a business plan for their conservation activities.

Project background

Helping managers become financially independent

In the Mediterranean, marine protected areas are understaffed. WWF Mediterranean, RAC/SPA and MedPAN have worked with regional partners to develop a long-term regional capacity-building strategy for MPAs.

Marine protected areas are mainly managed by the public sector: financial planning differs from the private sector. Unlike businesses, the objectives of protected areas are not focused on profitability, but rather on environmental benefits, protecting species and habitats, and promoting the sustainable use of natural resources.

Indicators also differ from those used by companies: added value, profitability, prices, efficiency and profit margins are replaced by indices of biomass, species diversity and so on.

MedPAN has chosen to commission BlueSeeds and its founder Thomas Binet, author of the study on the funding shortfall of Mediterranean MPAs, to train managers in the business planning approach in order to develop with MPA managers a sound financial strategy for effectively achieving their objectives.

Impact

Several managers involved in training

marine protected areas

in the Mediterranean with a financial plan following BlueSeeds training

conservation managers

trained by BlueSeeds in financial planning

Creation of the MedPLAN

A tool for business planning that assists Mediterranean MPAs in creating plans based on their real financial information.

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Our achievements

Mediterranean marine protected areas trained

Our achievements

Our financial planning training

BlueSeeds gave managers a 4-week virtual training session. Ten marine protected areas (represented by their manager and financial officer) were able to carry out a long-term financing plan for their conservation activities in order to anticipate potential deficits and implement a sound financial strategy.

Three major blocks of practical learning were introduced by the course’s three theoretical sections:

Cost categorization: MPA management expenses are organised according to the item of expenditure. Operating costs are distinguished from investment costs.
Determine the financial requirements for every conservation goal and/or action in the MPA management plan.
Estimated costs associated with conservation objectives and/or measures

BlueSeeds created a 100% distance learning course in response to the COVID pandemic. The goals of a training course on financial planning were especially well-suited to the virtual approach. In fact, it made it possible for us to work qualitatively with each AMP individually, giving them the opportunity to use a hands-on approach and practice using the tool on their own case study.

Participants alternated between three work phases: watching BlueSeeds-prepared tutorial videos before the training, working on their business plan on their own, and having one-on-one, two-hour training sessions with the trainers. BlueSeeds used presentation material and a training kit including a training manual, templates and the MedPLAN business planning tool to share knowledge.

Our achievements