Protected Areas Fund (FANP)


FANP supports Mexico’s protected areas

The Project

The Protected Areas Fund (FANP, acronym in Spanish) aims to support the efficient use of financial resources channeled to Mexico’s protected areas (PAs) to strengthen their operation and management and ensure the long-term conservation of representative ecosystems.

Context

Created in 1997, FANP is a public-private collaboration scheme between FMCN and the National Commission of Protected Areas (CONANP, acronym in Spanish), in which FMCN is in charge of the financial management of economic resources and supervises their use in 53 federal PAs administered by CONANP, which ensures that the economic resources are used for strategic conservation activities in the territory. FANP finances strategic activities such as biological monitoring, restoration of degraded areas, community vigilance, fire management, productive projects, ecotourism, and capacity building, among others.

Since 2012, FANP has promoted the Protected Areas Learning Community (Comunidad de Aprendizaje de Áreas Naturales – CAAP, acronym in Spanish), a network made up of PA managers and civil society organizations (CSOs) in which the capacities of its members are strengthened through the exchange of experiences, to improve performance in their different areas of work. CAAP operates through the participation of more than 4,000 followers on its Facebook page; the publication of a quarterly electronic bulletin; biennial face-to-face meetings with directors of PAs that have FANP resources; and through open calls for proposals that finance the exchange of experiences every two years.

In 2022, FANP celebrates 25 years of operation, being one of the most successful financial mechanisms and an example in other parts of the world for the financing and operation of priority PAs.


The lines of work that guide FANP’s actions are:

  1. Strengthening the National System of Protected Areas through initiatives at a national level to improve the management effectiveness in federal PAs.
  2. Strengthening the operation of 53 federal Pas through financing Annual Operational Plans, aligned with five-year strategic planning and focused on field management activities.
  3. Immediate attention to extraordinary environmental contingencies in 53 priority federal PAs that, by their nature, urgently and immediately affect the health of an ecosystem, species, or human life.

Since 2012, FANP has promoted the Protected Areas Learning Community (CAAP).

Learn more about CAAP

Achievements

In its almost 25 years of operation, the FANP has financed more than 500 initiatives for species conservation, ecosystem restoration, fire management, promotion and support of sustainable productive projects, ecotourism, and park ranger training, among others.

Through this mechanism, we have cared for more than 80 endangered species of high biodiversity value, such as the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos canadensis) and the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus). More than 30,000 people have benefited by improving their livelihoods with nature. According to the Global Environment Facility’s 2015 impact assessment, HLPF funding prevented 23% of forest loss in ten years. Click here to view the report from the GEF website.

During the first half of 2022, FANP channeled resources to 53 federal PAs to carry out strategic conservation activities, such as biological monitoring, supervision and surveillance, fire management, and environmental education. The FMCN team accompanied the update of the strategic planning for the Sierra del Abra Tanchipa Biosphere Reserve, Ocampo Flora and Fauna Protection Area, and Área de Protección de Recursos Naturales Cuenca Alimentadora del Distrito Nacional de Riego 004 Don Martín; all of them in northeastern Mexico.

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Allies

  • Braskem Idesa, S.A.P.I.
  • Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas
  • Conservation International Mexico
  • FIHSIN
  • Ford Foundation
  • Fundación Gonzalo Río Arronte, I.A.P.
  • Global Environment Facility
  • Government of the State of Mexico
  • Government of the State of Michoacan
  • Grupo Materias Primas
  • International Community Foundation
  • KfW Development Bank
  • Marisla Foundation
  • National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
  • Resources Legacy Fund
  • Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales
  • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
  • The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust
  • The Summit Foundation
  • U.S. Agency for International Development
  • United Nations Development Programme
  • Wick Communications
  • World Bank 


Follow CAAP on Facebook: @caapmexico