Gulf of California Fund


A long-term financing mechanism of non-endowment and endowment assets

The Project

The Gulf of California Fund (FGC, acronym in Spanish) aims to conserve the Gulf of California's network of representative marine-coastal ecosystems by channeling resources to initiatives in protected areas (PAs) and their areas of influence.

Context

The FGC is a long-term financing mechanism whose vision is to contribute to healthy and interconnected marine-coastal ecosystems in the Gulf of California to provide ecosystem goods and services. The FGC is comprised of non-endowment and endowment assets. 

In 2009, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Conservation International, through the Global Conservation Fund, and  Marisla Foundation, through the International Community Foundation, contributed endowment resources to the FGC. The interests support efforts to manage and conserve ecosystems and natural resources in three priority marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Gulf of California and the North Pacific: Bahía de los Ángeles Biosphere Reserve, Canales de Ballenas and Salsipuedes, and Islas Marietas and Isla Isabel National Parks.

On the other hand, the exhaustible resources of the FGC mainly come from a financing mechanism linked to nature tourism. Thanks to the leadership of the Lindblad Expeditions cruise company and its partnership with the National Geographic Society, passengers on cruises that travel through the Gulf of California make donations to support the efforts of local organizations. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and FMCN provide matching funds that triple the donations from travelers.

The funded initiatives are selected through open calls every three years and are aimed at ensuring citizen participation in managing marine-coastal natural resources and strengthening social fabric in coastal communities.


The lines of work that guide the actions of the Gulf of California Fund are:

  1. Use of territorial management tools.
  2. Sustainable use.
  3. Conservation of priority species.
  4. Conservation of ecosystems and natural resources in priority marine-coastal PAs of the Gulf of California and the North Pacific

The financed initiatives are aimed at strengthening the social cohesion of coastal communities.

Read the executive summary of the FGC evaluation

Achievements

Since 2004, the FGC has contributed to ensuring that the marine-coastal ecosystems of the Gulf of California are healthy and interconnected to provide corresponding ecosystem goods and services through monitoring of PAs and financing conservation subprojects operated by local organizations in the northwest of the country. After 18 years of operation, it is important to renew this mechanism in light of the region's current threats and partner conditions. That is why, during 2023, the FGC's performance as a financing mechanism to conserve the representative network of marine-coastal ecosystems of the Gulf of California and the North Pacific within the framework of national and international conservation instruments (National Biodiversity Strategy, Sustainable Development Goals, among others) will be evaluated.

During the second semester of 2022, the FGC financed thirteen subprojects executed in the territory by eleven different local organizations, which contribute to the conservation of the network of marine-coastal ecosystems of the Gulf of California and the North Pacific region. The strategies that partners carry out in the field are mainly aimed at strengthening fisheries and promoting nature-based tourism, which has allowed them to cope with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring the conservation of their marine and coastal resources, and improving social fabric and the well-being of the local population. The subprojects include environmentally responsible and economically viable activities focused on fisheries management, sustainable tourism, and species monitoring.

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Allies

Donors:

  • Conservation International México / Global Conservation Fund
  • Homeland Foundation
  • International Community Foundation
  • Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic Joint Fund for Exploration and Conservation
  • Marisla Foundation
  • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation