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Potentials of Conservation Financing in Planning for Areas with High Biodiversity Value in the Philippines


Many of the areas with high biodiversity value in the country are formally safeguarded by virtue of either the National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS Act) or the Local Government Code and/or the Fisheries Code. Financial sustainability of managing a protected area (PA) is one of the major barriers to its effective planning and management. This paper identified four major types of mechanisms that will create a sustainable source of revenue for the effective planning and management of a PA: user fee system, public-private partnership, payments for ecosystem services, and the community enterprise development mechanism. Except for the user fee system however, these mechanisms are not widely used by park managers, mainly because of its painstaking planning and management requirements. Extensive documentation, exhaustive evaluation as to its effectivity and efficiency, and wider dissemination of the application of these mechanisms are thereby recommended. Policy support in terms of start-up funds for PAs, incentive systems for conservation stakeholders, and implementation guidelines that will encourage and guide PA management to establish a sustainable conservation finance mechanism, are also in order. In addition, professionalizing PA or park management and a continuous capacity building on PA/park management and conservation finance are likewise suggested.


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