From: Toby Roxburgh, WWF.

WWF ‘One of the biggest challenges in establishing effectively managed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is ensuring that sustainable, long-term funding is available. In the context of limited government budgets, this means new funding sources, and where investment is needed, finance.

WWF has been working with Vivid Economics and Environmental Finance to identify and evaluate potential MPA financing mechanisms for the UK, and for North Devon MPAs in particular. The final scoping report can be found here.

The work is part of WWF’s UK SEAS project (Sustainable Environments at Sea), the aim of which is to help enhance the effectiveness and sustainable management of UK MPAs, and which is being conducted as part of the UK Marine Pioneer project. The UK SEAS project is funded through a partnership between WWF and Sky Ocean Rescue. The report identifies a range of opportunities to help cover the costs of MPA management and meet MPA objectives in North Devon – from traditional sources of funding, through to innovative revenue-generating projects that could attract new forms of finance.

It also identifies a series of six candidate financing models that could be developed to help secure these investments, showing the variety of financial structures that might be suitable, and the key institutional, policy, capacity and resource-related issues that would need to be addressed. Although the focus is on MPAs, many of the financing models identified will also apply to marine/coastal areas in general.

The aim is to now take forward and pilot a suitable package of these financing mechanisms for North Devon MPAs, in collaboration with statutory authorities and other stakeholders, and to explore the implications for the pioneer projects and government’s 25 Year Environment Plan.

For further information please contact: Toby Roxburgh, Chief Economics Adviser (Acting), WWF-UK on 01483 412234 or troxburgh@wwf.org.uk