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ProjectsCardamom Mountains PA Network Conservation Trust Fund Business Plan (2008)Clients: Global Conservation
Fund (GCF) and ADM Capital Foundation (ADMCF) Project overviewThe Cardamom Mountains Ecoregional Landscape, located in southwest Cambodia, contains one of the largest continuous and relatively intact rainforests in mainland Southeast Asia (~1 million hectares). Within this landscape, the Cardamom Mountains Protected Area Network is composed of the Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary (PSWS), the Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary (PAWS), and the Central Cardamoms Protected Forest (CCPF). Over the past decade these protected areas have been the focus of conservation efforts led by Conservation International (CI), Fauna and Flora International (FFI) and their partners within the Royal Cambodian Government. CI and FFI are committed to exploring ways in which they could collaborate more and support the development of a more integrated Network of PAs and a conservation trust fund to support these efforts into perpetuity. In addition to sustainable financing, CI and FFI and their partners hope to increase the amount of collaboration across the three areas. The GCF and ADMCF, along with funding partners at the Agence Française de Développement, agreed that, as part of a finanicing solution, they would pursue and potentially capitalize a conservation trust fund (CTF) for the PA network. ChallengesThe PAs (CCPF, PSWS, and PAWS) each had management plans that were developed to varying degrees of sophistication, with significant gaps in operational capacity and financing. It was necessary to get clear agreement on the minimum necessary management plan activities and priorities in order to achieve the objectives of the proposed PA network. It was also important to properly identify and project the costs associated with these plans in order to develop a clear financing strategy, of which a Conservation Trust is being proposed to play a key role. Until now the Government of Cambodia has been unable to allocate the necessary financial resources and efforts to manage these areas effectively. Approach and OutcomeStarling was hired to conduct an initial management and financial analysis, and develop a business plan for a CTF as part of a larger financing strategy for the long-term management of the network. Recognizing the need for a common set of objectives and a consistent operational framework to allow stakeholders to design and develop a prioritized and effective financing strategy, Starling first led an effort to assess and define a common set of operational needs and assumptions across the network. A full bottom-up costing was then conducted for each MPA and costs projected for each over 10+ years. We also worked with partners to develop a network cost model whereby certain “network-level costs” could be shared, thereby reducing the total amount of funding needed to operate each PA. With these management scenarios and costs in hand we developed a number of scenarios for the proper design and set-up (including determining scale and type of fund mechanisms) of a CTF for the network. Recommendations included the need to establish the CTF off-shore, channeling funds to partner institutions in Cambodia, and the need to establish a combination of an endowment fund and a sinking fund to provide sufficient funding to fulfill the net requirements for the next five years, and then core ongoing recurring costs into perpetuity. As of now the concept of a CTF for the Cardamom Mountains PA Network continues to be considered by CI and their partners. Initial, conditional capital commitments have been secured from some donors, however the Trust has not yet been established. Additional Information |
