September 2010: In September 2010, over 400 people gathered in Mexico City to mark the 12th anniversary of the Fund for Protected Areas (FANP), which was created in 1998 with a donation by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and which channeled more than US$47.5 million in GEF grants for the support of Mexico’s Protected Area System.

The FANP is a collaboration of the GEF, the World Bank, the Government of Mexico, the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature, and protected area stakeholders at the national and local level. It is considered an example of a “pathway to protected area system sustainability,” which is a key objective of GEF’s investment strategy for protected areas.

According to GEF, several points highlight FANP’s elements of success and can be applied elsewhere: funding basic operations and strategic planning in protected areas is a critical investment for effective long-term management of protected areas; strong public-private partnerships must be cultivated to ensure effective conservation on the ground; successful models of well-managed protected areas that share knowledge and best practices through networks and learning communities are the best catalysts for change across a diverse system of protected areas; GEF funds must be leveraged to attract additional investment from government and other donors, which is most easily accomplished by demonstrating measureable conservation outcomes; and promotion of capacity building and leadership skills for government personnel and civil society organizations builds buy-in and ownership for the realization of the long-term goal: protected area system sustainability. [GEF Press Release]