Islas Marietas: A model of financing to improve monitoring in protected areas

Natural Protected Areas (NPAs) are a potentially useful tool for achieving conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems. Their success depends upon having monitoring programs to ensure compliance with the provisions issued to regulate the activities carried out in them.

With more than 300 000 annual visitors and an extension of only 1 383 ha, the Islas Marietas National Park is an excellent example of the importance of having a monitoring program that ensures that the intensity of human use does not deteriorate the natural beauty and attributes of the site.

To achieve this, we worked with the Bahía Unida organization (a civil association composed of Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit tourist operators who visit Islas Marietas) and the Paralelo 28 initiative to design and implement a system through which tourists give a small monetary donation that is invested directly in the monitoring  and management of tourist activities in these islands.

With full transparency in the use of the funds, tourism in Islas Marietas generated $250 000 dollars during the first year of the campaign, a figure equivalent to 20 times the allocated federal budget for this national park. The results were as positive as they were evident, as a 99% compliance of the applicable legal provisions was verified. 

The successful model of monitoring funding implemented in Islas Marietas National Park is being replicated in Cabo Pulmo, Bahía de Loreto, and Archipiélago Espíritu Santo National Parks as part of our program to strengthen the monitoring of marine protected areas in northwest Mexico.

Learn more about this initiative at:: www.paralelo28.org