Protected Areas Fund (FANP)

FANP supports Mexico’s protected areas

Allies

SGAS

The Protected Areas Fund (FANP, acronym in Spanish) aims to support the efficient use of financial resources channeled to Mexico’s protected areas (Pas) to strengthen their operation and management and ensure the long-term conservation of representative ecosystems.

Context

Created in 1997, FANP is a public-private collaboration scheme between FMCN and the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP, acronym in Spanish), in which FMCN is in charge of the financial management of economic resources and supervises their use in 53 federal Pas administered by CONANP, which ensures that the economic resources are used for strategic conservation activities in the territory. FANP finances strategic activities such as biological monitoring, restoration of degraded areas, community vigilance, fire management, productive projects, ecotourism, and capacity building.
Since 2012, FANP has promoted the Protected Areas Learning Community (Comunidad de Aprendizaje de Áreas Naturales – CAAP, acronym in Spanish), a network made up of PA managers and local organizations in which the capacities of its members are strengthened through the exchange of experiences, to improve performance in their different areas of work. CAAP operates through the participation of more than 4,000 followers on its Facebook page; the publication of a quarterly electronic bulletin; biennial face-to-face meetings with directors of Pas that have FANP resources; and through open calls for proposals that finance the exchange of experiences every two years.

In 2022, FANP celebrated 25 years of operation as one of the most successful financial mechanisms and an example in other parts of the world for the financing and operation of priority Pas.

The lines of work that guide FANP’s actions are:

Strengthening the National System of Protected Areas through initiatives at a national level to improve the management effectiveness in federal Pas.
Strengthening the operation of 70 federal Pas through financing Annual Operational Plans, aligned with five-year strategic planning and focused on field management activities.
Immediate attention to extraordinary environmental contingencies in 70 priority federal Pas that, by their nature, urgently and immediately affect the health of an ecosystem, species, or human life.

Learn more about CAAP

Since 2012, FANP has promoted the Protected Areas Learning Community (CAAP).

Achievements

Thanks to the collaboration with CONANP, communities, local organizations, and the trust of more than 23 donors who have joined this initiative since 1997, FANP is an exemplary mechanism at the national and international level that allows conserving natural resources and enjoying environmental services to Mexicans.

In 2023, together with CONANP, we launched the book “FANP: 25 Years, 25 Stories” within the framework of the 8th edition of the Conservation Knowledge Exchange Week (SICC). The book recounts a diversity of experiences of local actors who have an impact on the PAs in five main themes: conservation, restoration, fire management, sustainable use, and environmental education.

26 years after its creation, FANP channels strategic financial resources to 70 terrestrial and marine protected areas, covering 57% of the national terrestrial territory and 35% of the protected marine territory.

In the first half of 2024, FMCN facilitated the update of strategic planning in four PAs, including the Janos Biosphere Reserve and the National Parks of Huatulco, Isla Isabel, and Islas Marietas. During this period, FANP channeled financial resources through the emergency fund, enabling community brigades, in collaboration with CONANP and the National Forestry Commission (CONAFOR, acronym in Spanish), to respond to 24 forest fires.