PAs are central to securing biodiversity and ecosystem services, mitigating climate change, and driving green and inclusive development. Africa’s PAs are at risk from intensifying threats and a dearth in funding, which is leading to ineffective management and non-operational PAs. This in turn is escalating the decline of Africa’s exceptional wildlife, landscapes, biodiversity, and ecosystem services, putting economies and people at risk. The COVID pandemic is further exacerbating these threats. Given the challenges facing Africa’s PAs, governments are considering different tools and approaches for securing natural assets and delivering benefits to people, including CMPs. These issues are not exclusive to Africa, and the resources and lessons learned presented in the Toolkit can be considered by countries in other regions.
While CMPs are still relatively new, the evidence over the past two decades indicates that when structured properly, CMPs enhance PA management effectiveness; stimulate the local and national economies; create an enabling environment for investment; build capacity; protect biodiversity; and increase brand recognition for the country. While there are challenges in the creation and management of CMPs, the model is continually improving and there is a growing demand for partners and partnership support from governments in Africa and around the world.
While CMPs mainly cover the geographic area of a PA, they drive substantial revenue into buffer and community areas and stimulate rural development, employment, and growth. Overall, co-management and delegated CMPs are practical tools being used in 15 countries in Africa, covering 11.5 percent of the PA estate, and can be scaled up across the continent and beyond to enhance social, economic, and ecological outcomes, and help governments recover from the severe impacts of COVID.
To help streamline the process and scale up use of CMPs, the following recommendations can be considered to support government leaders and implementing partners:
1. Governments:
a. Create an enabling environment and policy framework, and clear guidelines to facilitate the execution of CMPs. In some countries, the process for establishing CMPs is not clear, which leads to delays and in some cases results in loss of funding for that particular PA.
b. Adopt the steps and processes outlined in the Toolkit to enable transparent and competitive CMP partner selection processes.
c. Consider CMPs as part of broader national PPP priority efforts to streamline processes and generate new investments and opportunities, and align the establishment of CMPs to the PPP framework if this helps to create a transparent and efficient process.
d. Develop a long-term vision and strategic plans that promote sustainable and inclusive development that integrate CMPs as one of the core tools used to support the effective management of PAs and to stimulate green and inclusive development.
2. Donors:
a. Provide technical and financial assistance to governments to support the design and deployment of a portfolio of solutions, including CMPs. This could include supporting policy and investment initiatives that promote private sector participation through CMPs.
b. Support governments in the development of the PA authority business plans and agency level strategies and help mobilize long-term financing for CMPs (both direct grants and concessional loans, and catalyze private sector investments).
c. Strengthen efforts to promote regional capacity through continued education and higher-level learning on CMPs (including in PA management colleges).
d. Support a CMP platform in Africa that enables governments and partners to discuss CMP challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned, and support cross-continental information exchanges on CMPs. Africa is a leader in CMPs and sharing this experience with other continents will contribute to efforts to address the global biodiversity crisis.
3. NGOs:
a. Capture and share lessons learned from positive and negative experiences partnering with governments, donors, and other implementing partners on issues related to enabling environments, negotiations, and operational/financing considerations of implementation of CMPs so processes can be streamlined and mistakes avoided.
b. Develop and share operating procedures, frameworks, and other tools to help standardize agreements and processes to reduce complexity and costs, and to help local and national organizations engage in CMPs.
c. Build local capacity and knowledge (including to promote transparency, best practices in social and environmental frameworks, and business management) to develop and grow local talent and leadership in CMP design and management, conservation, and environmental finance/operations.
These recommendations can be considered as part of integrated and long-term planning efforts designed to secure technical, financial, and political support to biodiversity conservation and always have to be applied in a country and PA specific context. CMPs offer the potential to strengthen conservation and development efforts in many countries and PAs, and have a role to play in the portfolio of governments, donors, and NGOs. Further analysis and discussions at a regional/country level and across stakeholders is needed to operationalize the resources presented in this Toolkit in a systematic manner.