LONG TERM FINANCIAL MECHANISM TO GUARANTEE THE EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION F THE PROTECTED AREAS’ MANAGEMENT PLANS

With the revenues from the endowment and the investment in the sinking fund, La Minga provides the financial resources to implement the prioritized actions from the management plans. To that end, the members of the Technical Committee decide together what strategies are the most vital to implement, the cost of the activities and the terms of refence for hiring a community-based organization to execute the components.

The donation of the Walton Family Foundation to la Minga will be in the fund for at least 30 years, and therefore this mechanism can guarantee that the protected areas will have financial resources for every year over a long time.

It is necessary to get to the 5 Million USD Goal in the endowment and 1 million USD in the sinking found. Otherwise we won’t have enough revenuers to support the implementation of the management plans of the three protected areas.

These endowment funds are subject to an investment policy focused on generating annual income while simultaneously preserving and enhancing the value of endowment capital through adequate diversification of high quality instruments, balanced by an acceptable degree of risk.

The process of building an endowment and a sinking fund is long and difficult. Most of the potential donors’ can´t give money for a long period (La Minga is conceived at least for 30 years). Also, it is very important to set strict and clear rules regarding the investment of the money, because of different expectations that can emerge in the country.