"Progress Towards Sustainable Financing of PA's in Malaysia" - World Parks Congress

Enhancing effectiveness
and financial sustainability
of protected areas in
Malaysia

           “Progress Towards Sustainable
           Financing of PA’s in Malaysia”
                                     Muthusamy Suppiah
                                     National Technical Adviser

                               IUCN World Parks Congress
                               GEF Sustainable Financing for PA Systems
                               18 November 2014
                               Sydney

A national project with the objective of
establishing a performance-based
financing structure to support effective PA
management in Malaysia
Executed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environment (NRE) and implemented by the Department
of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP). Supported by the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and
funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF)

Malaysia
           Peninsular
           Malaysia – 13              Sabah
           states

                       Sarawak

           Among the world’s 12 megadiversity countries

Distribution of PAs
   in Peninsular
      Malaysia

Existing and
proposed totally
PAs in Sarawak

National Parks     Nature Reserves   Wildlife Sanctuaries

Protected Areas
in Sabah –
Forest Reserves,
Parks, Wildlife
Sanctuaries

The Current Scenario
• No systematic capturing of budget allocation for
  PAs under the national budgetary framework
• Many legal instruments used to gazette protected
  areas
• Many different PA management authorities
• Different understanding of what a protected area is
• Different figures quoted for protected area
  coverage

Specific challenges
 • Lack of uniform management systems across
   different PA networks.
 • Different management set up and practices.
 • No standardized system to meet the needs of
   the entire country.
 • Difficulty monitoring and assessing PA
   management status against international
   targets and benchmarks.

• Inadequate provision of resources for PA
  management by both Federal and State
  governments.
• Lack of cohesive framework for developing
  human capital among PA managers and
  personnel.
• Lack of attention given to developing
  sustainable financing for PAs.

What the PA Financing Project aims to do

•1. Establish sustainable
 financing for better
 management of Malaysian PAs.
•2. Develop a National PA
 Framework.
•3. Invest in developing human
 capital among PA managers
 and personnel.

Existing Mechanisms

1. State-level Trust Account
                            Sources of funds:
                           • Entrance fees
                           • Direct user fees
                           Commercial
                           Concession:
                           Mutiara Resort, Kuala
                           Tahan contributes a
                           percentage of revenue
                           to the management of
                           Taman Negara NP.

2. Payment for Ecosystem Services
(PES)
                         Currently not widely
                         capitalized
                         Perak government
                         receives payment from
                         electricity power
                         provider for water
                         supplied by State Park
                         Concession with
                         micro-hydro projects

3. Private-partnership model
                      In Mulu National Park (a
                      UNESCO World Heritage
                      Site) – management of the
                      Tourism Zone (comprising
                      visitor areas) is contracted
                      to a specialized company
                      which works in close
                      coordination with the
                      Sarawak Forest Corporation
                      which manages the park’s
                      Conservation Zone.

4. Sabah Parks

                 Sabah Parks collects
                 enough revenue from a
                 range sources from
                 Kinabalu Park and other
                 popular parks to sustain
                 management of all its
                 eight terrestrial and
                 marine parks.

5. Private funding organizations
                       Foundations such as
                       Yayasan Sime Darby and
                       Khazanah Foundation are
                       also important contributors
                       to conservation initiatives
                       and PAs.
                       Note: Of these models,
                       collections from the first three
                       examples are not channeled
                       back into PA management, but
                       go to the states as revenue.

What we hope to achieve through the
project’s intervention

• Ensure sufficient transfer of funds between
  Federal, State and PA Networks to achieve an
  increase in funding compared to the baseline.
• Ensure that more of the revenue generated
  from ecosystem services is channeled towards
  environmental conservation and species
  protection
• Explore internal and external sources of
  revenue diversification.

Some results and future directions

• Government has made a decision to make an upward
  revision of existing fee structures – channeled to PAs.
• Differentiated charges: to introduce new fees/charges for
  direct uses.
• Explore other avenues – conservation fee, hotel fee, visitor
  charges.
• Consolidate existing funds and accounts to improve
  efficiency and management.
• Capitalize on private sector/ charity/ CSR/ sponsorship by
  foundations/ other contributions.
• Developing business plans – options for additional revenue
  generation

National Natural Resources Conservation
Trust Fund (NNRCTF)
                   • The Trust Fund has been
                     established with seed money
                     provided by government.
                   • The project has helped with
                     elaborating the management
                     structure and operating
                     guidelines for administering
                     the Fund.
                   • Pilot case for applying
                     performance-based funding

Specific challenges
                      • Ensuring the long-term
                        sustainability of the fund
                      • Achieving a system of
                        independent administration for
                        the fund; and
                      • Demonstrating the effective use
                        of contributions so as to
                        engender confidence in the
                        governance of the fund, thereby
                        attracting continuous support.