Over the past ten years the funding of nature conservation in the Dutch Caribbean has become a major cause for concern. The lack of long term funding for the parks puts them at grave risk and endangers the islands’ long term goals for nature conservation.
It was this search for a long term sustainable source of funding which prompted the parks to join forces and to establish the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance.
It also resulted in the commissioning of a study into the feasibility of setting up a Trust Fund for nature conservation.
The study showed that, with a sufficiently large trust fund the revenues would cover the basic running costs of one marine and one terrestrial protected area per island. The capital of the trust fund would not be touched, only the revenues would be used to fund conservation management. This would guarantee long term funding for at least a basic minimum of protected area management.
Setting up such a Trust Fund is our goal.
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