Identifying Knowledge Needs of Conservation Practitioners in Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia on Protected Area Finance
Keywords:
Protected area, financial capacity building, Delphi Technique, Ecuador, Peru, ColombiaAbstract
While multiple studies have identified the general knowledge needed by protected area and conservation administrators, relatively little is known about specific knowledge needs in the area of finance, especially at the protected area and system levels. This deficiency motivated us to explore the knowledge needs of conservation professionals responsible for financing protected areas (PAs) and national protected area systems (NPASs) in Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia. A modified, Internet-based Delphi Study was conducted in 2007-08. A panel of experts with financial management experience at the national system and/or protected area level(s) from Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia was identified. Thirty-one protected area financial management experts agreed to participate in the Delphi process, which involved three rounds. In round one, panel members who held finance oriented positions in national, regional, or local government, in non-governmental conservation organizations, international organizations, or in private consulting enterprises and had experience in the countries studied were asked (1) to define financial funding mechanisms and (2) to identify the knowledge they perceived was needed to put such tools into practice. The panel, generated information was used to construct a composite definition of finance and financial funding. In round two, this definition was shared with the panel members and they were asked to critique it and to rank and rate 10 financial capacity building thematic areas that were also identified in round one. In the third and final round, experts were requested to identify barriers they believed would constrain protected area system administrators and unit managers from obtaining such capacities. Findings suggest differences in training needs between central office-based system level administrators and field-based protected area managers should be considered in the design of finance capacity building programs for conservation finance professionals. Barriers to implement capacity building programs not only included expected training-oriented barriers (e.g., staff lacking basic knowledge, lack of knowledgeable instructors, lack of time for professional training) but also institutional structural barriers (e.g., high rate of turnover of financial management staff, lack of commitment to increase staff competency) as well as process- and policy-oriented barriers (e.g., different methodologies to administer funds across units and lack of coordination among non-governmental and governmental institutions with respect to financial issues). Results suggest that both targeted capacity development programs and changes in institutional structures/processes are likely to be required to successfully improve financial operations and funding mechanisms for PAs and NPASs in the countries studied.Downloads
Issue
Section
License
Sagamore Publishing LLC (hereinafter the “Copyright Owner”)
Journal Publishing Copyright Agreement for Authors
PLEASE REVIEW OUR POLICIES AND THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT, AND INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS BY CHECKING THE ‘AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS COPYRIGHT NOTICE’ CHECKBOX BELOW.
I understand that by submitting an article to Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, I am granting the copyright to the article submitted for consideration for publication in Journal of Park and Recreation Administration to the Copyright Owner. If after consideration of the Editor of the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, the article is not accepted for publication, all copyright covered under this agreement will be automatically returned to the Author(s).
THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT
Assignment of Copyright
I hereby assign to the Copyright Owner the copyright in the manuscript I am submitting in this online procedure and any tables, illustrations or other material submitted for publication as part of the manuscript in all forms and media (whether now known or later developed), throughout the world, in all languages, for the full term of copyright, effective when the article is accepted for publication.
Reversion of Rights
Articles may sometimes be accepted for publication but later be rejected in the publication process, even in some cases after public posting in “Articles in Press” form, in which case all rights will revert to the Author.
Retention of Rights for Scholarly Purposes
I understand that I retain or am hereby granted the Retained Rights. The Retained Rights include the right to use the Preprint, Accepted Manuscript, and the Published Journal Article for Personal Use and Internal Institutional Use.
All journal material is under a 12 month embargo. Authors who would like to have their articles available as open access should contact Sagamore-Venture for further information.
In the case of the Accepted Manuscript and the Published Journal Article, the Retained Rights exclude Commercial Use, other than use by the author in a subsequent compilation of the author’s works or to extend the Article to book length form or re-use by the author of portions or excerpts in other works.
Published Journal Article: the author may share a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI.
Author Representations
- The Article I have submitted to the journal for review is original, has been written by the stated author(s) and has not been published elsewhere.
- The Article was not submitted for review to another journal while under review by this journal and will not be submitted to any other journal.
- The Article contains no libelous or other unlawful statements and does not contain any materials that violate any personal or proprietary rights of any other person or entity.
- I have obtained written permission from copyright owners for any excerpts from copyrighted works that are included and have credited the sources in the Article.
- If the Article was prepared jointly with other authors, I have informed the co-author(s) of the terms of this Journal Publishing Agreement and that I am signing on their behalf as their agent, and I am authorized to do so.