The National System of Protected Areas (SNUC in Portuguese), established in 2000 by law number 9.985, aims to create and solidify a network of natural areas. Among the challenges inherent in implementation of the protected areas is seeking financial sustainability. Long-term, stable funding enables protected areas to cover the costs of efficient management and, in turn, achieve their social, economic and environmental goals. Funbio has identified two main steps in achieving financial sustainability: developing knowledge of the protected areas and their needs, and designing a strategy for generation and use of financial resources.

The protected areas in the Amazon are known for their unique geographical characteristics and for the lack of transportation and communication infrastructure. To meet the complex needs of these sites ARPA created a plan, with the support of the program’s partners, which looks beyond financial resources generated by the protected areas themselves from activities such as ecotourism and the like. Funbio has explored the possibility of accessing funding from environmental penalties, as set out by the SNUC law, and from the federal green lottery. These funding sources can also be handled by the Protected Areas Fund.

In 2008, Funbio, worked with Madeira e Energia S.A. (MESA), to draft a proposal for ARPA’s use of funding from environmental compensation. MESA is the company that built the Santo Antônio hydro-electric power plant on the Madeira River in Rondônia. The proposal is currently being evaluated by the Federal Chamber of Environmental Compensation.

The Department of Program Coordination of the Ministry of the Environment has approved terms of reference for Funbio’s sustainability plan, which will enable the protected areas to be more self sufficient in terms of funding. In Phase II of ARPA, which starts in 2010, this document will be used by the protected areas as a basis for pilot projects.

ARPA has been used as a case study and database in a large-scale study developed by Funbio for ICMBio on the sustainability of the National System of Protected Areas (SNUC). The final results provided estimates of SNUC’s costs and see the difference between potential and existing sources of income and the money needed to organize the system.