Introduction
Nothing is more difficult than to carry out substantial work on a subject as controversial as the economic or financial valuation of protected areas, an aspect on which not only very little has been written, but because the environment is so general and so darkly understood.
financing-plan-for-national-parks-montecristo-and-san-diego-la-barra-manuel-cabrera-and-marvin-melgarAnyone dares to write and comment on it, and without the slightest scruples, since it is certain that it is unlikely to be contested.
Here happens what the ancients tried to highlight when they expressed that "in a country of the blind, the one-eyed is king." The same does not happen in Medicine, where no neophyte dares to write any pamphlet, an activity that they recognize to be the subject of serious essays to be written by renowned physicians of recognized specialty, and there are not even popular “medicinist” groups giving opinions or making superfluous statements. what needs to be done about health or sanitation.
This may be due to either the explainable fear of making a fool of themselves by knowing they are incompetent in such science; or because there is no international organization that finances this type of activity.
Neither does this happen in Mathematics, nor in Physics, nor in any science clearly defined and whose essence is impossible to be contaminated by the tumultuous ignorant verbosity, with which, as far as the environment is concerned, the naive audience or the credulous are assaulted. reader, through the mass media.
Therefore, the intellectual sector could have reasonable suspicions just by reading the title of this document. Based on this suspicion, and to avoid these explainable fears, the central concepts will be specified here (as clearly as possible to the author) that avoid blurring the effort into something as general as the environment and, at the same time, avoid presenting a dry financial particularization, since the problem goes beyond a structuring of the cash flow in cold columns of income and expenses (without the above meaning that this analysis is unimportant.
To begin with, the analysis of the consulted bibliography is carried out, agreeing to clarify that, in what comes, there will be a commented presentation or critical analysis, on the books, brochures or informal publications consulted (understood as informal to the simple fact of being some work that Although serious, it only exists in prints not formally bound.
Cabrera, C. In his POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE ENVIRONMENT -Introduction to the critique of the economy-, he presents an essay, loaded with a bombastic erudition, which is nothing more than a collation of what is expressed by various authors, a good and desirable thing in any serious work that wishes to protect, with others, its own reasoning; However, when there is no valuable contribution by the author -as in this case-, the work seems to be a pretext to pretend a deep philosophical domain and an unprecedented scientific knowledge of unusual intellectual scope. Here neither one nor the other occurs. Neither is there a deep and original appreciation on the part of the author (which is the least that can be expected from someone who dares to address philosophical aspects), nor are there new concepts that enrich the scientific heritage.
What is valuable about the document are the textual citations, which are overshadowed by the superficiality of the conclusions of the work, conclusions in which textual citations are made, which denotes that the Author is not clear about the meaning of the word conclusion, and he confuses it with what bibliographic review means. On the other hand, these alleged conclusions are more evasive speculations than sharp contributions to the solution of the problem posed: the Introduction to the Critique of Economics. The foregoing explains the reason why, in this work, nothing by this author can be used, even if it is cited in the bibliography because the case was consulted.
For its part, Dada, JJ in its 1999-2003 Financial Plan for the Sierra del Lacandón National Park (PNSL), highlights (although this is not its intention), a clear problem of the administration of Protected Areas in development zones agrarian, above all because the assumption has been established that renewable natural resources (forests) can be managed in a sustainable way by agricultural communities. The problem lies in the fact that sustainability is aimed at maintaining environmental NGOs, forgetting the community environment which is the most important vector for generating the resulting destruction of ecosystems, the uselessness of the activity of some NGOs, in the sense generating income for communities (as the only way for them to curb their pressure on forests), can be seen in Figure 1
Figure 1 reconditioning of PNSL operating expenses
Source: Own elaboration with data from JJ Dada
In the figure, the operating expenses were regrouped in such a way that, on the one hand, there were the expenses that have an influence on the rural communities within or adjacent to the protected area under analysis. The operating expenses are those invested for the operation of the organization and not those of operation with social effects creating sources of work in reforestations, crops under protective canopy (Xate, pepper, bromeliaceae, cocoa, etc.)
Definitions
Financial sustainability
When it comes to sustainability, it is immediately associated with sustainability of natural resources and with the imperative interest that the use of these resources be in perpetuity and, if not zero, at least with minimal negative influence on the environment. Thus, our mind immediately travels to the Man-Nature interrelation, and it could be believed that it is about finding the efficient way in which resources from nature can be obtained indefinitely for the benefit of man.First of all, when talking about financial sustainability, it is convenient to ask: for whom?
In the present case, it should be understood that the sustainability pursued is that which allows the achievement of the management objectives of both parks, which are eminently conservationist and the recovery of ecological niches.
CHAPTER I
GENERALITIES OF THE INVESTIGATION
1 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1.1 General Objective
Determine the financing model that allows the implementation of the regulations contained in the Management Plan of the Montecristo "PNM" and San Diego "PNSD" national parks.
1.2 Specific Objectives
- Determine the financing model to execute the San Diego National Park Management Plan. Determine the financing model to execute the Montecristo National Park Management Plan.
2 METHOD
The financial plan is the planning, in monetary terms, of the activities and strategies that are pursued to achieve the objectives and ensure good administration of the place or company under management. In this case, these are two protected areas, of which the PNM has scarce resources to fulfill the purpose of its creation, while the PNSD lacks resources, therefore, it is necessary to manage the financial resources that allow the achievement of the general objectives.
For this purpose, this research proceeded as follows:
- Gather information from organizations related to the ANP directly or by studying the literature on the matter. Analysis of the information to determine the actual and projected costs and income, as well as sources of financing and financing mechanisms are determined. Organization of the information for Obtain an image that allows the analysis of investment programs, costs, as well as income to find a point of equilibrium that allows self-sustainability Realization and projections of income and expenses Adjust activities and plans over time Development of a final work and discussion with the people involved in the process The financial planning presented should be considered as the starting point for the financial sustainability of both ANPs,which implies its constant annual review to ensure an adjustment both in amounts and in the assumptions and conditions that created it to determine its viability.
Available tools
The concepts of most current use in financial analysis are considered below, which can be found in books that deal with Financial Mathematics, Economics or Business Administration, but here they are presented to serve as a useful bibliographic source for the administration of Parks reason of interest of the MAG-PAES / CATIE Project.
2.1.1 Financial analysis:
Examines the costs and benefits at market prices and determines their different relationships based on various indicators in order to provide elements of judgment that allow the best possible management of an individual or collective entity, be it formal (legally established company), or informal (individual, community or family businesses); on the other hand, in ex-ante analysis, it provides information on when the funds will be needed and when the income is expected to be received or, in ex-post analysis, it shows when productive activities will be executed and the real flow of costs and income, during the period of analysis and the final balance for which it is necessary to define certain concepts that are exposed below.
Fixed and variable costs:
The first correspond to all those expenses that do not vary with the level of production in the short term, because they derive from investments that do not vary and have a useful life of several years (roads, machinery, equipment), or they consist of contracts or permanent obligations, such as administration costs or the payment of taxes on real estate. Variable costs, on the other hand, correspond to investments made in activities that fluctuate according to production levels; such as labor, materials and services used in various activities which, in the case of protected areas, include the infrastructure in management and conservation of soils and water, reforestations, payment of consultants, construction of scientific infrastructure (observatories of birds, huts to house consultants),All of them are in the planning phase, as they vary according to the units scheduled to be carried out (linear meters of slope ditches, cubic meters of gabions, number of cabins or fire control towers or other contractable structures or services).
As can be seen, the concept of fixed and variable can be confused over time (which is why it was highlighted above with italics underlining the short term concept), because with time, some fixed costs could be included among the variables for the next analysis, or vice versa, for example, in this analysis those already invested in gabions, fire control towers, observatories and cabins should be included as fixed costs).
Cash and non-cash expenses:
Cash costs are a subdivision of total costs and correspond to payments made with "hard cash" money, such as administrative expenses to pay the salary of a park management, office staff (accounting, secretarial), Park Rangers, hired wages, vehicle maintenance, fuels and lubricants. The “non-cash” costs are represented by the contributions of resources that, not being paid directly, are investments that are made in the company such as family labor and, in the case of ANPs, volunteers such as of the Peace Corps, or Supervised Professional Exercises "EPS" of sociologists, biologists, foresters, agronomists and students of any other career who, without receiving any salary, can provide services to the ANPs.
This subdivision is necessary when the analysis of the flow of funds is carried out, to determine the deficit periods and to anticipate the external financing needs; however, it is inappropriate to include non-cash expenses when performing the financial performance analysis.
Cash and non-cash income:
The first are those received with cash for the sale of goods and services, such as payments for entrance to the parks, payment of the right to camp, as well as the wages and salaries paid by the Government (but that enter the parks).
The “non-cash” income is made up of the value of the production used for the families' own consumption (firewood for example), or, as in the case of Montecristo, the value of water for domestic use, which is derived from own sources, the wood used in rustic furniture and in rural constructions that are made with the ANP's own materials (such as the wood used in control towers, viewpoints and cabins of the Montecristo National Park for example).
As noted for costs, this income subdivision is useful only for cash flow, but not for profitability analysis.
Financial indicators:
In the management of any company and therefore in that of the ANP's, it is necessary to have indicators that are based on cost-benefit relationships, which must be updated since important changes are experienced in the course of time. the money's value. These changes make it necessary to update the indicators of the flow of costs and income, the most used being the Net Present Value (NPV), the Benefit / Cost ratio (B / C), the Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and the Expected value of the Earth (TEV).
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