Aligning Conservation Planning for Mexico’s Natural Protected Areas with Public Policy

Story from CCNet coach María Fernanda Cepeda González (Capacitación y Asesorías Ambientales)

In January 2019, we shared a story on a regional Conservation Standards planning process conducted with Mexico’s Commission for Natural Protected Areas (CONANP).

This planning process used an integrated perspective and recognized that sustainable livelihoods are strongly linked to natural resources. Since then, the team has been seeking ways to integrate regional planning and public policy. Integration would demonstrate that different government agencies can have shared goals if they are willing to “learn the language” used by other sectors. Aligning goals could also reduce monitoring costs, which is important in light of significant decreases in economic and human resources faced by Mexico’s environmental sector.

This past year, we have worked to identify government programs and projects that could contribute to the implementation of the regional plan, so that we can align the plan to initiatives promoted by other sectors. Currently, the challenge is linking the indicators used to evaluate public policies to the regional monitoring plan, while also considering progress against results and activity metrics.

Work plan development. Photo by María Fernanda Cepeda.