Mexico project 523-4007 · 1995 · natural resources and biodiversity

Project to institutionalize the Mexico Nature Conservation Fund (FMCN) as a Mexican-owned and -operated endowment for financing grants to Mexican NGOs for biodiversity protection efforts. The FMCN was established in FY94 with an initial project grant of $500,000 made to PRONATURA, a leading Mexican conservation NGO, as and strengthen the FMCN. The project represents part of the United States' commitment to the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). By way of initial capitalization, USAID will provide $19.5 million of the $50 million endowment envisioned by FMCN over the long-term, thereby allowing the FMCN to launch a sizable grant program (about $1 million a year) beginning in 1996. Attainment of the long-term goal of $50 million is expected to enable FMCN to provide $2-3 million a year in grant funding. The NGOs will use the grants for activities in natural resource protection and management, policy analysis and formation, environmental education, data collection, mapping and monitoring, conservation training, and the promotion of sustainable agriculture -- primarily in the tropical and subtropical regions of southern and southeastern Mexico. The endowment will also provide a

Source: DEC abstract, PD-ABL-583 (1995). The source's own text.