ANNUAL REPORT 2024
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Last year we continued with the consolidation of our grant portfolio and the development of a more performance-based system to allow for better informed decision-making in the awarding of follow-up grants. New tools measuring the contribution of the grants to the implementation of the Management Plans of selected Protected Areas are actively being used by our beneficiaries. We try to measure the impact of our grants and learn more about success factors through the use and analysis of data stored in our database.
Our Connectivity Conservation programme continues to develop and we made the first steps towards the development of a PONT Connectivity Conservation Strategy. Several fundraising proposals were submitted for this new programme called “PONT Connect” and we are delighted that funding for five years has been confirmed by the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM). Some of you may wonder why PONT is actively fundraising. One of the main tasks of a Conservation Trust Fund is to raise and leverage long-term financing for our partners. Due to certain donor restrictions on our capital funds, financing is limited to certain countries, stakeholders, or how the funds are used. For example, only the positive returns on the investments of our endowment capital can be used for financing. And as such, PONT cannot finance some essential transboundary conservation actions, therefore we try to fill this gap through active fundraising. Most of the funding is re-granted and ends up in the bank accounts of our partners as our operational expenditures remain far below 15%. Stable long-term financing by PONT has also leveraged substantial additional funding for some of our grantees.
In 2022, we made a grant to Connecting Natural Values and People (CNVP) with the express aim of them sub-granting the funds to smaller grassroots organisations. The first results of the implementation of these sub-grants are encouraging. In total 47 local initiatives implemented their ideas and shared lessons learned through various exchange visits and a regional conference. This is an important step towards promoting the sustainable use of natural resources, through provision and support to local communities creating a better socio-economic life in harmony with nature. Some of our connectivity conservation pilot grants also showed great results where local shepherds are equipped and actively help the Greek NGO Hellenic Ornithological Society with the monitoring of the Egyptian vulture. Some of these actions might be suitable to scale to other areas and initiatives.
This year we have recruited and onboarded new staff and we continue our efforts with a highly motivated and professional team. We hosted several donor visits and are delighted PONT’s work is so valued. We would like to thank the Sigrid Rausing Trust for providing us with four years of unrestricted funding. We would like to thank them for this invaluable support and their trust in PONT.
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IMPACT
In 2024, PONT disbursed €3.8 million in grants (€1.2 million for 11 Protected Areas and €2.6 million for 26 Environmental Actors)
PROTECTED AREAS
NATURA 2000 SPECIES
NATURA 2000 HABITATS
ENDEMIC SPECIES
Science week_MedINA
Sub-grantees exchange_PONT
Balkan Lynx_AlbNatyra_Shebenik_PONT
Exhibition Vevcani Springs_EkoSvest_PONT
Pic from Arcturos
Owning your Management Plan_PONT
PONT's APPROACH
As a trust fund, PONT’s approach to conservation differs from the standard “project-based” or “short-term” solutions. PONT’s funding is long-term and focused on key conservation actions in the biodiversity-rich mountains and lakes bridging Albania, Greece, and North Macedonia. It is designed to ensure the sustainable management of the Prespa-Ohrid, Korab-Shara, and Albanian Alps regions, including ecological corridors between these areas. Our model emphasises long-term commitment, transparency, efficiency, accountability, and collaboration.
PONT's PROGRAMME
We have two funding programmes:
- PONT enables protected areas in the PONT Focus Area, to develop and implement their management plans to conserve nature through sustainable co-financing of operational costs.
- PONT provides grants to environmental actors who are qualified not-for-profit organisations implementing conservation actions in the Prespa-Ohrid, Korab-Shara and Albanian Alps regions, including ecological corridors between these areas.
PONT supported 36 grantees in 2024 (10 grants for protected area management authorities managing 11 protected areas and 26 environmental actors).
CONSERVATION CONNECTIVITY
Protected areas are central to PONT’s approach. To be effective, though, protected areas need to be of sufficient size and ecologically connected to one another and the larger landscape. The areas which provide ways to identify, maintain, enhance, and restore ecological connectivity are called Connectivity Conservation Areas (CCAs) or ecological corridors. Ecological corridors are not a substitute for protected areas but complement them, especially in regions where additional protected areas are not possible, and/or connectivity is required to support biodiversity and ecological processes of the existing protected areas. Ecological corridors facilitate adaptation to changing environmental conditions, such as climate change. The ecological corridors and protected areas they connect make up an ecological network.
2024 RESULTS AND HIGHLIGHTS
KEY MESSAGE: Strategy, guidance, collaboration, and shared learning: important actions for conservation and restoration.
This past year has shown that with passion, collaboration, and a shared vision, we can achieve remarkable things. As we look ahead, we remain committed to our mission, inspired by the progress we’ve made and the partnerships we’ve built. Together, we are making a lasting impact on the conservation of the Aoos River Basin’s natural and cultural heritage
ECOLOGICAL CORRIDORS
GREEN BUSINESSES
METT
CSST
EXPENDITURE OVERVIEW
Grant Expenditure 2023
RISKS MANAGEMENT
In 2021, we started a risk register which is updated annually. With the additional sinking fund contributions from KfW/BMZ in 2021 and the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation in 2022, we have secured long-term financing stability for our current commitments. This will help us maintain our endowment capital and continue providing support to the protected areas and environmental actors. We continue improving procedures and workflows for our growing grant programme and investment portfolio. The implementation of the PONT Environmental Social Management System helps us to minimise any reputational risk, or any negative impact caused by PONT. Unfortunately, the changes in the law on protected areas approved by the Albanian parliament in February 2024 may increase these risks and therefore the PONT Supervisory Board has decided not to add any new protected areas in Albania to the PONT grant portfolio at this stage.
FINANCIALS
Total assets as of December 31, 2024 are €70.3 million. This €3.4 million decrease compared to December 31, 2023 is due to the use of the sinking fund capital of PONT. The endowment capital from “German Financial Cooperation (“GFC”), MAVA and the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation remained unchanged at €30 million. MAVA Foundation, GFC and Hans Wilsdorf Foundation made contributions to PONT’s funding capacity reserve totalling €54.6 million (of which €6.6 million from MAVA, €43 million from GFC, and €5 million from Hans Wilsdorf Foundation). The funding capacity reserve contributions were made as “sinking funds” to be spent until 2030 for MAVA and 2040 for GFC and Hans Wilsdorf Foundation. After the utilisation in 2024 of the sinking funds as described in the discussion of the income statement below, a balance of €38.6 million remained at the end of 2024 (€2.2 million in the MAVA sinking fund, €31.7 million in the GFC sinking fund, and €4.7 million in the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation sinking fund).
In line with the prior year, the miscellaneous provisions amounted to €212.721 reflecting outstanding invoices for consulting and other services in connection with investment advisory, custody fees, accounting, financial statements, and audit.
The asset side of the balance sheet reflects a division between investment securities (€64.7 million) and cash (€5.4 million).
The Financial Statement 2024 will be published when the 2024 audit report is finalised by PONT’s independent auditor expected in mid-2025. A summary of the 2024 Financials is provided in the full PONT Annual Report 2024 which can be downloaded here.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank the Sigrid Rausing Trust for providing us with four years of unrestricted funding and also thank them for their invaluable contribution and trust in PONT.
Under the leadership of David Morrison, the pro-bono contribution of our investment committee members (Al Breach, Johan Holgersson, Ronald Kent, Alessandro Manghi and Hanna Loikkanen) remains invaluable. PONT would like to thank all of them for their contribution.
We would also like to thank all our cooperation partners for their co-financing contributions and technical inputs.
PONT Annual Report 2024; Conservation Grants & Results