PROGRAMME

PONT enables protected areas in the PONT focus region to develop and implement their management plans and conserve the environment through co-financing of operational costs.

PONT supports the development and use of standard operational planning and reporting systems for the implementation of protected area programmes. Standardised biodiversity monitoring systems are developed in which data collection, data analysis and data sharing are supported for active habitat management, with an efficient division of which activities can be done by, or the protected area staff themselves, or/and environmental actors, or/and local people or/and what to outsource to third parties.

Sharing and enabling scientific data to the protected area staff for increased use in the management of the area must be included in the third-party contracts. The inclusion of minimum Natura 2000 requirements will gain importance in the coming years.

The protected area management authorities are supported with their operations and organisational development to make the organisations more robust, known as suppliers of ecosystem services, and capable of sourcing third-party funding.