What is the business case for a partnership between a protected area with a conservation mission and a business with a profit-making objective?

The major challenge facing protected areas worldwide is inadequate resources to meet the conservation mission. Even where the connection between conservation and societal benefits is clear, conservation often takes a back seat to immediate and pressing needs. For better or worse, it is often unrealistic to depend exclusively upon official sources to secure the critical habitats, ecosystem functions, and non-material values that are contained in parks and other types of protected areas. Increasingly, protected area managers seek to harness the power of the private sector to meet their conservation objectives.

And the private sector is responding. Sometimes the motivation is not, strictly speaking, a business case. People in business may elect to support conservation for personal and ethical reasons not linked to the "bottom line". The same leadership that can translate to success in business translates to success in many endeavors, including conservation. Visionary leaders can be expected to understand that investment in conservation is investment in the future.

But there is also a business case for investment in conservation. For some businesses, profitability may be directly linked to the quality of a place. The tourism industry has, for example, a direct self-interest in the quality of their destinations. The outdoor recreation industry may not have an interest in a particular site, but in protected areas in general.

Protected areas may also receive support for the amenity values that they provide to the communities in which the businesses are located. Protected areas may improve the quality of life, making it easier for businesses to attract and retained valued employees.

Sometimes, support for conservation is tied to marketing strategies where the business strengthens its own brand identity through links with other organizations and ideas associated in the public mind with positive attributes. These are often not-for-profit, non-governmental organizations. Occasionally, a business will link with a popular non-profit brand in a joint marketing campaign, in which proceeds from a sale are shared with the charity for a good cause.

Support for conservation may also be a function of a corporate social responsibility strategy linked less to direct business benefits and more to how the business contributes to a greater social good. While there may be no direct material benefits, it is often the case that businesses with a strong social ethos are also highly competitive and are viewed as good business risks, and may be rewarded with lower insurance premiums and more favorable financial terms.

In the end, the case studies we have collected may only rarely be linked to a single motive. In most cases, strong public/private partnerships will be a blend of personal and/or corporate altruism and a nose for what makes sense for business.

Here are a few of the mechanisms by which businesses and protected areas can work together.

1. Direct financial support by business to protected area (corporate or personal giving)
   
2. In-kind support (donation of staff time, services, equipment, staff training, etc.)
   
3. Co-management (businesses shares a management responsibility)
4. Joint ventures (cobranding of products, joint investment in a business venture, etc)
5. Enabling activity for small business development in support of conservation.
6. Indirect support for the protected area (e.g., through income generation for adjacent communities)
7. Normative partnership to set standards and build capacity to meet standards