The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Mexico (SEMARNAT), through the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), through the CBD LifeWeb Initiative, will host the Second Financing Roundtable to Strengthen Protected Areas in Mexico to be held on Friday, 2 December 2011.

In October 2010 the First Financing Roundtable was held, with national and international stakeholders and partners, to articulate a management strategy for additional resources to meet the financial gap that exists for natural protected areas in accordance to the commitments acquired by Mexico during the Seventh Conference of the Parties of the CBD, through the LifeWeb Initiative. During the First Roundtable, an estimate of the existing financial gap was presented to the attendees. However, since this first meeting the financial gap from 2010 to 2011 has been reduced by $24,796,829 pesos; which reflects the need to increase funding for natural protected areas in Mexico. To give continuity to these efforts, the Second Financing Roundtable aims to present and evaluate a business plan that could enable the CONANP to reduce its existing financial gap.

The meeting will take place in the Hotel Camino Real Pedregal, Periférico Sur 3647, in Mexico City on 2 December 2011 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. After this working session, there will be a cocktail from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
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