Global Issues
MEXICO: Conservation Gaining Ground on Private Lands
The Mexican government is promoting the notion of private lands dedicated to sustainable use, a tool created in 1997 in this country with great biodiversity, but experts say there are still many shortcomings in the plan.
Ten years ago, engineer Luis Alvarado decided to buy some real estate in a central municipality of Mexico that had been neglected and degraded by illegal logging.
The land, some 25 hectares, today comprises the environmental management unit (EMU) known as Temaxcal, established in 2002 in Amecameca, 58 kilometres southeast of the Mexican capital. It is home to dozens of animal species and hundreds of different plants.
Situated 2,420 metres above sea level, Temaxcal spreads across the lower slopes of the Iztaccíhuatl volcano, which rises to 5,286 metres. It offers tours and unique forms of contact with nature, utilising environmental education and workshops in natural resource management.
Wild animals are also raised on the site, such as the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), which has several subspecies that are endangered. The deer are later released into the surrounding areas.
The gray fox, red-tailed hawk and barn owl are other native species raised in Temaxcal.
'We began our work in reforestation. The experience has shown us that we can take care of the forest and also benefit from it,' said project director Francisco Paiz, a local native and head of the non-governmental organisation Mater Natura, which has been managing Temaxcal since 2004.
Trees growing there include the ayacahuite (Mexican white pine), the oyamel (sacred fir, a favourite of the monarch butterfly), the cedar, and the ahuehuete (Montezuma cypress).
'Over the years we have seen the changes: the fauna has returned, deforestation has stopped and the soils have recovered,' Paiz told Tierramérica.
This year they plan to plant 5,000 trees of various species. And they expect to produce several volcano rabbits, or teporingos (Romerolagus diazi), which are endemic to the region -- and endangered.
In July, Temaxcal received more than 250 visitors. The site's modest budget of just 267 dollars per week is sustained with revenues from what is produced and sold here, classes and tours.
The EMUs are plots of land on which existing natural resources are utilised, directly or indirectly, under a plan for sustainable management. The economic benefits of the activities remain in the hands of the landowners.
'It is a good example of what we can do to give economic value to ecosystems,' according to biologist José Sarkhán, in a seminar organised by Tierramérica. The expert is the coordinator of the government's National Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO).
Until now, 'biodiversity has not been given economic value,' he said.
The first EMUs in Mexico appeared in 1997, when what was then the Secretariat (ministry) of Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries created them as part of the 1997-2000 Programme for Conservation of Wildlife and Productive Diversification in the Rural Sector.
The fisheries division was moved to a different ministry. As of July 15, the environmental portfolio, known as SEMARNAT, had 9,824 privately run units registered, covering more than 34 million hectares -- equivalent to about 17 percent of Mexico's national territory. The EMUs have generated some 393 million dollars for their owners.
They compete for financing and technical support with the 174 federal protected areas, which total more than 25 million hectares.
The types of ownership of the EMUs vary, from individual owners to communally held lands, such as 'ejidos.'
The ejido system dates back to the Aztecs, was phased out during the colonial period, and reinitiated in the early 20th century. The lands belong to the community, but are not parcelled and there are no titles of ownership.
The EMUs 'are a good tool for protecting biodiversity and generating benefits, but they lack support, both in funding and technical assistance,' Olmo Torres, founder and head of watershed management of the non-governmental Razonatura Collective, told Tierramérica.
Activities there include hunting (of non-endangered species) and production of inputs for industry and artisanry, ecotourism, and environmental education and research.
There are no policies to encourage or discourage the creation of EMUs in specific areas, but they are most abundant in the northern states of Coahuila and Sonora, the northeastern Nuevo León and Tamaulipas states, and Tabasco, in the southeast.
In the state of Mexico, where the municipality of Amecameca is located, there are at least six such units.
In Temaxcal, visitors can enjoy the Tomacoco stream, which flows from the top of the volcano and whose name means 'distributor of the sustenance of life' in the native Náhuatl language, or the 200-year-old Montezuma cypress known as 'the candelabra' for the form of its branches, standing 40 metres tall.
According to local legend, the forest guardian spirit known as Coatepoxtle is known to wander the area.
To obtain EMU certification, the landowners must present papers that prove their rights, detail their management plans for native flora and fauna, and contingency plans for dealing with exotic species. SERMANAT decides on whether to grant a permit after evaluating the information and inspecting the sites.
Like Temaxcal, the EMUs can serve as true ecological laboratories. Here, two solar panels provide electricity, and there are plans to collect rainwater for use at the site.
Mexico is among the 15 nations of the world with greatest biodiversity. It is already known to have lost 56 animal species to extinction, and at least 1,900 plant and animal species are under some degree of endangerment, according to CONABIO.
'The EMUs can create biological corridors without affecting land ownership. But the existing categories need to be rethought and restructured,' according to Razonatura's Torres, who is also a biologist with the Autonomous National University of Mexico.
Over the course of this year, SEMARNAT will modify the mechanism for creating EMUs, whose name is likely to change as the sites will be identified more specifically according to how they operate and what they produce.
(*This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.)
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service