bajajudy
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Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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Article on La Paz-El Mogote
The Green Line: Gov?t should reverse decision to remove natural hurricane barriers
BY TALLI NAUMAN/The Herald Mexico
El Universal
Domingo 02 de julio de 2006
Mexico?s environmental authorities have removed the one last federal administrative barrier between the company Desarollos Punta La Paz and its dream
of turning El Mogote Peninsula into a luxury tourist attraction in the bay of Baja California Sur?s capital city. But the developers still must face
the reality that residents know the current natural state of this spit of land is the one last barrier between La Paz and the furious habitat
destruction of seaborne storms.
The Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat (Semarnat) approved the development called Paraiso del Mar 18 months ago and just recently gave a
land-use change permit to build an access road, which was the remaining sticking point. However, the two-year-old Citizens Concerned for the Future of
La Paz and Baja California Sur has appealed both decisions.
Flying over the Baja Peninsula, you can see the immense bay of La Paz in the Gulf of California. It is one of the world?s largest ocean coves. El
Mogote Penisula, jutting across the wide opening of the bay, is a unique and striking feature that piques curiosity. Walking beside the calm waters of
the La Paz beach front you can appreciate that long outcropping of land you see in the distance for the shelter it provides from the wind and waves.
It has one of the biggest intact mangrove forests in the gulf.
The scenic beauty that the giant sandbar adds to the slow moving reverie of La Paz would be arrested by the construction of high rises, condominiums,
residential villas, golf courses and marinas. The city?s famous sunsets over the waters would be marred by the silhouette of an artificial landscape
on the horizon. The edification would mock UNESCO?s designation of the gulf coast as a World Natural Heritage site worthy of special protection due to
its unparalleled biodiversity.
But perhaps that tragedy would be trivial compared to the impact on El Mogote?s mangrove forest. Mangroves are the breeding grounds, nurseries and
cafeterias for shrimp, other shellfish, and an impressive array of other wildlife necessary for the fisheries that support the economy of the city,
state, country and planet. Hundreds of hectares would be disturbed by the building plans, which would cause collateral damage to native and migratory
birds and land animals.
While this is not an exaggeration, neither is the following: The damage from hurricanes and tropical storms is 10 times less in areas that have
mangrove protection. La Paz already has lost 60 percent of the mangrove cover it once had. The environmental services provided free of charge by one
hectare of mangrove are worth US$20,000.
Fishermen who moonlight to supplement their income by hauling visitors on boat trips through the bay of La Paz mask their resentment of the project?s
success so far, joking: ?They?re already putting in the church. Anytime now the bishop himself will be officiating mass there.? Together with other
pace?os, as locals call themselves, they recall a tempest years ago that blew their boats out of the water up the hillside and right into the walls of
their houses. That was even before any deforestation of El Mogote.
SLOW TO RECOVER
Semarnat is requiring the developers pay the Mexican Forestry Fund to replant native flora. The 28 hectares that developers need for the road would
cost them about US$39,000 in three stages. Then there?s the displacement of mangroves, desert plants and other features by the rest of the
development. Reforestation of mangroves is extremely tricky and time consuming. One in 10 survives. So even if the remediation were to succeed 100
percent, which is a statistical impossibility, the years in which the area remained unprotected from the wrath of the sea would be countless.
This private money-making scheme, which surely gained impetus through lucrative offers made to government representatives in exchange for their
collaboration, could end up costing the community, as well as folks further a-field, a lot of grief and a bushel of bucks, when the time comes to
clean up from a natural disaster.
Fortunately, La Paz has a high per capita rate of scientists, who have joined with others in town to seek alternatives, beginning with the elaboration
and distribution of a study that makes recommendations for sustainable growth, taking into consideration the limited water supplies in this desert
area, which are as important as the mangroves. The study entitled ?Alternative Futures for the City of La Paz, Mexico? was funded by the San
Diego-based International Community Foundation and the Mexican Foundation for Environmental Education, in cooperation with the University of Arizona
and Harvard-Radcliffe.
The document sparked public participation, and soon the concerned citizens group had collected 1,200 signatures on a petition to the state
legislature, which was inspired by suspicions of fraud. The signers were pretty ticked off that while former Gov. Leonel Cota was in office he sold
several hundred hectares of federal land on El Mogote to the developers without a public consultation process and that proof of the rumored
bargain-basement asking price so far remains a secret.
Maybe the investors in the project are themselves being defrauded. Or maybe they just need a place to launder money. After all, El Mogote would be the
first feature of the bay to be wiped out in a tsunami. Luis Cano, who runs the project, has declined the interview requests of many media
representatives, including me, while at the same time stating his company does not recognize the voices of dissent.
The concerned citizens have filed a criminal complaint against Semarnat officials for the permitting. But the government still has a chance to respond
administratively to the permit decision appeals, change its mind about letting the project proceed, and keep itself out of deeper hot water. Public
pressure in connection with these appeals will show the way.
Dozens of institutions and individuals already have supported the drive to save El Mogote, with research, donations, supplies, and volunteer work. But
it is not enough. Maybe you should try to figure out how you can help, too, before it?s too late.
Talli Nauman is a founder and co-director of Journalism to Raise Environmental Awareness. (talli@hughes.net)
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Jack Swords
Super Nomad
Posts: 1094
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: Nipomo, CA/La Paz, BCS
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Having hiked over the Magote several times each year for the past 8 years I have seen the wanton destruction this "development" has made. They
scoured the native vegetation from a large area that is exposed to the prevailing winds only to have it turn into sand dunes. They destroyed
mangroves (got popped for it too) in their hurry to move land around. Lots of signs are up, promises have been made to investors that have not been
kept (your house and golf course will be ready in 18 months), and the staff have been riding motorcycles all over destroying more native vegetation.
They call themselves an International Audubon site as being environmentally sensitive, but that group is NOT part of the National Audubon Society. A
scam? Sure seems like it. I have talked to the people in the developers office several times and received different answers on where they will get
water, deal with sewage, electricity, etc. Not an investment I'd like to make. Also not a popular idea in La Paz as broken windows in the
development office would attest. It is a looong drive to get from La Paz out to the development on the new road Larry mentions. We are told of a
"ferry" to transport cars and golf carts across the bay, but the northers are pretty constant in the winter and the bay inhospitible to boats, not to
mention golf carts in the La Paz traffic. This plan is just a bad idea. Move it north on the same beach out towards San Juan de la Costa and it
could be feasible. Sad to see it continue.
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