The price of tranquility in an underdeveloped Mexican lagoon
Headline: The price of tranquility in an underdeveloped Mexican lagoon
Byline: Danna Harman Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Date: 12/05/2005
(LAGUNA SAN IGNACIO, MEXICO)They have already passed San Diego: thousands of gray whales making
their annual 10,000-mile voyage from feeding grounds in the Arctic
circle to the warm winter waters of Baja California.
By now, many of them - the males ahead, the females straggling behind -
are arriving in Laguna San Ignacio, one of the world's last
underdeveloped lagoons. Here, they will give birth to their young, rear
them, and prepare for the long trip back north to Alaska in the spring.
The lagoon has been a home to the whales - as well as 221 species of
birds, green sea turtles, bottlenose dolphins, and osprey - for
hundreds, if not thousands, of years. And now, thanks to an innovative
cross-border conservation agreement, it will be protected in perpetuity.
The deal signed Oct. 25 between US and Mexico-based conservation groups
and the 43 members of the local land collective, or ejido, stipulates
that fishers and whale-watching guides here will protect the 120,000
acres they own along the shores of the lagoon. In exchange for payments
of $25,000 a year from a group of conservationists, the ejido also will
limit industrial and tourist projects in favor of low-impact
developments.
The deal marks the first time a private land trust has been negotiated
for an ejido's entire territory. The legally binding deal is being
touted as a model for conserving both the environment and the area's
cultural and traditional identity.
The Laguna San Ignacio Conservation Alliance, which includes the
conservation group Wildcoast and the Natural Resources Defense Council,
raised nearly $1.8 million for the project. It hopes to eventually
bring the other five ejidos in the region into the program as well, and
so preserve the entire 1 million acres of pristine ecosystem around the
lagoon, which has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site.
"Businesses are not necessarily interested in whales," says Serge
Dedina, Wildcoast's executive director, "or in the communities living
around the lagoon as they go about their effort to build the next
Cancun. Our goal is to empower people and ensure they can protect the
land. We care about the whales, but we are also motivated by social
justice and ethical responsibility."
Preserving whales and a lifestyle
Jose de Jesus Varela Galvan, a member of the Luis Echeverria ejido that
struck the deal, is also the director of Kuyima, an ecotourism company
that takes tourists out on whale trips. He echoes this sentiment:
"Whales are charismatic, enigmatic, smart, and basically marvelous," he
says. "But in this case, they are a means to an end for us - preserving
our way of life for our children and grandchildren."
The money from the fund will be used for an array of projects, explains
ejido president Raul Eduardo Lopez. Suggestions so far include building
an ice factory for packing fish, giving the middle school its own
building, expanding the oyster factory, bringing in a pharmacy, and
maybe starting a pig farm. "We need these projects to succeed, and we
want to pay back into the fund ... in order to prove to ourselves - and
to our neighbors - that this is the way to go," Mr. Lopez says.
All project proposals will have to be approved by Pronatura, Mexico's
largest conservation group, which is part of the alliance and charged
with monitoring the agreement.
"They can do most anything that does not put the environment at risk,"
says Fernando Ochoa Pineda, a Pronatura lawyer. Ecotourism is fine, for
example, but a mega-resort with a golf course is not - because of the
pesticides, the immense water usage, and the sewage. Fishing and
farming is allowed, but a marina would be rejected, as would a salt
factory. "We are aware there needs to be development," says Mr. Ochoa.
"The only question is what kind of development."
The monetary incentive is meant to offset the rising tide of offers
that are tempting many poor landowners. Nine years ago, Mitsubishi
Corp. came here proposing a 500,000-acre industrial salt-harvesting
factory. It would have drained the lagoon, but paid well. The plan was
eventually scuppered after a long campaign by conservationists. More
recently, other salt companies, along with oil-exploration groups, have
expressed interest in the land.
"The seduction of a quick buck is enormous, especially in these poor
areas," says Richard Kiy, president of the San Diego-based
International Community Foundation (ICF), which will maintain the
alliance's trust fund. "What we are trying to do is take a proactive
approach and give the ejidos an income stream, which allows them to
achieve community goals and control their own future ... while at the
same time protecting the whales' habitat," he says.
In the course of hammering out the deal, members of a former land
collective in Cabo San Lucas, a tourist destination south of here, met
with the communities at the lagoon. They told a cautionary tale about
selling their land.
"Those people used to own their land, too," says Kiy. "Now they are
working there as busboys, or cleaners - and so are their children."
Most landowners still want to sell
Still, not everyone is convinced, and it seems that getting more ejidos
to join the project will be a tough battle. Up to 60 percent of
landowners in the region want to sell, according to a recent ICF study.
"My ejido does not seem interested in this plan," says Francisco
"Pachico" Mayoral, a boat mechanic and tourism camp owner who is a
member of the San Ignacio ejido. "They want to be able to sell and do
whatever they want with the land, because they have heard that North
Americans are coming to buy here and they have a lot of money. Mr.
Mayoral says he personally has nothing against the project, but ejidos
must make the commitment as a group, not as individuals.
Over at the center of the Luis Echeverria ejido, children gather among
scattered old truck parts and painted tire fences to watch their
fathers and brothers bring in the week's catch of lobsters.
"Of course we could always do with more money in our pockets," says
Victor Ramirez Gallegos, an ejidatario with rough hands and sunburned
lips. "But on the other hand," he says, "We have a school. We have
light with our solar panels and a small water-purification plant. We
eat lobsters. We even have a satellite hookup for Internet," he says,
packing the lobsters in a truck for the long drive up the coast.
Mr. Gallegos fishes for lobsters in October and November, leads
whale-watching tours from December through April, and dives for
scallops the rest of the year. "God willing, I will pass this life
along to my children," he explains, picking up his 1-year-old son,
Victor, who is playing with a trash bag on the sand. "It's good to have
money," he says chuckling to himself, "but tranquility is worth a lot
... and not only for the whales."
(c) Copyright 2005 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
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