Foundation Backs BOLA Marine Park
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/science/20021221-9999_1m2...
By Sandra Dibble
December 21, 2002
TIJUANA ? Efforts by environmental groups from both sides of the border to set up a national marine park on the Sea of Cortez won financial backing
this month from the San Diego-based International Community Foundation.
The Mexican group Pronatura and two San Diego organizations, Wildcoast and Pro Peninsula, each received $20,000 to help develop the 1.4 million-acre
park in the Bahia de los Angeles area.
Pronatura, Wildcoast and Pro Peninsula have been working with residents of Bahia de los Angeles to set up the marine park. The seaside town of 800
residents sits 760 miles south of the border in a region highly prized by environmentalists for its ecological diversity.
With members of a local land cooperative, Ejido Tierra y Libertad, Pronatura and Wildcoast this year submitted a proposal to the Mexican government to
create the park. It would straddle land and water and would include islands in the Sea of Cortez that are already under federal protection for their
unique plant and animal species.
"The idea is to promote sustainable fishing and ecotourism," said Wildcoast director Serge Dedina. "We worked for two years with the community to make
sure that it was something the community wanted."
A formal public review of the proposal is expected early next year. Final approval requires the consent of a number of government agencies at the
federal, state and local levels.
The International Community Foundation's donations will be used to train local residents to serve as park managers, set up a visitors center and build
support for the park through tours, a Web site and a video.
"The Sea of Cortez has enormous importance from a biodiversity standpoint," said foundation president Richard Kiy. "The only way to protect a resource
like that is to encourage people to use it in a responsible way."
The foundation recently set up a Sea of Cortez Fund to encourage a number of conservation efforts in the region, which has come under increasing
development pressure. Wildcoast, Pronatura and Pro Peninsula are among nine groups receiving $20,000 grants from the fund.
The Sea of Cortez region has attracted growing attention in the past year. President Vicente Fox's administration has proposed an ambitious tourism
and development effort in the region through a series of linked ports known as the Escalera Nautica.
But many environmental groups oppose the Escalera, saying it would lead to further environmental degradation. They argue that smaller-scale projects
are more suited to the peninsula's fragile environment.
Alfredo Zavala Gonz?lez, who oversees protection of the Sea of Cortez islands for Mexico's National Commission of Protected Areas, supports the
current park proposal for Bahia de los Angeles.
"We have to protect the waters around the islands," he said.
In addition to Wildcoast, Pronatura and Pro Peninsula, two other groups have won $20,000 awards to work in Bahia de los Angeles. They are:
Investigacion y Conservacion de Mamiferos Marinos de Ensenada, A.C., to evaluate the environmental impact of fishing and boat traffic on whales and
dolphins and start an environmental education program.
Pro Esteros, Lagunas y Marismas de las Californias, A.C., to help protect the Mona Estuary at Bahia de los Angeles.
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