Project description

Title: Protection of natural resources and regional development in South-East Mexico
Commissioned by: Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ)
Country: Mexico
Lead executing agency: National Commission on Protected Areas (CONANP)
Overall term: February 2004 to January 2008

Context

In South-East Mexico, uncontrolled conversion of forest areas into farmland and pasturage as well as the use of management methods unsuited to the location have been observable for many years. This endangers not only the diversity of flora and fauna, but also the future prospects of the population, which is dependent on the use of these natural resources. Sustainable management of natural resources is hindered by the contradictory goals of the relevant organisations, their unwillingness to cooperate among themselves, and their alliances with farmers’ leaders who have limited credentials as legitimate representatives. Dominating the situation are bilateral agreements and arrangements between sectoral government agencies and farmers’ interest groups centred on gaining access to public assistance funds. To them, the content and technical orientation of promoted projects, coordination of methods and objectives, and environmental compatibility are of secondary importance. The instruments and experience needed to balance the interests of the various actors are not at hand.

Objective

In joint planning and coordinating processes, the representatives of the different organisations and interest groups lay the foundations for conducting sustainable natural resource and regional management.

Approach

The project is addressed to institutions and organisations with the influence and political power to shape events at the local and federal levels. For the Calakmul biosphere reserve in the federal state of Campeche, these are primarily the National Commission on Protected Areas (Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegídas,  CONANP) and the Municipal Council for Sustainable Rural Development (Consejo Municipal de desarrollo rural sostenible, CMDRS) in Calakmul. Their capacity is to be strengthened to set a course for sustainable natural resource management with a regional development perspective. The main focus of the advisory services is to devise planning and steering instruments. They facilitate the socio-political negotiations between the various actors, addressing their conflicting interests and claims on resources and at the same time enlivening the sustainability debate. In this way, the suprasectoral policy dialogue on development and environmental strategies is transferred from the central government level to the local scene where concrete actions and guidelines can be agreed upon.

Efforts are focused on developing sustainability criteria as instruments for managing land use. In order to make abstract guiding principles easier to grasp, agricultural and forestry production systems presently practised are put to the test. In future, production systems that fail to meet sustainability criteria must be changed if they are to receive state promotional funding. The CMDRS members have to reconcile different concepts of resource use: environmentalists are concerned about the degrading impacts of land use on the environment, while farmers’ organisations and agriculture administrators give priority to profitability and methods of production. Using location-specific criteria can bring about a balancing of interests. Hence, a regional development plan for the Calakmul municipality identifies the areas in which agricultural activities do not interfere with other land uses.

Results achieved so far

Numerous actors around Calakmul identify themselves with project activities and increasingly see themselves as a steering group that is prepared to assume responsibility: in addition to the municipality itself, they include local representatives  of the agriculture and environment ministries, non-governmental organisations working for the environment, and representatives of the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (CDI) and the Ministry of Social Development (SEDESOL).  An agreement regarded as a code of conduct has aroused interest far beyond the municipal boundaries. Among others, the Secretariat of Public Works and Communication (Secretaría de Obras Publicas y Comunicación, SEOPC) and the Secretariat of Ecology (Secretaría de Ecología) are interested in the results and possible use of the instruments in all eleven municipalities of the federal state of Campeche.

Downloads

• Concertación para el Desarrollo Rural Regional del Municipio de Calakmul, Campeche
  Talleres de Consulta. Una metodología que facilita la construcción e integración de acciones en líneas estratégicas.
  2004, 106 páginas
  sp-Concertacion-Calakmul-2004.pdf, 3.07 MB (español)
• Plan de Desarrollo Rural Municipal para Calakmul
  2006/2007, 51 páginas
  sp-Plan-de-desarrollo-2006.pdf, 1.16 MB (español)

Further information

• Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP)
  www.conanp.gob.mx
• Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales
  Mexikanisches Umweltministerium
  www.semarnat.gob.mx