Laguna San Ignacio Conservation Alliance
Laguna San Ignacio in Baja California Sur, Mexico is one of the most
pristine gray whale migration destinations on Earth. Two to three hundred
whales congregate there every year to birth their young, rear them, and
prepare them for the long journey north to Alaska. A thriving ecotourism
business has blossomed in this remote location, where hundreds of tourists
flock each spring to view and touch the curious young whales.
Laguna San Ignacio is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ramsar
site (wetland of international importance), and is part of the Vizcaino
Biosphere Reserve, one of Mexico’s largest protected areas. Green sea
turtles, peregrine falcons, and hundreds of thousands of migratory waterfowl
and shorebirds use the mangroves, wetlands, and beaches that cover hundreds
of square miles of pristine territory. In fact, the Laguna San Ignacio
Wetland Complex has 248 miles of coastline -- 198 miles of that is wetlands
and mangroves.
Despite these international and national protection designations, Laguna San
Ignacio was also the proposed site for the Mitsubishi industrial salt
facility that was scheduled to be built on the lagoon shores a few years
ago. Preservationists from Mexico and the U.S. fought this project for five
years, and eventually Mexican President Zedillo canceled the government's
participation in the project. However, the economic concession remains, and
federal lands exist on which to launch another large-scale industrial
project, just like Mitsubishi.
The six ejidos in the Laguna San Ignacio Wetlands Complex own 99% of the
land. Ejido Luis Echeverria Alvarez has just negotiated a large-scale
conservation easement of 140,847 acres. This easement will restrict
development activities on lands that the ejido controls. The members of
Ejido Luis Echeverria Alvarez are considered leaders in the region -- five
other ejidos are watching this transaction carefully to determine if they
would like to participate in a conservation easement in the future.
Local ejido leaders have decided to take matters into their own hands, with
the help of Wildcoast, Pronatura, a national-level conservation organization
in Mexico, the Interntational Community Foundation and NRDC. The first
conservation easement was recently approved on March 2005 by Ejido Luis
Echevarria Alvarez, which will effectively restrict development on their
communally-owned land and will establish zoning for economic uses, buffer
areas, and protected sites.
Between 2005-2007, Pronatura and Wildcoast will work to protect over one
million acres of pristine coastal lands in the Laguna San Ignacio region
through conservation easements with ejidos and private property owners. The
fundraising goal is $8.6 million, of which the majority will go to paying
the easements in annual installments (or one-time cash payments).
