Are Mexico’s new nature reserves a real conservation effort or empty political gesture?

Mexico has a lot of natural beauty to save – or squander. Xhuanx/Wikimedia, CC BY-NC-SA At the UN’s Biodiversity Conference in Cancún (COP13) in early December 2016, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced that his government was creating four new nature reserves. This adds 181 protected natural environments – a total of 91 million hectares (70 million at sea and 21 million on land) – to Mexico’s existing 25 million hectares of reserves and biospheres. Many greeted the announcement with enthusiasm. Protected natural areas are one of the most important and effective tools for safeguarding biodiversity and preventing habitat loss. When done correctly, they also serve as a model for how humanity can live in harmony with nature, rather than destroying it. But Mexico faces many challenges to effectively implement its plan. Complicating factors in the newly protected areas include mass tourism, organised crime, current indigenous inhabitants and general profiteering. The Mexican Caribbean Biosphere, slated to include 100% of the Mesoamerican Reef system, will protect the most important turtle beaches in Quintana Roo state, on the Yucatan Peninsula, and prohibit oil exploration in Mexico’s Caribbean Sea. That’s all good news. But because the reserve covers Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, the law also acknowledges that tourism is still a priority in the areas. Environmental protection is good for tourism too. But Mexico has generally managed this industry badly, leading to negative environmental impacts around Cancun. New regulations requiring that all new developments be sustainably built should help avoid causing more irreparable damage to the fragile and very vulnerable coastal environment, but it’s not a panacea. Cancun’s seemingly pristine beaches hide decades of tourism-related environmental degredation. Ricardo Diaz/flickr, CC BY Another new marine reserve, the Biosphere of the Mexican Pacific Deep, encompasses almost the entire Mexican Pacific shore. It aims to protect the rich biodiversity present in, marine areas off the coast of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas states. That includes 42 species of stony corals, 1,006 species of algae, and more than 920 endemic molluscs. Guaranteeing their reproductive habitat will be complicated, and involve controlling activity related to the beaches and fishing communities in seven states. Five of the seven are among Mexico’s poorest, while Guerrero, Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco are the most violent. Can Mexico save its coral habitat? Reuters Creating this huge protected natural area could provide an opportunity for much-needed development in this impoverished region. Under current regulations, nature reserves are subject to zoning that outlines permitted land uses for each area. In core zones, access is restricted and existing inhabitants must be relocated. But in certain designated areas, business activities such as tourism, mining, forestry and agriculture can still occur. In theory, displaced people can work in these newly created industries, particularly tourism, entering the “green economy”. But in practice, these schemes often simply force impoverished locals off their land while limiting traditional economic activities, such as fishing, and compel people to migrate. The new marine-based Biosphere Reserve Pacific Islands of the […]

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