Conservation and Use

Abstract

The Yucatan Peninsula has a great biological, ecological and cultural diversity, marked historically by the Mayan civilization and biologically by its high endemism, and affinity with nearby regions. It is botanically well known with an estimated total richness of over 2300 vascular plant species, but there is uncertainty about the number of rare species (195 rare woody species are estimated to occur in its forests). Further research on the population dynamics, distribution and ecology of rare and endemic species of the peninsula is needed. Its biodiversity also provides various ecosystem services, such as provisioning, including about 680 species of medicinal plants, 145 edible species and 130 timber-species; and regulation of air and water quality (terrestrial ecosystems of the peninsula protect and help regulate one of the largest karstic aquifers worldwide), and climate. The Yucatan Peninsula has the second-largest forested area in Latin America after the Amazon basin, and harbors the largest natural reservoir of carbon in Mexico (3554 Pg). However, this biodiversity and the environmental services it provides are threatened by human activities linked to development policies focused on short-term economic benefits, leading to forest fires and land use change for agriculture, tourism, roads or urban development. Thus, by 2010, the primary vegetation occupied only 22 % of the region. Fortunately, protected areas cover 21.6 % of the total land area and, along with other initiatives (Mesoamerican Biological Corridor-Mexico), and sustainable productive activities (beekeeping, alternative tourism), have conserved large tracts of forests, along with the biodiversity and environmental services they provide.