Protected Areas In Mexico Research Articles

Privately protected areas in Mexico, a 2012–2023 update

In 2002, the first privately protected area (PPA) was legally “certified” by the Mexican government. The last PPA country review used data from 2012, so a decadal update is considered to be timely. By June 2023, 546 land parcels within 27 states held valid certificates as PPAs or ICCAs, for a total of 718,526 ha. PPAs include 175,006 ha of private lands plus 9,860 ha of public property, which jointly represent a 44% increase from their 2012 coverage of 128,369 ha, while community lands or “territories and areas conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities” (ICCAs) now comprise 486,082 ha. No new uncertified PPA inventory has been developed to date, but their number and territorial coverage have increased. After more than 20 years of use of the certified “voluntary conservation use areas” (ADVCs) mechanism, this review gives us a clearer and more mature picture of the benefits and limitations of using this legal tool. For example, no 10-year—the initial minimum required by law—certificates remain. Meanwhile, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s 30x30 target, with emphasis on effectively conserved and managed areas, has resulted in the development of an ADVC assessment tool, while advances toward the establishment of a legal “easement in gross” mechanism, through contractual means, have been developed for one Mexican state, which will serve as a proof-of-concept precedent for other states. Overall, certification of ADVCs has proved to be a useful tool for conservation of biodiversity and environmental services, which certainly needs to evolve to become more effective and efficient, in order to be a more widely used tool and increase its contribution for achieving Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework for Mexico.

Amphibians and reptiles of the Sierra Gorda de Querétaro Biosphere Reserve, Mexico: species richness, conservation status and comparison with other natural protected areas in central Mexico

The Sierra Gorda de Querétaro Biosphere Reserve (SGQBR) is one of the largest natural protected areas in Mexico; however, little is known about the richness and diversity of amphibians and reptiles. We present an updated list of species of both groups, the conservation status of these species, as well as an analysis of their diversity with respect to other protected natural areas (NPAs) in central Mexico. The SGQBR contains 132 herpetofauna species (35 amphibians and 97 reptiles). The richest and most diverse families for amphibians were Hylidae (anurans) and Plethodontidae (caudates), and for reptiles Phrynosomatidae (lizards), Colubridae and Dipsadidae (snakes). The values of taxonomic diversity of the SGQBR were similar to those for the regional pool considering others NPAs. However, it did not achieve the highest values compared to the adjacent Los Mármoles National Park or Sierra Gorda de Guanajuato Biosphere Reserve. There was a high complementarity in the species composition between El Chico National Park and SGQBR for both herpetofauna groups. Although a formal list is presented, it is necessary to carry out a greater number of studies focused on analyzing diversity, considering functional attributes of the species and the richness by vegetation types.

Perceived impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on protected area management and conservation outcomes in Mexico

AbstractProtected areas are under immense pressure to safeguard much of the remaining global biodiversity and can be strained by unpredicted events such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Understanding the extent of the effects of the pandemic on protected area management and conservation outcomes is critical for recovery and future planning to buffer against these types of events. We used survey and focus group data to measure the perceived impact of the pandemic on protected areas in Mexico and outline the pathways that led to these conservation outcomes. Across 62 protected areas, we found substantial changes in management capacity, monitoring and tourism, and a slight increase in non-compliant activities. Our findings highlight the need to integrate short-term relief plans to support communities dependent on tourism, who were particularly vulnerable during the pandemic, and to increase access to technology and technical capacity to better sustain management activities during future crises.

Identifying socioeconomic and biophysical factors driving forest loss in protected areas.

Protected areas (PAs) are a commonly used strategy to confront forest conversion and biodiversity loss. Although determining drivers of forest loss is central to conservation success, understanding of them is limited by conventional modeling assumptions. We used random forest regression to evaluate potential drivers of deforestation in PAs in Mexico, while accounting for nonlinear relationships and higher order interactions underlying deforestation processes. Socioeconomic drivers (e.g., road density, human population density) and underlying biophysical conditions (e.g., precipitation, distance to water, elevation, slope) were stronger predictors of forest loss than PA characteristics, such as age, type, and management effectiveness. Within PA characteristics, variables reflecting collaborative and equitable management and PA size were the strongest predictors of forest loss, albeit with less explanatory power than socioeconomic and biophysical variables. In contrast to previously used methods, which typically have been based on the assumption of linear relationships, we found that the associations between most predictors and forest loss are nonlinear. Our results can inform decisions on the allocation of PA resources by strengthening management in PAs with the highest risk of deforestation and help preemptively protect key biodiversity areas that may be vulnerable to deforestation in the future.

Multidesignated areas: case study from Comarca Minera UNESCO Global Geopark, Mexico

Abstract The emergence and implementation of the geopark concept bring into discussion the topic of areas with previous designations (i.e. biosphere reserves, national parks) and open up the debate on challenges to areas aspiring to new ones (e.g. heritage stones, IUGS geological heritage sites). When put into context, the ‘layering’ of designations, whether they are partial or total, national or international, bring the need to harmonize documents, management plans and teams; advancements and new given designations in dissonance with normative implementation are detrimental to such goals but happen, as evidenced in the general lack of geoconservation laws in Mexico. Comarca Minera is a UNESCO Global Geopark having one National Park (El Chico) totally immersed in the polygon and one Biosphere Reserve (Barranca de Metztitlán) which overlaps c. 9.15% of the total area of the geopark. Communal land inhabitants and owners ( ejidos ), undertaking geosite maintenance and involved in geopark activities, are widespread in the area and these are the only places in the country to be in two designated areas (geopark–national park and geopark–biosphere reserve). The benefits of multiple designations in the territory are seen in education agreements, increased transdisciplinary research, domestic and international agreements, public awareness, a sense of pride and engagement of communities. While the previous natural designated areas have existed for decades (1987 to the present) the geopark lessons learned so far (e.g. a lack of institutional coordination at the national level, an ineffective national legal framework, differences in reporting and objectives) stress the need to establish a permanent inter-institutional committee to avoid isolated normatives. Multidesignated areas are the new challenge of natural protected areas in Mexico.

Regionalization of hurricane rainfall in the forests, protected and reserved zones of Mexico

AbstractExtreme events such as hurricanes repeatedly affect coastal areas in several tropical regions of the world. The economic and biodiversity losses caused by these extreme events are considerable. Mexico's coasts are exposed to hurricanes annually. A hydrological characterization and regionalization of the storms caused by the rain fields generated by all the hurricanes that touched the Mexican coast from 1966 to 2017 were carried out. Adimensional Huff curves are proposed to get precipitation hyetograms from which the erosion factor of a storm is obtained, using the universal soil loss equation (USLE). The results made it possible to get the typical precipitation hyetograms in the forests and protected areas before, during, and after the impact of a hurricane. The proposed hydrological regionalization made it possible to estimate the rainfall intensity in 30 min to characterize the start of rain erosion. The method proposed in this research was applied in the 177 natural protected areas (25,628,239 ha) as well as in the 370 voluntarily designated areas for conservation (399,643 ha) in Mexico. It is concluded that, with the regionalization and the proposed equations, it is possible to get typical hurricane precipitation hyetograms, which would allow us to detail the forest management plans in forests, ecological reserves, and protected areas of Mexico.

Assessing spatial patterns of phylogenetic diversity of Mexican mammals for biodiversity conservation

Phylogenetic diversity is a biodiversity measurement that describes the amount of evolutionary history contained by the taxonomic units in a region. It has proven to be an important metric for determining conservation priorities. Mammalian phylogenetic diversity patterns have been suggested as potential surrogates of biodiversity for establishing priority areas for conservation. This study aims to identify areas of high mammalian phylogenetic diversity in Mexico, a megadiverse country with high mammalian richness, and to assess how well protected areas encompass the phylogenetic diversity. IUCN distribution data for 479 Mexican mammals were used to estimate species richness. Data for the molecular markers cytB, 12S and COI, was gathered from GenBank and from laboratory extractions for reconstructing a maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree. Spatial patterns in phylogenetic diversity were estimated by summing the branch lengths of the phylogenetic tree representing species presence across grid cells. The results were compared with the distribution of protected areas in Mexico in order to assess if phylogenetic diversity is effectively conserved. The southeastern part of Mexico was found to be the most diverse. The breadth of the phylogenetic tree was well represented within the protected areas. Beta-diversity analyses showed that the species composition between protected and unprotected areas is very similar. Protected areas group based on the phylogenetic composition of mammal species into three clusters corresponding to the Nearctic, Neotropical, and Mexican Transition Zone biogeographical regions, which suggests that protected areas could be managed based on these clusters.

Jaguar distribution, biological corridors and protected areas in Mexico: from science to public policies

Jaguar distribution, biological corridors and protected areas in Mexico: from science to public policies

Management effectiveness positively influences forest conservation outcomes in protected areas

Understanding the factors that drive protected area outcomes is critical to increase the success of global conservation efforts. Until recently, our understanding of the influence of management effectiveness has been restricted by the limited availability of standardized management data and study design limitations of prior evaluations. Here we use a quasi-experimental matching approach to test the influence of management effectiveness on forest cover change inside 46 protected areas in Mexico. We test the influence of five management categories, including context and planning, administration and finance, use and benefits, governance and social participation, and management quality, as well as an overall effectiveness score, using a subgroup analysis and an interaction term in post-matching multiple linear regression. Our results show that protected areas with higher management effectiveness have a greater effect on reducing deforestation compared to those with low management effectiveness, but that both types of protected areas experience less forest loss compared to similar unprotected areas. We find this trend in all five of the management categories and the overall score, with administration and finance scores having the greatest effect on forest loss outcomes. Our findings suggest careful design and planning, effective participation from multiple stakeholders and equal sharing of benefits, and sufficient human and financial capital can improve the effectiveness of protected areas in preventing forest loss.

The use of tourism as a social intervention in indigenous communities to support the conservation of natural protected areas in Mexico

Tourism has been considered a tool for sustainable development (SD) of rural/indigenous communities living within natural protected areas (NPAs) since the 1980s. This article examines the use of tourism as a SD intervention in the management of NPAs. Based on the theory of social change and on the realist methodological approach to social research, the study focuses on the case of Mexico. It seeks to establish causal chains to identify mechanisms that trigger (un)expected outcomes within a specific sociocultural context. The research distinguishes between development of tourism, and SD through tourism. Preliminary findings from on-going research in the indigenous community of Sta. Cruz Tepetotutla in Oaxaca, Mexico point to the necessity for an alternative approach to the design, application and assessment of tourism interventions. It is argued that specific contextual features trigger mechanisms which lead to (un)expected outcomes. Considering traditional social organization is fundamental to achieve improvement in collective well-being, biodiversity preservation and cultural heritage. The article seeks to help decision-makers improve their outcomes from interventions, and to generate further discussion on the use of tourism for the management of NPAs, and on the role tourism can play in the improvement of the living conditions of the communities.

Environmental governance and conservation. Experiences in two natural protected areas of Mexico and Costa Rica

ABSTRACT Natural protected areas are recognized as key to the conservation of biodiversity and to face deforestation. Their effectiveness requires both an integrated model and the social participation of local actors. The present study analyzes the deforestation process and its relationship with governance at the Sierra de la Abra Tanchipa Biosphere Reserve (RBSAT), Mexico, and Piedras Blancas National Park (PNPB), Costa Rica. Spatial analysis and participatory methodologies were applied in this study. Over 20 years, 37 ha were deforested in the RBSAT and 396 ha in the PNPB. Cooperation between local actors and institutions, a higher level of governance and empowerment, explains the low deforestation. Land tenure insecurity, unfinished demarcation, and weak governance are the principal threats. A management scheme combining environmental governance, the capacity for institutional management, and international cooperation would be an appropriate model for protected areas.

Representation of Threatened Biodiversity in Protected Areas and Identification of Complementary Areas for Their Conservation: Plethodontid Salamanders in Mexico

Protected areas (PAs) have been the most important conservation instrument worldwide and are reaching the coverage percentage suggested internationally (17%), but with the risk of not being ecologically representative, which is particularly concerning for threatened species. Using a database of records from museums, literature, and our fieldwork, we evaluated the representation of 132 plethodontid salamander species, a highly threatened group, in the PAs of Mexico. We assessed the importance of PAs, according to the type of governance, to represent the salamander species diversity, estimating the proportion of suitable habitat within PAs where salamanders occur and detecting potential areas to protect threatened species that are outside of PAs. Approximately 40% of plethodontid species, including threatened species, have not been recorded in PAs. A set of federal PAs harbor the greatest number of species, while state, community, and private PAs have different species composition and a high complementariness to federal areas. In 82% of PAs with plethodontid records, suitable habitat covers more than half of their extent. To protect the 36 threatened plethodontid species that have not been recorded in any PA, we detected 26 potential sites, as well as 12 close and suitable established PAs, to complement the protection of threatened species. Different types of governance of PAs are highly complementary to protect threatened species, but not all PAs seem to have the proper conditions for their survival.

Different Approaches Towards the Understanding of Socio-Environmental Conflicts in Protected Areas

Conflicts are an inherent element in the establishment and management of protected areas. Even though there is ample literature about conflicts in protected areas and the field of conservation has investigated them for decades, no consensus exists about the object itself of analysis: the conflict. In this article, we describe three different approaches for understanding socio-environmental conflicts, and we illustrate them with cases from protected areas in Mexico. The principal objective of the article is to advance discussions about the importance of understanding the implications of the use of different approaches on socio-environmental conflicts, in the interest of providing elements to take better decisions about the management of the protected areas.

Institutional legacies explain the comparative efficacy of protected areas: Evidence from the Calakmul and Maya Biosphere Reserves of Mexico and Guatemala

The effectiveness of protected areas at achieving nature conservation goals varies widely, but the reasons for this variation are understudied. We argue that an important, but often neglected, factor is the history of institutional development that pre-dates protected area establishment. Through a comparative analysis of pathways of institutional development in Calakmul and Maya Biosphere Reserves, internationally adjoining protected areas in Mexico and Guatemala, we demonstrate that differences in farmer and community-level conservation behavior between the two reserves are the result of differences in land tenure systems that pre-date reserve establishment. Differences in land tenure systems resulted in a lower population density, greater tenure security, and greater economic and political equality in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. All of these factors influenced farmers and communities in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve to have more favorable attitudes towards conservation, conserve more forest on both individual and community managed land, and to create more conservation reserves on both land types. These differences are rooted in the system of land distribution and political organization during the 1970s and 1980s, before protected area establishment, when both areas were agricultural frontiers. As a result of these political processes that pre-date reserve creation, farmers and communities in Calakmul hold more land and hold it more equitably, have less access to surplus labor for expanding commercial production, and have a political system that shares benefits from forest conservation more equitably when compared to Maya. Our work highlights the value of understanding historical political and institutional conditions in the design and development of effective protected areas. Protected areas located in areas with greater economic and political equality may be more effective at conserving nature.

Traditional and formal ecological knowledge to assess harvesting and conservation of a Mexican Tropical Dry Forest

This research integrates Traditional and Formal Ecological Knowledge (TEK / FEK) of a Tropical Dry Forest in central Mexico, in order to assess harvesting and conservation of the non-timber forest species. We were interested in: knowing the structure and diversity of the forest community; identifying which are the tree resources of common interest to the users through participatory workshops. A further interest was to identify those resources which are important to local people in terms of preservation; explaining the relationship of the species with some environmental factors; and visualizing which management practices endanger or facilitate the conservation of species. Studied areas were defined and labelled on a map drawn by local informants, where they indicated those plant species of common interest for preservation. Ethnobotanical techniques were used to reveal the TEK and assess harvesting and conservation of the species. With the FEK through community and population ecology, we detected the importance of five environmental factors, obtained various ecological indicators of the vegetation, and studied the population structure of the relevant species. The FEK was analyzed using descriptive and multivariate statistics. As a result, low density and small basal area of trees were registered. Species richness and diversity index were similar to other natural protected areas in Mexico. Tree species harvested shown an asymmetric distribution of diameters. Harvesting, elevation, and accessibility were the most influential factors on tree density. FEK demonstrated that TEK is helpful for the assessment of forest harvesting. Ecological analysis complemented the local knowledge detecting that Lysiloma tergemina is a species non-identified for the people as interesting, although we discover that it is a threatened species by over-harvesting. Haematoxylum brasiletto was identified as important for conservation due to its scarcity and medicinal use. Our results advanced on how the traditional harvesting of tree community has contributed to preserve diversity, when comparing with protected areas. Discrepancies between both kinds of knowledge should be reconciled for contributing to the preservation of priority resources by the local society.

Local Perspectives on Conflicts with Wildlife and Their Management in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, Mexico

Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is a widespread issue of increasing concern to conservationists, as it impacts people's lives and livelihoods and reduces their tolerance to the species concerned. HWC is often interpreted as a result of people encroaching upon and destroying natural habitats, but some incidents could be linked to economically driven emigration that results in depopulation and institutional and cultural disruption. Here we use an ethnobiological approach to gain insights on HWC dynamics from a case study in Mexico, where emigration is common in rural areas. We carried out a five-year study of HWC in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, a biodiversity-rich protected area in Mexico that also supports a human population of nearly 100,000 mostly poor and marginalized people. We found that villagers reported conflict incidents involving 25 terrestrial vertebrate species, contradicting the original self-perception that HWC mostly involved cattle ranchers and a few large carnivore species. As a response, we develop a multi-layered assessment of villagers' perspectives, emotions, and attitudes towards wildlife based on the local roles of gender, probability of encountering wildlife, and the conflicting moral beliefs and switching ethical responses of people with different cultural and economic backgrounds. Our assessment identifies the need for pluralistic approaches to enhance the sustainable use and management of wildlife in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve.

Metal mining and natural protected areas in Mexico: Geographic overlaps and environmental implications

Abstract Because the high biodiversity of Mexico about 12% of the country's total area is included as a Natural Protected Areas (NPAs); however, in the last years, according to the official data, an astonishing number of mining concessions covering 28% of the total area of the country has been granted already. The objective of this work is to quantify the geographical overlap of mining concessions with the federal NPAs of Mexico including the exploration/exploitation status of minerals to be extracted. We use geo-referenced polygons of the NPAs and those of mining exploration and exploitation concessions until 2010 and calculated their overlap extension with the application of ArcView GIS 3.3 (ESRI; Redland, CA, U.S.A.). Our results showed that a total of 1609 mining concessions covering an area of 1,486,433 ha geographically overlaps with the NPAs. With the exception of Natural Monuments (NM), all the different categories of NPAs in Mexico showed mining concessions; 75% of Natural Resources Protection Area (NRPA); 63% of Biosphere Reserve (BR); 47% of Protected Area for Flora and Fauna (PAFF); 22% of Sanctuary (S); and 15% of National Park (NP). The impacts of metal mining activities on NPAs are not only limited to biodiversity and affectation to human communities, but they also have a radius of influence not yet evaluated since most of the NPAs have a special role in supplying watersheds and aquifers. Obviously, currently in Mexico a NPA decree does not represent an obstacle to megamining projects; in consequence, their real environmental impacts are underestimated. It is a priority to legally support canceling the mining concessions already granted in the NPAs and stop granting new ones in the future. In the proportion to which environmental authorities continue to openly accept mining concessions within the NPAs, through modifying management programs that allow these activities, they may cause a significant increase in rejections of local people toward the changes in management programs and on the promotion of new NPAs in Mexico.

The Reef Corridor of the Southwest Gulf of Mexico: Challenges for its management and conservation

Flow of species and spatial continuity of biological processes between geographically separated areas may be achieved using management tools known as Ecological Corridors (EC). In this paper we propose an EC composed of three highly threatened coral reef systems in the Southwest Gulf of Mexico: Sistema Arrecifal Lobos Tuxpan, Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano and Arrecifes de los Tuxtlas. The proposed EC is supported by the concept of Marine Protected Areas Networks, which highlights the biogeographical and habitat heterogeneity representations as the main criteria to the establishment of this kind of networks. These three reef systems represent the coral biodiversity of the western Gulf of Mexico. Nevertheless there are serious shortcomings in its protection. Under this approach, the challenges that Mexican government will face for management and conservation of this EC are discussed. There is an obvious lack of an adequate legal framework to establish networks of protected areas in Mexico, mainly because national legislation does not consider connectivity as an important factor in the selection of MPA.

CHALLENGES TO ACTOR‐ORIENTED ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE: EXAMPLES FROM THREE MEXICAN BIOSPHERE RESERVES

ABSTRACTThis paper adopts an actor‐oriented approach to identify and conceptualise common challenges to interactive environmental governance in three well‐known Mexican biosphere reserves by analysing stakeholder support or resistance with regard to nature conservation, considering conflicting interests among actors. Certain tools that have recently been applied to establish multi‐actor decision‐making bodies to manage these problems are described and critically evaluated. In‐depth interviews conducted with key actors over a three‐year period show that opposing interests and actions hamper the development of integral and participative governance. Despite earnest attempts to conciliate deep‐rooted conflicts among conservation‐centred actors and other stakeholders interested in capitalising on natural resources for purposes of livelihood and profit, there is still a need for conceptual and strategic advancement to foster the effective and socially balanced management of protected areas in Mexico.

Podemos proteger especies en riesgo en áreas protegidas? Un estudio de caso del genero Pinus en México

The distribution of 56 Pinus species in Mexico was modelled with MAXENT. The pine species were classified as threatened according to IUCN criteria. Our aim was to ascertain whether or not threatened pine species were adequately represented in protected areas. Almost 70% of the species had less than 10% of their modelled distribution area protected. None of the pine species reached their representation targets. Threatened pine species were less widely distributed, occurred at lower maximum elevations, and were less well represented in protected areas than other pine species. The results suggest that the present system of protected areas in Mexico fails to protect pine species adequately. Conservation targets should be especially directed to species with narrow distributions which occur at low altitudes, such as Pinus. attenuata, P. cembroides subsp. cembroides var. lagunae, P. radiata var. binata, P. rzedowskii, and P. muricata.