Achieving Pronatura Noroeste’s conservation goals requires perseverance, which, under a strategic direction, has allowed us to make steady progress for more than 30 years in protecting priority ecosystems and endangered species in northwestern Mexico. Our actions are sustained thanks to the contribution of a highly qualified multidisciplinary team, supported by strategic alliances that strengthen our work and allow us to look towards a sustainable future. This scenario, one that benefits flora, fauna and communities alike, is shared with the Foro Mar de Cortés, with whom we constantly share our vision to contribute to the collective effort for sustainable development of this region.
We attended the ForoTalks promoted by the Foro Mar de Cortés, with the participation of Gustavo D. Danemann, Executive Director of Pronatura Noroeste, who managed to move the hearts and minds of the audience, mostly businessmen and prominent academics from Baja California, by sharing the main conservation achievements to date.
Under the premise that prosperity and development go hand in hand, the director of Pronatura Noroeste made it clear that our mission as an organization is based on both precepts in our daily actions, as evidenced in each of the stories shared at the forum. “ It is hard to describe everything we do, but I would like to share a few stories about the accumulation of efforts, talents and capabilities we call Pronatura Noroeste”, said Gustavo D. Danemann.
In the northern region of our action map, the restoration of more than 190 acres in the Colorado River Delta is an example of conservation on a continental scale. From a Colorado River that went from a flowing river with vast expanses of riparian ecosystems along its course, to one of the most disturbed, losing important riparian forests at the mercy of the development of one of the world’s most booming economic regions, to now, thanks to our work, gradually regaining its original greenery. It was amazing to look at the images from when we started our work, in 2014, with dominant desertification, and compare them with the lush foliage of the current poplar forests that have triumphantly returned to their native land, documented in the images from 2024. This has meant the return of 42% of the migratory birds and has encouraged the community’s encounter with a river they thought was lost.
We have replicated the same successful formula in other areas, such as the restoration of the Tijuana River, where we promoted the recovery of more than 9 hectares of riparian ecosystem that serve as habitat for native flora and fauna; through the management that allowed the enactment of the Arroyo San Miguel State Park, the first of its kind in the legislation of Baja California, which now serves as a meeting place for the Baja California community; The decisive participation in the creation of the Municipal Reserve of Ceuta Beach, Sinaloa, which guarantees the nesting of 12% of the population of the Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus) in more than one thousand hectares under state protection; or the titanic effort to guarantee the safe arrival of the Pacific Red Knot (Calidris canutus roselaari) to the beaches of the Gulf of Santa Clara, Sonora, where they feed on the eggs of the Gulf Grunion (Leuresthes sardina), in an astonishing synchronicity that is rare in nature.
We have achieved a great deal through the strategic use of various conservation tools, including 101 conservation agreements, more than 281,000 hectares protected and more than 8,000 hectares acquired by Pronatura Noroeste and dedicated exclusively to conservation. They directly benefit the ecosystems of unique regions such as Bahía de los Ángeles, Baja California; San Ignacio, Baja California Sur; Bahía Santa María, Sinaloa, among other priority ecosystems.
Although the talk was short because there was so much to share, in the words of Gustavo D. Danemann, ours is a story that continues, that is maintained, and that requires the sum of wills to achieve the desired balance that guarantees sustainable development in this important region.
If you want to know more about what we do and join the conservation effort, this is your place.
