PRESS RELEASE
The ecological reserve Comunidad Maijanú celebrates a decade and, to celebrate, ratifies its commitment to the conservation of Laguna San Ignacio and the gray whale.
LAGUNA SAN IGNACIO, Baja California Sur on April 30, 2015.- Members of the Luis Echeverría Álvarez ejido in Baja California Sur (B. C. S.) celebrate ten years of having created the Maijanú Community ecological reserve.
On the verge of the closing of the gray whale watching season, members of the Ejido Luis Echeverría Álvarez (B. C. S.) gathered at their community center to hold the Annual Assembly of Ejidatarios and celebrate the tenth anniversary of the creation of the “Comunidad Maijanú” nature reserve.
This reserve, which includes the Ejido’s common lands and individual parcels, was created by signing formal conservation easements, notarized before a Notary Public and registered in the National Agrarian Registry and the Public Property Registry.
Conservation easements are legal figures developed for the long-term protection and sustainable use of natural resources located within polygons under the private or ejido property regime and ensure orderly territorial development.
Over the last decade, as a result of the conservation agreements signed in 2005, the Ejido Luis Echeverría Álvarez has received a package of incentives from the Alliance for the Conservation of Laguna San Ignacio (B.C.S.). This alliance includes Pronatura Noroeste, Natural Resources Defense Council, Wildcoast, International Community Foundation, and International Fund for Animal Welfare.
The incentive package for the community has included technical advice, legal advice, and annual economic resources from the creation of a trust fund, in which the beneficiaries have invested in sustainable, productive, and social projects.
“The conservation easement was a process that was difficult to understand at the time, but today it has a positive balance after ten years of work. The challenge for the coming years is balancing community development with the responsible use of natural resources. Congratulations to everyone involved”, said Raúl Eduardo López Góngora, member of the Ejido Luis Echeverría and the civil association Reserva Natural Comunidad Maijanú, at the end of the event.
Pronatura Noroeste designed and applied the legal tools through which ejido’s lands have been conserved. “At Pronatura Noroeste, we have paid special attention to strengthening the relationship with the community. Although the legal tools, in this case, the conservation easements, are solid and guarantee long-term conservation, the most important asset for Laguna San Ignacio is its people,” explains Fernando Ochoa, Legal Director of Pronatura Noroeste.
The environmental conservation and land management model applied in Laguna San Ignacio “has not only benefited the local community but has also generated benefits at the hemispheric level, since protecting the lands adjacent to Laguna San Ignacio has protected the habitat of diverse species such as the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), aquatic birds subject to special protection such as the collared goose (Branta bernicla) and priority ecosystems such as mangrove forests, which in turn serve as habitat and refuge for other species,” added Miguel Ángel Vargas, Deputy Director of Pronatura Noroeste A. C. and Director of the Conservation Program for the San Ignacio Lagoon. C. and Director of the organization’s Private and Social Land Conservation Program.
Laguna San Ignacio and other coastal points in Baja California Sur are priority ecosystems for species such as the gray whale, which migrates every year from the Alaskan seas to this area to reproduce and give birth to their calves.
Thanks to the decision to conserve the lands of Ejido Luis Echeverría in perpetuity, today we have a thriving and balanced ecosystem, a legacy of the Maijanú Community for future generations.
Check out the video in which visiting tourists from the 2015 gray whale watching season thank the Maijanú Community for their conservation efforts. Available on Youtube as “Thank you Maijanú Community”:
Pronatura Noroeste A. C. is a non-profit civil society organization whose mission is to conserve the flora, fauna, and priority ecosystems of northwestern Mexico to promote the development of society in harmony with nature.
