Pronatura Noroeste promotes the preservation of Ejido* Pueblo Nuevo, Durango, by helping with the restoration and conservation of 100 hectares of forest, crucial for rivers, seas, and biodiversity.
Forests are suffering a severe decimation around the world, and year by year the number of affected areas goes up. A loss of 3.7 million hectares is estimated in 2023 alone, which, according to the World Resources Institute, is equivalent to losing roughly ten soccer fields per minute.
In Mexico, about 64.8 million hectares of forest, which are about 47% of the country’s forested surface, represent a great opportunity for oxygen production, species preservation, climate regulation, and filtration of fresh water that feeds into rivers and streams and into the seas.
Today, on the International Day of Forests, Pronatura Noroeste acknowledges Ejido Pueblo Nuevo’s importance. Since 2012, we have implemented and participated in preservation programs alongside locals from places like the Ejido Pueblo Nuevo in Durango, to work on 100 thousand hectares.
The goal is to help restore, protect, and preserve a place that, in turn, contributes to the regeneration of seas with the fresh water it produces.
“The coastal ecosystem’s health is dependent on the upper and middle watersheds’ health. In other words, for the conditions to be optimal at the lower San Blas mangroves*, there must be a water exchange, there must be a production of fresh water,” said Juan Carlos Leyva Martínez, Pronatura Noroeste’s regional coordinator in Sinaloa, Durango, Chihuahua and southern Sonora.The ejido in Pueblo Nuevo, Durango, is the second largest ejido in the country. It is 237 thousand hectares, and has a large amount of Apache pine (Pinus engelmannii), Cooper’s pine (Pinus cooperi), and Quercus splendens (from the oak family). It is crossed by the Baluarte and Acaponeta rivers, which feed the towns in southern Sinaloa and northern Nayarit before flowing into the San Blas mangroves.**
*An ejido is an area of communal land mainly used for agriculture, on which community members farm designated plots and collectively maintain communal holdings.
**Known in Mexico as “Marismas Nacionales”.
Integrated watershed management beginning at Ejido Pueblo Nuevo
Forest regeneration and preservation help manage and protect river watersheds, which, in turn, provide fresh water with essential nutrients for the seas.
Biologist Juan Carlos Leyva Martínez, explained, “The level of health that Sinaloa and Nayarit fisheries attain is attributed to the upper watershed’s health. That is called a watershed management plan.”
More forests on the watersheds, means more fresh water catchment and therefore, more water availability. In 2012, Ejido Pueblo Nuevo signed a 30-year-long ecological preservation easement aiming to generate projects around the importance of management, restoration, and preservation of the habitat. One of the projects is land bird monitoring, which helps understand forest behavior in an area of 100,000 hectares.
Collaboration with Ejido Pueblo Nuevo communities
There had already been environmental management and preservation strategies in Ejido Pueblo Nuevo. Which have been traditional practices to preserve jobs in the area, especially those involving silviculture.
When Pronatura Noroeste suggested the implementation of a new preservation program, some locals resisted. They thought it could lead to limitations and fewer job opportunities, but that opinion changed after a closer approach with the community.
“There has been a paradigm switch, because we worked with the ejido, we worked with the forest rangers, we worked with the community, and they know that forest management is essential to perpetuating forests,” said the regional coordinator of Pronatura Noroeste.
Together with the ejido’s locals, we created an environmental agenda that worked as a base, which Durango’s government used in creating a program for ecological regulation (Programa de Ordenamiento Ecológico Local).
Combined with the Plan, locals have kept up with important preservation practices. For instance, the segregation of more than 40 hectares of old forests that are vital for biodiversity preservation.
To us, the preservation of forests in Ejido Pueblo Nuevo, along with local efforts has been fundamental, given its environmental importance that helps improve communities’ lives, not only in forested mountains, but also in cities and seas.
As we can see, forests provide essential benefits for our development. Today, let’s raise awareness and join the preservation efforts by showing support for our forests, crucial to everybody’s well-being. Together we can protect our future!
Translated by: César Egüez & Hannah Peralta
Reviewed and edited by: G. Rubio León & Mayela Navarrete
