Residents Invest in Natural Wealth
Under the August sun, humpback whales churn the waters of Málaga Bay, on the southwest coast of Colombia. They come to breed and feast on the teeming sea life nurtured by coastal mangrove forests.
Afro-Colombians, the descendants of escaped slaves, hunt and harvest wood in these forests. The men fish in the bay and women gather the black-shelled piangua mollusks from the stilt-like roots of the mangroves.
Faced with a dwindling catch, the local community council took the lead in preserving this delicate ecosystem for future generations. Aided by CEPF, the council successfully advocated for the government’s declaration creating the La Plata Integrated Management System and the Regional Natural Park of Sierpe reserves.
“The community has an interest in a protected area that would safeguard its access to the resources needed for subsistence,” says Angela Andrade, Conservation International’s policy coordinator in Colombia, noting local concerns about logging and poaching as well as diminished fisheries. Plus, a formal declaration from the government would head off periodic plans for a mega-port on the bay.
Northward, in the Mexican state of Veracruz, other communities pushed this year to establish new communal lands. Set aside to be locally managed for 50 years, they comprise the 1,000-hectare Grindstone reserve in La Cueva del Jabalí, the 722-hectare Spider Monkey Forest in Francisco Javier Mina, and the 654-hectare Pheasant Forest in Francisco Villa. The three villages have pledged to preserve trees, curtail poaching and logging, and guard the reserves.
It took a year of meetings to win local approval for the plan, says Paloma Mejía, project coordinator at Mexican nonprofit Pronatura, but ultimately, the people took the long view. “They want their sons and daughters to know the rainforest that they knew as children,” Mejía says. To help sustain this spider monkey habitat, the plan includes developing eco-friendly enterprises as alternatives to traditional cattle farming.