Community Water Management and Conservation in Cabo Pulmo National Park (Baja California Sur, Mexico)
Understanding how social and economic aspects influence the use and management of environmental systems is key to developing long-term approaches to conservation in natural protected areas. Relying on official data about the Cabo Pulmo Aquifer and on-site
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Community Water Management and Conservation in Cabo Pulmo National Park (Baja California Sur, Mexico) Alba E. Gámez, Juan Carlos Graciano, Hitandehui Tovar, and Miguel Palmeros Abstract Understanding how social and economic aspects influence the use and management of environmental systems is key to developing long-term approaches to conservation in natural protected areas. Relying on official data about the Cabo Pulmo Aquifer and on-site observation, this chapter explores water management practices in the town established next to Cabo Pulmo National Park (Baja California Sur, Mexico), a region which has been set as an example of community organization for successful conservation. It also elaborates on the social implications that private and community types of water management have in a context of tourism exploitation of natural resources in the Park and the human right to water. Keywords Community water management · Conservation · Cabo Pulmo National Park · Baja California Sur · Mexico
28.1 Introduction This chapter explores water management in the community established off Cabo Pulmo National Park (Baja California Sur, Mexico), which has been set as an example of social organization for successful marine conservation (Cariño et al. 2008; CONANP-GIZ 2017) in the form of a natural protected area (NPA). The town of Cabo Pulmo is located on the Tropic of Cancer, 169 kilometers (km) away from La Paz, capital of the state, and 108 km by road and 57 km by a dirt road from San José A. E. Gámez (*) · J. C. Graciano Department of Economics, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] H. Tovar · M. Palmeros Marine Conservation Program, Sociedad de Historia Natural Niparajá, La Paz, Baja California Sur, México e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 A. Ortega-Rubio (ed.), Socio-ecological Studies in Natural Protected Areas, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47264-1_28
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del Cabo, one of the cities that form the Los Cabos Corridor, which constitutes one of the main sun-beach tourist destinations in Mexico. Over a century, Cabo Pulmo had suffered intense overexploitation of its various resources due to disorderly commercial fishing. Poverty predominated in the community, and its inhabitants realized that fishing resources were running out, because each time they had to go further into the sea and often returned without fish (Castro 2014). In 1995, the government declared Cabo Pulmo a NPA due to the environmental value of its coral reef, the scientific research carried out by local academics, the support government as well as national and international nongovernmental agencies provided, and the organizational willingness local inhabitants displayed to achieve such an end. Scuba diving, snorkeling, and other aquatic tourism activities replaced fisheries, and community members of Cabo Pulmo even became involved in the conservation monitoring developed by the govern
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