Hostname: page-component-857557d7f7-bvshn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-22T00:21:37.693Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cognisance, participation and protected areas in the Yucatan Peninsula

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2013

ISABEL RUIZ-MALLÉN ,
HELEN NEWING ,
LUCIANA PORTER-BOLLAND ,
DIANA J. PRITCHARD ,
EDUARDO GARCÍA-FRAPOLLI ,
M. ELENA MÉNDEZ-LÓPEZ ,
M. CONSUELO SÁNCHEZ-GONZALEZ ,
ANTONIO DE LA PEÑA  and
VICTORIA REYES-GARCÍA
ISABEL RUIZ-MALLÉN*
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellatera, Barcelona, Spain
HELEN NEWING
Affiliation:
Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NS, UK
LUCIANA PORTER-BOLLAND
Affiliation:
Instituto de Ecología, AC, Carretera antigua a Coatepec #351, El Haya, 91070, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico
DIANA J. PRITCHARD
Affiliation:
School of Global Studies, University of Sussex, Sussex House, Brighton, Sussex BN1 9RH, UK
EDUARDO GARCÍA-FRAPOLLI
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, CP 58190, Morelia, Mexico
M. ELENA MÉNDEZ-LÓPEZ
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellatera, Barcelona, Spain
M. CONSUELO SÁNCHEZ-GONZALEZ
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigaciones Históricas y Sociales, Universidad Autónoma de Campeche, Av. Universidad s/n, 24030 San Francisco de Campeche, Campeche, Mexico
ANTONIO DE LA PEÑA
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana, Av. Tancredo Neves 6731, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil
VICTORIA REYES-GARCÍA
Affiliation:
ICREA and Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellatera, Barcelona, Spain
*
*Correspondence: Dr Isabel Ruiz-Mallén Tel: + 34 93 586 8548 Fax: + 34 93 581 3331 e-mail: isabel.ruiz@uab.cat
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Local people's involvement in the management of conservation initiatives is central to ongoing debates on the relative merits of distinct biodiversity conservation models. Since different governance models provide distinct opportunities for local people to participate in the management of protected areas, their knowledge of these governance models and motivation to collaborate will vary. This paper analyses cognisance and participation in (1) government-imposed biosphere reserves and (2) community conservation areas, in which ecotourism projects take place. Qualitative and quantitative data (n = 205) were gathered in two indigenous communities in Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Whereas local cognisance of community-driven conservation initiatives is not always greater than cognisance of government-imposed Biosphere Reserves, local participation is always greater. Cognisance of and participation in conservation initiatives depend on the management approach, extent of external resource support, and a community's social organization. Gender and land holding status influence access to information about conservation initiatives, since men with land rights had more access than other people. More participatory mechanisms for decision-making and direct communication strategies between managers and local people are required to improve communities’ involvement in conservation.

Keywords

community-based conservationgenderknowledgeLatin Americalocal participationnatural resource management

Information

Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , September 2014 , pp. 265 - 275
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Adhikari, D. & Lovett, J. (2006) Institutions and collective action: does heterogeneity matter in community-based resource management? Journal of Development Studies 42 (3): 426–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agarwal, B. (2001) Participatory exclusions, community forestry, and gender: an analysis for South Asia and a conceptual framework. World Development 29 (10): 1623–1648.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agarwal, B. (2009a) Rule making in community forestry institutions: the difference women make. Ecological Economics 68 (8–9): 2296–2308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agarwal, B. (2009b) Gender and forest conservation: the impact of women's participation in community forest governance. Ecological Economics 68 (11): 2785–2799.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agrawal, A. & Gibson, C.C. (1999) Enchantment and disenchantment: the role of community in natural resource conservation. World Development 27 (4): 629–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkes, F. (2007) Community-based conservation in a globalized world. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 104 (39): 15188–15193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkes, F. (2010) Devolution of environment and resources governance: trends and future. Environmental Conservation 37 (4): 489–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonilla-Moheno, M. & García-Frapolli, E. (2012) Conservation in context: a comparison of conservation perspectives in a Mexican protected area. Sustainability 4 (9): 2317–2333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buitrago Tello, D., Marín Guardado, G. & Fraga Berdugo, J. (2012) El turismo como destino: pesca, conservación ambiental y desarrollo en Xcalak, un pueblo costero del caribe mexicano. Pasos. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural 7: 75–108.Google Scholar
Campbell, L. & Vainio-Matilla, A. (2003) Participatory development and community-based conservation: opportunities missed for lessons learned? Human Ecology 31 (3): 417–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CDI (2013) Programa Turismo Alternativo en Zonas Indígenas [www document]. URL http://www.cdi.gob.mx/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2670 Google Scholar
Chowdhury, R.R. (2006) Landscape change in Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Mexico: modeling the driving forces of smallholder deforestation in land parcels. Applied Geography 26: 129–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CONANP (2007) Programa de Conservación y Manejo Reserva de la Biósfera Sian Ka'an, Reserva de la Biósfera Arrecifes de Sian Ka'an y Área de Protección de Flora y Fauna Uaymil. Mexico DF, Mexico: CONANP.Google Scholar
CONANP (2013) Áreas Protegidas Decretadas [www document]. URL http://www.conanp.gob.mx Google Scholar
Cornejo, M.K. (2004) Promoting community ecotourism enterprises in common property regimes: a stakeholder analysis and geographic information systems application in ejido X-Maben in central Quintana Roo, Mexico. MSc thesis in Environmental Studies, Florida International University, FL, USA.Google Scholar
Cornwall, A. & Brock, K. (2005) Beyond Buzzwords ‘Poverty Reduction’, ‘Participation’ and ‘Empowerment’ in Development Policy. Switzerland: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.Google Scholar
Dressler, W., Buscher, B., Schoon, M., Brockington, D., Hayes, T., Kull, C.A., McCarthy, J. & Shrestha, K. (2010) From hope to crisis and back again? A critical history of the global CBNRM narrative. Environmental Conservation 37 (1): 5–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dudley, N. (2008) Guidelines for Applying Protected Area Management Categories. Gland, Switzerland: International Union for Conservation of Nature.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elizondo, C. & López-Merlín, D. (2009) Las áreas voluntarias de conservación en Quintana Roo. México DF, Mexico: CONABIO, Corredor Biológico Mesoamericano México, Serie Acciones No. 6.Google Scholar
Ferranti, D., Perry, G.E., Ferreira, F.H.G. & Walton, M. (2004) Inequality in Latin America. Breaking with History? Washington, DC, USA: The World Bank.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferraro, P.J. (2002). The local costs of establishing protected areas in low-income nations: Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. Ecological Economics 43: 261–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiallo, E.A. & Jacobson, S.K. (1995) Local communities and protected areas: attitudes of rural residents towards conservation and Machlilla National Park, Ecuador. Environmental Conservation 22 (3): 241–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galicia, E. & Baldassarre, G.A. (1997) Effects of motorized tourboats on the behavior of nonbreeding American flamingos in Yucatan, Mexico. Conservation Biology 11 (5): 1159–1165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García-Frapolli, E., Ramos-Fernández, G., Galicia, E. & Serrano, A. (2009) The complex reality of biodiversity conservation through Natural Protected Area policy: three cases from the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Land Use Policy 26: 715–722.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García-Frapolli, E., Ayala-Orozco, B., Bonilla-Moheno, M., Espadas-Manrique, C. & Ramos-Fernández, G. (2012) Conservación comunitaria en Punta Laguna: Ecoturismo y desarrollo sustentable. In Casos Exitosos en la Construcción de Sociedades Sustentables, ed. Silva Rivera, E., Vergara Tenorio, M.C. & Rodríguez-Luna, E., pp. 413–430. Xalapa, Mexico: Universidad Veracruzana.Google Scholar
Goldstein, W. (2003) Communication, Education and Public Awareness for Protected Areas West Asia and Northern Africa. Workshop Report September 2003. Gland, Switzerland: International Union for Conservation of Nature.Google Scholar
Hackel, J.D. (1999) Community conservation and the future of Africa's wildlife. Conservation Biology 13 (4): 726–734.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haenn, N. (2006) The changing and enduring ejido: a state and regional examination of Mexico's land tenure counter-reforms. Land Use Policy 23 (2): 136–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heinen, J.T. & Shrivastava, R.J. (2009) An analysis of conservation attitudes and awareness around Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India: implications for conservation and development. Population and Environment 30 (6): 261–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
INE (1993) Programa de Manejo de la Reserva de la Biosfera de Sian Ka'an. Mexico DF: Sedesol.Google Scholar
INE (2000) Programa de Manejo de la Reserva de la Biosfera de Calakmul. Mexico DF: Semarnat.Google Scholar
IUCN (2011) Indigenous and community conserved areas: a bold new frontier for conservation [www document]. URL http://www.iucn.org/about/union/commissions/ceesp/topics/governance/icca/ Google Scholar
Iversen, V., Chhetry, B., Francis, P., Gurung, M., Kafle, G., Pain, A. & Seeley, J. (2006) High value forests, hidden economies and elite capture: evidence from forest user groups in Nepal's Terai. Ecological Economics 58: 93–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, G. & Ward, P. (1998) Privatizing the commons: reforming the ejido and urban development in Mexico. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 22 (1): 76–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalibo, H.W. & Medley, K.E. (2007) Participatory resource mapping for adaptive collaborative management at Mt Kasigau, Kenya. Landscape and Urban Planning 82: 145–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lele, S., Wilshusen, P., Brockington, D., Seidler, R. & Bawa, K. (2010) Beyond exclusion: alternative approaches to biodiversity conservation in the developing tropics. Environmental Sustainability 2: 94–100.Google Scholar
Leverington, F., Lemos Costa, K., Courrau, J., Pavese, H., Nolte, C., Marr, M., Coad, L., Burgess, N., Bomhard, B. & Hockings, M. (2010) Management Effectiveness Evaluation in Protected Areas. A Global Study. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland Brisbane.Google Scholar
Macura, B., Zorondo-Rodríguez, F., Grau-Satorras, M., Demps, K., Laval, M., Garcia, C.A. & Reyes-García, V. (2011) Local community attitudes toward forests outside protected areas in India. Impact of legal awareness, trust, and participation. Ecology and Society 16 (3): 10 [www document]. URL http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-04242–160310 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massieu, Y.C. & Chapela, F. (2007) Valoración de la biodiversidad y el conocimiento tradicional: ¿un recurso público o privado? In: Biodiversidad y conocimiento tradicional en la sociedad rural. Entre el bien común y la propiedad privada, ed. Concheiro, L. & López-Bárcenas, F., pp. 339–374. Mexico DF, Mexico: Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo Rural Sustentable y la Soberanía Alimentaria.Google Scholar
Nagendra, H., Pareeth, S. & Ghate, R. (2006) People within parks-forest villages, land-cover change and landscape fragmentation in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, India. Applied Geography 26: 96–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naughton-Treves, L., Holland, M. & Brandon, K. (2005) The role of protected areas in conserving biodiversity and sustaining local livelihoods. Annual Review of Environmental Resources 30: 219–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nepstad, D.C., Schwartzman, S., Bamberger, B., Santilli, M., Alencar, A., Ray, D., Schlesinger, P., Rolla, A. & Prinz, E. (2006) Inhibition of Amazon deforestation and fire by parks and indigenous reserves. Conservation Biology 20: 65–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newing, H. (2011) Conducting Research in Conservation. Social Science Methods and Practice. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Olomí-Solà, M., Zorondo-Rodríguez, F., Triguero-Mas, M., Jha, N. & Reyes-García, V. (2012) Local residents’ knowledge about protected areas: a case study in Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary, India. Society and Natural Resources 25 (4): 410–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paré, L. & Fuentes, T. (2007) Gobernanza ambiental y políticas públicas en áreas naturales protegidas: Lecciones desde Los Tuxtlas. Cuadernos de Investigación 38. Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Google Scholar
Paz-Salinas, M.F. (2005) La participación en el manejo de áreas naturales protegidas. Actores e intereses en conflicto en el Corredor Biológico Chichinautzin, Morelos. Cuernavaca: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Peterson, N.D. (2011) Excluding to include: (non)participation in Mexican natural resource management. Agriculture and Human Values 28 (1): 99–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pi-Sunyer, O. & Brooke, T. (2005) Tourism, environmentalism and cultural survival in Quintana Roo. In: Environmental Sociology: From Analysis to Action, ed. King, L. & McCarthy, D., pp. 43–72. Lanham, USA: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Porter-Bolland, L., Ellis, E.A., Guariguata, M.R., Ruiz-Mallén, I., Negrete-Yankelevich, S. & Reyes-García, V. (2012) Community managed forests and forest protected areas: an assessment of their conservation effectiveness across the tropics. Forest Ecology and Management 268: 6–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pretty, J.N. (1995) Participatory learning for sustainable agriculture. World Development 23 (8): 1247–1263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pujadas, A. & Castillo, A. (2007) Social participation in conservation efforts: a case study of a biosphere reserve on private lands in Mexico. Society and Natural Resources 20: 57–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rao, R.K., Maikhuri, R.K. & Saxena, K.G. (2003) Local people's knowledge, aptitude and perceptions of planning and management issues in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, India. Environmental Management 31 (2): 168–181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reyes-Garcia, V., Ruiz-Mallén, I., Porter-Bolland, L., Garcia-Frapolli, E., Ellis, E.A., Mendez, M.E., Pritchard, D. J. & Sanchez-Gonzalez, M.C. (2013) Local understandings of conservation in southeastern Mexico and their implications for community-based conservation as an alternative paradigm. Conservation Biology 27 (4): 856–865.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schultz, L., Duit, A. & Folke, C. (2011) Participation, adaptive co-management and management performance in the world network of biosphere reserves. World Development 39: 662–671.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smardon, R.C. & Faust, B.B. (2006) Introduction: international policy in the biosphere reserves of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. Landscape and Urban Planning 74: 160–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoll-Kleemann, S., De la Vega-Leinert, A.C. & Schultz, L. (2010) The role of community participation in the effectiveness of UNESCO biosphere reserve management: evidence and reflections from two parallel global surveys. Environmental Conservation 37 (3): 227–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sunderlin, W.D., Angelsen, A., Belcher, B., Burgers, P., Nasi, R., Santoso, L. & Wunder, S. (2005) Livelihoods, forests, and conservation in developing countries: an overview. World Development 33: 1383–1402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, M. & Homewood, K. (2002) Entrepreneurs, elites, and exclusion in Maasailand: trends in wildlife conservation and pastoralist development. Human Ecology 30 (1): 107–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UN (1992) United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. New York, NY, USA: United Nations.Google Scholar
UNEP-WCMC (2010) Coverage of protected areas. Biodiversity Indicators Partnership [www document]. URL http://www.twentyten.net/pacoverage Google Scholar
Varughese, G. & Ostrom, E. (2001) The contested role of heterogeneity in collective action: some evidence from community forestry in Nepal. World Development 29 (5): 747–765.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vester, H.F.M., Lawrence, D., Eastman, J.R., Turner II, B.L., Calmé, S., Dickson, R., Pozo, C. & Sangermano, F. (2007) Land change in the Southern Yucatan and Calakmul biosphere reserve: effects on habitat and biodiversity. Ecological Applications 17 (4): 989–1003.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
West, P., Igoe, J. & Brockington, D. (2006) Parks and peoples: the social impacts of protected areas. Annual Review of Anthropology 35: 251–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilshusen, P.R. (2000) Local participation in conservation and development projects. ends, means, and power dynamics. In Foundation of Natural Resources Policy and Mangement, ed. Clark, T.W., Willard, A.R. & Cromley, C.M., pp: 288–324. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Ziegler, J., Dearden, P. & Rollins, R. (2012) But are tourists satisfied? Importance performance analysis of the whale shark tourism industry on Isla Holbox, Mexico. Tourism Management 33: 692–701.CrossRefGoogle Scholar