Case study – The El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve: Can biodiversity conservation and economic development co-exist?

El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve is the largest protected area in Mexico situated on the Californian peninsula and touching both the waters in the Gulf of California as well as the North Pacific Ocean. The area is mostly covered by desert soil, however it comprises also some key marine area, coastal lagoons of Ojo de Liebre and San Ignacio, known as important breeding sites for the grey whale and a number of other seabirds (UNESCO).

Several threats are looming over this reserve, among which intensive fishing, over tourism in core areas as well as climate change. The impacts on the climate are increasing vulnerability not only for the ecosystems but also for human communities (i.e. ecosystem services and resources). Hence, such phenomenon represents as well a driver of social tensions arising from the contrasting ownership and leadership between the national government and local communities (World Heritage Datasheet).

"Thus, a socioecological approach for land and biodiversity use planning has to be implemented if both human welfare and conservation are to be effectively promoted" (Boncheva  2022).

In terms of overfishing, both the effects of overexploitation aswell as climate change are drastically diminishing the resources. The collapse of this activity would result in catastrophic economic and social consequences. An alternative for this could potentially be aquiculture (UNESCO).

With regard to Whale Watching (WW), this activity has become an attractive opportunity for Indigenous communities to develop a sustainable form of marine resource use therefore contributing to the local economy (Mayer 2018). However, in order to maintain a sustainable level of such exercise, an inclusive governance structure must be deployed where management from national institutions actively involves local stakeholders in the decision making process as well as implementation. This seems to be achieved in a two-fold way by firstly restricting the resource use to non-local players and secondly through the adoption of a Reserve's advisory board which serves as an effective negotiator among stakeholders with unequal power (Mayer 2014). 

The participation of local communities is essential in determining a successful conservation strategy. Nonetheless, simply spreading awareness and sensibilization to the ecosystem services which the reserves provides to Indigenous populations is not enough. Hill et al. demonstrated through a survey to locals that positive perception of the protected are do not translate into pro conservation behaviours. An active participation for local communities co-managed and enforced by continual external support is rather required in order to achieve an equitable inclusive conservation (Hill 2014).


References:


Antonina Ivanova Boncheva et al., (2022), Impacts of Climate Change in the El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve (REBIVI): Challenges for Coastal Communities and the Conservation of Biodiversity, Diversity 14(10):786

World Heritage Datasheet, Whale sanctuary of El Vizcaino (n.d.)

UNESCO, El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve, Mexico, Available at: https://en.unesco.org/biosphere/lac/vizcaino

Wendy Hill, et al. (2014), The ‘hollow-middle’: why positive community perceptions do not translate into pro-conservation behaviour in El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve, Mexico, International Journal of Biodiversity Science 11(2): 168-183

Marius Mayer, (2018), The nexus between governance and the economic impact of whale-watching. The case of the coastal lagoons in the El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve, Baja California, Mexico, Ocean and Coastal Management 162:46-59


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