Abstract

Arroyo Guadalupe's community based strategy watershed management, Baja California .
Track: Conservation
Authors: Maria de Lourdes Mexicano

Government agencies and nonprofit organizations make considerable efforts in the Baja California Peninsula to characterize and establish land management plans according to physical, economic, political and conservation priorities. Unfortunately, many of these initiatives are not known by stakeholders such as indigenous communities, or communal or private landowners. The lack of involvement in decision-making process of the users and owners of the natural resources results on several occasions in conflicts and failures.
In a series of four workshops we trained Arroyo Guadalupe watershed in Baja California, Mexico stakeholders to use Geographic Information System tools to produce different proposals of resource management for the watershed. With direct involvement of stewards of the land and creating layers that take into account their empirical knowledge, we determined the best land use and conservation priority sites. The results of these workshops were used to establish conservation mechanisms as private natural protected areas and water funds.