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Tourism Projects Trigger Conflict in Preserve |
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By Diego Cevallos *
Experts
and activists plan to take two mega-developments in the Mexican
state of Jalisco to international courts, for threatening the Chamela-Cuixmala
protected area.
MEXICO CITY, Jan 13 (Tierramérica) - A golfcourse,
hotels, luxury residences, stables and a private marina will occupy
land next to a valuable biodiversity reserve in the western Mexican
state of Jalisco. With official permission, the project developers
have begun work, but opponents have sworn to stop them.
After receiving government approval to build in this fragile ecosystem,
at the end of 2006, just as President Vicente Fox stepped down and
the Felipe Calderón administration began, the developers accelerated
work on their projects. Meanwhile, opponents are preparing their
legal weapons, which may include lawsuits in international arenas.
"These plans, approved corruptly, can still be stopped," Alberto
Székely, spokesman and lawyer for the non-governmental Council for
the Defense of the Pacific Coast, told Tierramérica. The Council
has worked to prevent unsustainable development projects near the
protected zone for over 10 years.
Székely said that objections to the projects would be lodged within
Mexico, as well as with the North American Commission for Environmental
Cooperation, made up of Canada, the United States and Mexico.
The Environmental Impact and Risk Directorate officially authorised
the Tambora and Careyes Marina projects, on the edge of the Chamela-Cuixmala
biosphere reserve, in the face of opposition from scientists and
other experts, including the National Commission for Protected Natural
Areas (CONANP).
At least five similar projects for the same area were rejected in
the 1990s. Among the entrepreneurs heading the projects that have
just been approved is Roberto Hernández, a former banker and a close
friend of Fox's.
"There are countless irregularities in the way these projects were
approved, which cannot be tolerated," Székely said.
The Chamela-Cuixmala reserve is a tropical dry forest, 131.3 million
square metres in area, with abundant flora and fauna, several of
them endemic. Close by are other protected areas, including nesting
beaches where sea turtles lay their eggs.
According to the approval documents, which are lengthy and contain
many technical and legal details, Tambora, the project proposed
by the Operadora Chamela group, will occupy 6.8 million square metres
of tropical dry forest adjacent to the reserve.
Construction sites will cover two million square metres and will
include a golfcourse, a 100-room hotel, residential areas, beach
clubs and parking lots. The project implies deforesting 1.7 million
square metres of pristine woodland.
The Careyes Marina, proposed by the Imagen y Espectáculos de Lujo
group to which entrepreneur Roberto Hernández belongs, will be built
on 2.5 million square metres, of which 1.5 million will be preserved
as a natural area. The rest will be used for a private marina, lagoons
and 1,025 hotel rooms.
The official permits for the projects impose certain conditions,
so the developers will have to alter their original proposals, submit
detailed plans for environmental management and sign agreements
with the authorities, among other things. The companies are already
working flat out on these points, Tierramérica discovered.
Alberto Elton, director of CONANP for the Western region, where
the reserve is located, confirmed that he had been approached by
the developers. "The people in charge of Tambora told us: 'We've
got the project and we don't want to make any more fuss. Let's sit
down together, and give us your help to see what we can modify to
come to an agreement.'"
"Now we have to make the best (cause the least damage to the reserve)
of a bad job (the projects' approval)," he said.
CONANP made 29 criticisms of the Tambora environmental management
program as originally submitted, including the risk posed by the
project to "the continuity of the fragile local ecosystems."
Elton said the Tambora project would have an inevitable impact on
the biosphere reserve, recognised by the United Nations.
He preferred to give no opinion on the Careyes Marina, as CONANP
had not been consulted about that project.
The law allows the Environmental Impact and Risk Directorate to
request evaluations by other official or private institutions before
accepting or rejecting a project, and to receive comments from social
groups, but it is not obliged to agree with or accept their advice.
The Tambora project and its environmental management plan were also
criticised by government bodies such as the Directorate General
for Wildlife and the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use
of Biodiversity.
Similar criticisms were made by the Institute of Biology of the
National Autonomous University of Mexico, which has a research centre
in within the nature reserve.
"We will re-evaluate the permits and give our opinion, but as far
as our studies go, we would still advise that the two projects should
not be approved," Tila Pérez, director of the UNAM Institute of
Biology, told Tierramérica.
After receiving the criticisms, the developers made some adjustments
to their plans during the last few months of 2006, which did not,
however, change the essence of their original proposals, according
to opponents. The Environmental Impact and Risk Directorate approved
the modified projects as they stood, this time without asking for
new assessments.
The Council for the Defense of the Pacific Coast gave Tierramérica
access to the documentation on which they based their arguments
that the authorities should reject the projects. In it, eminent
biologists presented dozens of pages of empirical evidence against
the companies' plans.
The Environmental Impact and Risk Directorate acknowledges receipt
of these documents and say they have studied and considered them.
The companies say the same thing. But their opponents can find no
significant changes in the projects, and vow to battle on until
they are stopped.
* Diego Cevallos is an IPS correspondent.
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