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 Editorials | Environmental | August 2007 
Golf Projects May Leave Mexico Wildlife High and Dry
 Eliza Barclay - National Geographic
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Click image to enlarge. | | A Mexican-government-supplied map shows the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve (green) and nearby areas zoned for tourist resorts (pink). (Image courtesy State of Jalisco's Environment Secretariat) |
Two planned tourism projects may leave a rare and richly diverse Mexican reserve high and dry, scientists say.
Scientists are calling for a ban on the proposed developments, saying that the work may cause a water crisis that might irreversibly damage the reserve's rare tropical dry forest.
Jaguars, sea turtles, and other species in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve in northwestern Jalisco state may face a dire water shortage if developers move forward with their golf-oriented projects, warn researchers at Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM).
In fact, the work may irreversibly damage the area's rare tropical dry forest ecosystem, according to the experts. Unlike their rainy cousins, tropical dry forests have a sub-humid climate, limited water availability, and a dry season that lasts five to eight months.
"Every species in the reserve is sensitive to water availability, and if it becomes less accessible then the balance will be upset," said Alicia Castillo, a researcher with UNAM's Ecosystem Research Center.
"This is not a place where golf courses should go," added Castillo, who is also a member of a technical panel that analyzed the proposed development projects.
Teeming Wildlife
The 32,473-acre (13,141-hectare) Chamela-Cuixmala reserve, located between the cities of Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo, is exceptionally rich in wildlife.
Some 1,200 plant species, 427 vertebrate species, and more than 2,000 insect species reside at the site, part of UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
Even though the new tourism projects are planned outside the reserve's limits, use of local groundwater will affect all those plants and animals along with nearby wetlands, Castillo said.
Scientists at the UNAM's Biology Institute in Mexico City noted in a recent study that the projects may cause the fragmentation of vegetation, the gradual loss of species, and the eventual disappearance of the egg-laying zones for sea turtles that are already at risk of extinction.
Bane or Boon?
The developers counter that their projects will help maintain the region's ecological equilibrium — or even improve it.
Architect Ari Nieto Vélez, developer of the larger project, known as Tambora, said the site was designed with eco-tourists in mind.
Tambora would go up on a 1,684-acre (681-hectare) parcel of land that directly abuts the reserve. It includes a hotel with a hundred rooms, an 18-hole golf course, and residential lots.
According to Nieto Vélez, the project will require 390 million gallons (1.5 million cubic meters) of freshwater a year, but nearby water resources are ample, developers say.
In a study released in February, however, Castillo and other members of the technical panel noted that the local water resources are not sufficient to meet Tambora's needs.
"The Chamela Arroyo [creek] is the water source for various vertebrate species and constitutes a fundamental habitat for survival during the dry season," the study said. "The arroyo's affectation ... would have a strong impact on the integrity of the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve."
The other project, Careyitos, would sit less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the reserve.
The 634-acre (257-hectare) site — now home to mangroves and a section of beach where sea turtles nest — will include 198 homes and 255 hotel rooms and villas.
Jose Manuel Bosoms, the developer of Careyitos, also defended his project as a model of ecotourism.
As much as 88 percent of the site will be preserved for conservation purposes, Bosoms said, and his company will work to maintain biological corridors between the reserve and the ocean.
Bosoms also pointed out that a significant amount of habitat fragmentation has already occurred around the reserve from deforestation by local residents, and that his project will help preserve key habitat.
Both projects, though small compared to many luxury resorts under construction elsewhere along Mexico's coasts, follow a pattern of golf-oriented development that stretches up through Mexico's arid northwestern region into the Baja California Peninsula.
New Data
Despite the promises of environmental protection, the two projects have drawn a flurry of protest in Mexico.
The heirs of Sir James Goldsmith, a Franco-British tycoon, are among the sharpest critics of the planned developments. Goldsmith donated land in 1987 that, combined with gifts from other affluent landowners in the 1970s, ultimately led to the creation of the Chamela-Cuixmala reserve.
In July more than 700 academics and researchers affiliated with the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation called on the Mexican government to cancel the projects' permits and prohibit further tourism development in the area.
And scientists are urging Mexico's environment and natural resources secretariat, Semarnat, not to grant land use permits this month, even though the agency has signed off on environmental impact reports for the projects.
Developers will be unable to begin construction until they receive the permits.
Mauricio Limón Aguirre, the deputy director for environmental protection at Semarnat, said his agency is wrestling with new information provided by scientists on the potential impact of the developments on the reserve.
Semarnat authorized the projects' environmental impact reports late last year, and no formal objections to the projects had been submitted during the public comment period.
The technical panel's report arrived late in the process, but has the potential to affect the approval of the second set of permits, according to Limón Aguirre.
Water is a serious issue of concern, he said, but local water resources are threatened by more than just the developments.
"This is a water-stressed zone, but the local communities are also polluting and misusing the scarce water resources by throwing their wastes in the ocean and streams," he said.
"At least in a development you can impose restrictions. It's harder to do that in the local communities." |
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