Challenges Threaten the Sierra Vallejo-Río Ameca Biosphere Reserve Iván Serrano Jauregui - Universidad de Guadalajara
go to original February 15, 2024

After the Mexican government announced on January 8, in the Official Journal of the Federation, that 225,398 hectares between Jalisco and Nayarit became the Natural Protected Area of the Sierra Vallejo-Río Ameca Biosphere Reserve (locate on map), there are still problems that threaten it.

This reserve includes the municipalities of Mascota, Mixtlán, San Sebastián del Oeste and Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco and Bahía de Banderas and Compostela in Nayarit. The natural space can be appreciated to the east of the highway that connects Puerto Vallarta with Compostela.

Dr. Bartolo Cruz Romero, researcher of the Department of Biological Sciences of the Centro Universitario de la Costa (CUCosta) of the UdeG, pointed to the problem of monocultures, mining, but also the extraction of material for construction.

"We have that almost all along the banks of the Ameca River. There are companies extracting material from the river, such as gravel, sand and substrate to compact in constructions, and they did not even have the necessary permits," he explained.

Another problem is forest fires. In recent weeks Semadet pointed out that the Western Sierra Coast is one of the areas most vulnerable to fire. Meanwhile, Conafor's Statistical Closing 2023 report places Jalisco as the entity with the most fires in the country, with 1,483 registered, which affected 194,123 hectares.

Cruz Romero emphasized that federal protection does not imply that contact with nature is prohibited, but that the area can be cared for and managed in a sustainable manner in terms of tourism and production (with the exception of mining) through management plans.

For this reason, he recognized that the highest authority of the country decreed the protection, after the impulse of environmental collectives such as Alianza Jaguar, AC, led by activist Erik Saracho, for two decades.

"We personally accompanied members of the ejidos of the Sierra de Vallejo, who had already asked the governor of Nayarit in writing to help them activate the state protection that had already been in place since 2004", said Erik Saracho in an interview for the program Ecobahía of Radio UdeG in Puerto Vallarta, hosted by Cruz Romero.

The activist mentioned that the federal decree is a community achievement, although he regretted that they were left out of the protected territory where foreign mining companies that explore and extract material in localities of the municipality of San Sebastián del Oeste, in the highlands.

"As much as the people of San Sebastián said that La Bufa had to be included (in the ANP), which was very important, they did not include it. The mining companies lobbied hard to keep it out of the reserve's polygon. There are interesting parts for protection that were not included because of mining," said Saracho.

Pending Vallarta's articulation to protect the new PNA

Cruz Romero emphasized that Puerto Vallarta's municipal ecological organization is still pending to be set up. Although the city council already recognizes the Local Ecological Management Program (POEL) and has already signed an agreement to articulate it, according to the researcher there is still a lot of work to be done.

"There are five coastal municipalities, and of the five only Puerto Vallarta does not have one at present (the management plan). They are working on its creation, I participate in these meetings, but this local ecological ordinance has neither head nor tail," he said.

He recalled that such an instrument would not be convenient for real estate and subdivision companies in Puerto Vallarta; however, the management plan will allow reinforcing the federal decree that will protect the ecosystemic services provided by the Sierra de Vallejo and the Ameca River, which benefits those who live in Jalisco and Nayarit.

Some of these services provided by the biosphere are soil protection, water supply, climate regulation, oxygen production and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

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This material was translated from Spanish using AI technologies. Errors may exist due to this process.

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