Teacapán - pag. 5

They use as a point of reference the CIP in Los Cabos which is a perfect example of the pattern that these types of planned developments follow: decreed from above without any public participation. They lead to an undesirable increase in the population due to the influx of workers and their families, the closure of public beaches for local use and the loss of wetlands. They also result in a significant shortage of potable water and they lack plans and funds for basic services like sewage and other urbanization projects, schools and hospitals.

Worried that the Escuinapa CIP could lead to “the explosion of tourism that would exacerbate the environmental deterioration of the national wetlands," local activists from Redes, SuMar and Conselva, with technical support from Facimar (the School of Marine Sciences) of the Autonomous University of Mexico, have launched the campaign "I Live Here, My Opinion Counts!"

Focused on minimizing the negative impacts of the project, during July and September 2010,.the campaign's team of collaborators lead four informational workshops for aquaculturalists, agriculturalists, service providers, and artisanal fishermen. The result was a list of conditions for the project. They then used the list to help prepare 165 documents, all properly signed and representing 5900 families from the area, that they delivered to Semarnat.

They also: trained spokespeople; held a press conference; gave six performances of the "teatro popular" piece "The Last of the Ceviche" to raise public

that the National Wetlands be declared a protected natural area before work on the project begins.
that a sanitary landfill be built that meets all official environmental regulations.
that the mangroves be fully protected as a means of guaranteeing the full productive capacity of the wetlands.

That same February when Calderón announced the tourism project, Alcosta called upon the appropriate authorities to redesign to project to allow for it to take advantage of the site's unique characteristics—its natural, cultural and archeological capital. They also emphazised that the project should ensure that the local residents benefit, and that chaotic construction, lack of services, urbanization and out of control speculation (all of which has

Next, Miguel Gómez Mont, director of Fonatur at the time, publically responded that Fonatur would carry out all of the necessary studies in order to assure sustainable development in accordance with the law.

In order to assure that Fonatur would follow through with their promises, the NGOs kept up political and legal pressure when they began a phase of public monitoring of Fonatur’s follow through on their agreements.

In August of 2010, local ejido members caught Fonatur in apparent violation of the law as evidenced by their having

awareness; and made a formal request to Semarnat that they hold a public informational meeting about the Fonatur project.

Representatives from Escuinapa's business sector announced that they were in favor of development and progress for their communities but not at any cost. The conditions that they demanded were:

that channels into the wetlands would not be created in order to build marinas since this would lead to the salinization of the aquifer, the coastal lagoons and agricultural lands.
that access to all public beaches be guaranteed.
that no waste water be dumped into the sea, the aquifer or the coastal lagoons.

occurred with other Fonatur projects) would be avoided.

An opinion paper on the Regional Tourism Plan for Rosarito-Teacapán was also prepared, with the support of the Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental A.C., SuMar, Voces por la Naturaleza A.C., ProEsteros, A.C., Conselva, A.C, Grupo Ecológico Manglar A.C., Conservación y Rehabilitación de Fauna Silvestre y sus Hábitat A.C., Red Ecologista por el Desarrollo de Escuinapa, A.C. and Defensa Ambiental Noroeste A.C..

Meanwhile, Greenpeace Mexico said “enough is enough,” pointing out that the project “doesn’t meet the established requirements set by Semarnat because it doesn’t have an environmental impact study,” and they demanded that the work be halted until they have the proper authorization.

and the risk that the channels could continue to enlarge, just like has already happened in the Cuautla Canal in Nayarit twelve miles away.

When questioned by the attendees about how Fonatur would assure that the incomplete project wouldn’t be abandoned, as has happened in other projects like Litibú, Nayarit and Loreto, Baja California Sur, Patricia Flores, Assistant Director for Project Control at Fonatur stated that there is a guaranteed multiannual budget for the CIP from the Congress.

The necessary question then became: How can there be a long term budget for a project that hasn’t yet been approved by Semarnat?
Just 15 days after this revelation, Sergio Crespo Hernández, the mayor of Escuinapa, questioned the fact that surveyors from the Transportation and Commun-

ications Secretary have made measurements for a highway from the Escuinapa county seat, connecting Hwy 15 directly with the Fonatur site thereby bypassing the city. This would effectively exclude local economic participation and would ruin the county’s plans for attracting tourists.

With these events, the present situation appears very different from that of just a year ago. Up to a point, it continues to be the stereotypical “sleepy fishing village” with little tradition of democratic participation. Redes continues to be the only legally recognized non-profit in Escuinapa. But the awakening of awareness about sustainable development has already become reality.

“Little by little, we are going to succeed in getting people to participate,” says Simental.

*Co-Director, Journalism to Raise Environmental Awareness

connected the Baluarte-Teacapán aquaduct to bring water to their site for the construction of the basic infrastructure, an action that Semarnat had prohibited in the environmental impact statement for that project.

Given that the inhabitants of Teacapán and the ejidos of Isla del Bosque, Cristo Rey and Palmito del Verde depend on that aquaduct and already have water supply problems, an urgent call was made to the media outlets to denounce the action.

“While our communities lack a good potable water system and drainage, Fonatur is trying to

120,000 estimated) and would create a new city of 500,000 inhabitants. Fonatur made it clear that it would not be responsible for providing public services for this new population center.

This news was met with astonishment given that the municipality of Escuinapa, with just 45,000 inhabitants, currently doesn’t have an adequate drainage system, lacks health centers and schools, has water and electricity shortages and the streets are in terrible condition.

One other fact caught the attention of the specialists: that the recommendations of the Geography Institute of the Autonomous University of Mexico (contracted by Fonatur), were completely ignored in regard to not opening access channels to build marinas. It was determined that this action would lead to salinization of the aquifer

provide luxury class facilities by violating the law,” pointed out Carlos Simental from Redes, A.C.. Days later, on August 12th, Semarnat held a public informational meeting at the specific request of Redes. in order that Fonatur give a public presentation about the Pacific Coast CIP project and listen to feedback from the community. However, the attendees, including local, national and international media were in for a surprise that day when Fonatur presented their Pacific Coast CIP master plan that contained new information, differing from the original environmental impact statement that Semarnat used to to evaluate the project.

Consultants representing the Management, Policy and Environmental Planning agency (GPPA in Spanish) contracted by Fonatur announced that the project would generate 150,000 jobs (instead of the previous