Baja California Sur

For this reason, government actions should always be taken with reservations when they are oriented towards demanding changes to investment projects that only seek to benefit the investors without actually dealing with societal needs, since they usually end up approving those proposals that are least likely to achieve economic growth and avoid the country’s continued and eternal economic crisis.

Such is the case with El Mogote, a unique place in the world, a peaceful refuge located across the bay from La Paz, capitol of the state of Baja California Sur. Families from the the city see it as a recreational area where they usually arrive by launch or kayak. It is a mangrove forest that has protected the city from the vagaries of cyclones and tropical storms. It measures 1236 acres and contains species of endangered plants, 21 sites containing archaeological relics, and 247 acres of mangrove forests around which abound populations of dolphins, sea lion, whales, and whale sharks which are found nowhere else on earth.

It is admirable therefore that the application for a change in the land-use permit sought by the Entre Mares development, located at

By Miguel Ángel Torres*

A burden for Mexico has been the perpetual separation between economic and environmental policies, in which almost always (with a few exceptions), the first is always favored in the interest of creating jobs and opportunities for subsequent growth in a wide range of industrial sectors. Such is the case with plans for coastal development where they always seem to result in local popu-
lations and their natural resources paying a high price.

Cortez with its extraordinary natural natural beauty and 10 km of pristine beaches. No other resort in Baja California offers this incredible opportunity to travelers interested in experiencing the best of our peninsula; from golf (the course is world class, was designed by Arthur Hills and is ranked 4th among new golf courses by Golf Magazine) to a swimming pool with an unending shore and a view of the sea, lighted tennis courts, dining on the golf course, luxury rooms with terraces, suites with one, two or three rooms all with complete kitchens and all with a view of the sea. “Paraíso del Mar has everything to offer.

Investors see it this way: “Entre Mares is a sustainable project,” says Agustín Olachea, the businessman heading in the project. He denies being a predatory developer. “The mangrove will not be touched. Our pledge is to plant five more acres. What Entre Mares is going to sell is the environment.” That’s what he said!, according to sources

By Agencia ID *

The growth and development of plants is related to the nutrients they receive from the soil. The reason farmers use chemical fertilizers is to guarantee adequate growth of their crops. However, this is not the only possible way to achieve this goal. It has been shown that bacteria living in the rhizosphere (the layer of soil close to the roots of a plant) also promote plant growth.

Aware of this fact, scientists from the Northwest Center for Biological Research (CIBNOR) analyzed the effect of salt stress on the microbes that live in the rhizosphere of corn planted in the Santo Domingo Valley, Baja California.

According to the project's head researcher, Thelma Rosa Castellanos Cervantes, plantations of garbanzos, cotton, corn and wheat required

great amounts of water, which caused the over utilization of the region’s ground water. This then led to the contamination of the wells from the intrusion of salt water due to the area’s close proximity to the sea, and later led to accumulation of salt in the agricultural fields.

Adding to this, the use of chemical fertilizers increased the salt content of the agricultural fields, exposing the plants and microbes to salt stress. Therefore, the main goal of this project was to identify how salt is affecting the bacterial communities associated with the rhizosphere.

In order to conduct this research, the scientists from the Public Research Center of the National Council on Science and Technology (Conacyt), decided to focus on corn, because it is one of the most common local crops and because of its important role in the nation’s nutrition and cuisine.

Castellanos Cervantes explained that over three years, they collected samples from the soil and plant rhizosphere for analysis with molecular and microbiological methodologies, which allowed them to identify types of bacteria and the effect of salinity on them. The head researcher explained that one of the methods used was Single Strand Conformation Polymorphism (SSCP) that entails extracting all of the DNA from the rhizosphere, with the purpose of analyzing the bacterial community and obtaining a complete profile of its composition and structure. This allowed them to make a complete characterization of the bacterial community as well as to identify specific bacteria within it.

Once they are able to prove the drop in microorganisms due to salinity, the researchers will look to isolate those that prove to have salt tolerance so that they can use them to inoculate the soil in order to promote plant growth and reduce the demand for chemical fertilizers.

Thanks to the physical and chemical analysis of the soils, researchers were also able to discover that organic matter and calcium have an effect on the microbial communities as well. Castellanos Cervantes highlighted that this finding has never been reported elsewhere.

According to the CIBNOR researcher, these findings could be used to help farmers decide which materials they should use to increase the fertility of their soils at the time that they plant their crop.

This project was financed by Conacyt and was conducted in collaboration with the Institute for Biodiversity of the Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institute in Germany.

*Investigación y Desarrollo, (Research and Development), science news agency on technology and innovation in Mexico since 2009.

the end of the El Mogote peninsula, was rejected for violation of the environmental law, as was declared by the local SEMARNAT representative, Marco Antonio González,

Nonetheless, Secretary for Economic Promotion and Development for the state government as represented by Juan Espinoza Somellera, deemed that the Technical Council on Land Use Change should consider anyway the feasibility and approval of the real estate and hotel development Entre Mares, in the “ framework of of its sustainability and respect for the wetlands to which it is adjacent.”

Entre Mares is a complex of more than 3000 living units and another golf course that is being planned in the El Mogote zone across from the shoreline of La Paz.. There is already one golf course and a hotel which is advertised on the Internet in a manner that is very different from how the inhabitans of La Paz view it.

Paraíso del Mar, is also a resort located on land popularly known as El Mogote that is situated across the bay from the beautiful waterfront promenade; here, looking out one can see the historic city with its 450 years of history as well as the serenity of the Sea of

On the other hand, according to the what inhabitants of La Paz have to say about it, and which you can view on You Tube, Paraíso del Mar and Entre Mares “have nothing to do with local culture, will ruin the landscape, will cause us to lose more than we gain, will benefit a very small minority, and is real estate speculation that excludes civil society.”

To this, a defender of the project answers: “ in fifteen years this development plans to employ more than 6000 residents of La Paz and another 100 people not from here. Are we going to let this opportunity slip through our fingers? I’ll leave it up to logic.”

*Co-Director, Journalism to Raise Environmental Awareness