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Perhaps no other country in the world is as friendly to visitors
as Mexico. The
country has an excellent system of ground, air, and sea-based transportation,
tens of thousands of hotel rooms, and a cuisine that is world-famous
for its flavor and diversity.
In scientific literature, the nation is called a megadiversity country
because of its abundant variety of flora and fauna. Mexico is the
greenhouse of the world's ecosystems, with an example of almost
every habitat on earth.
BUILDING BRIDGES
However, environmental awareness and tourism have yet to tread
the same path. Sometimes it seems as though environmental tourism
in Mexico is like the famed Copper Canyon, a gorge in Chihuahua
deeper than the Grand Canyon in the United States. Conservation
is marooned on one side, tourism on the other. Sometimes it appears
that there's no bridge across the abyss.
Perhaps it's the hybrid origin of "ecotourism" that makes
each side distrust the concept. Conservationists shudder when tourism
leaders brand amusement parks as ecotourism destinations. Likewise,
when environmentalists devise complicated eco-trips that tour operators
can't book, the operators see ecotourism as nothing more than utopian
whimsy.
Until recently, most of Mexico's protected areas and biosphere reserves
were simply off-limits to tourism. Either the government tried to
keep areas "visitor-free" because of the lack of park
guides, or the areas themselves were too remote from the main tourism
corridors to attract visitors.
In the 1990s, though, organized tours and individual travelers
discovered and raved about the natural wonders of Mexico. Whether
to watch birds or whales, people began visiting the great outdoors
to experience the diversity and beauty of nature. Tourism providers
discovered the accompanying economic benefits of offering natural
history tours, and communities themselves began to see that ecotourism
offered the potential to diversify their income base.
Given the diversity of Mexico's wildlife and natural attractions,
a broader approach to tourism in the country makes sense. Although
Mexico has enjoyed great success as a tourism market, the majority
of the promotions highlight mass tourism, which generally has been
environmentally and culturally insensitive. Estuaries and mangroves
have been filled in for golf courses. Forests have been cut down
without benefit of reforestation programs. "Non-governmental"
organizations run by former or current government officials have
taken money for the administration of the programs with little of
the capital actually invested in the rural areas.
TOURISM
No one can deny that in terms of tourism, Mexico is the most successful
country in Latin America. The coastal megaresorts receive the lion's
share of visitors. Cancún receives close to 3 million visitors
each year, and Puerto Vallarta another 2 million. According to the
government's secretariat of tourism, SECTUR, tourism is the country's
third-largest industry, generating roughly $7 billion a year, behind
the petroleum industry and the maquiladoras. In 1996 Mexico received
nearly 22 million visitors, placing the country seventh in the world
for in-bound tourism.
The current flood of visitors is a far cry from 1929, when just
20,000 travelers visited Mexico. Tourism became fashionable in the
late 1940s, then again in the 1960s and 1970s. Whether the country
was popularized by classic Gene Autry movies or The People's Guide
to Mexico, Mexico seemed to offer something for everyone.
In 1974 the government set up FONATUR (National Fund for Tourism
Development), which has become synonymous with Mexico's megaprojects.
By 1989 FONATUR had financed 128,000 new hotel rooms and had an
annual advertising budget of $30 million. What did it advertise?
Its new rooms! Discount airfares from major U.S. cities often make
flights to Cancún less expensive than those to Miami. But
until recently, FONATUR's has focused exclusively on catering to
the masses. Today, state and local government offices are promoting
lesser-known destinations with a newfound environmental sensitivity.
Recent arrangements between the nation's ecology secretariat (SEMARNAP)
and SECTUR also promote responsible ecotourism.
BIODIVERSITY
Mexico's indisputable wealth lies in its biological diversity.
The country boasts a cornucopia of ecosystems, including dryland
vegetation, tropical dry forests, tropical evergreen forests, coniferous
forests, grasslands, and aquatic systems.
In total number of species, Mexico ranks fifth, just after Peru,
Indonesia, Brazil, and Colombia. It ranks first in the number of
reptiles species in the world, and it boasts the majority of the
world's pine and cacti species. Mexico is home to more than
1,000 bird species, 450 mammals (142 found nowhere else on the planet),
640 reptiles, and 330 amphibians. Insect species number in the hundreds
of thousands. It has the second-greatest mammal diversity of any
nation. It is also among the top 10 countries in the world for the
number of restricted-range bird species and endemic bird areas it
supports.
Why such diversity? Most of Mexico lies within the intersection
of North and South America. These continents were separated for
millions of years and each developed its own unique species. This
changed when a land bridge emerged, connecting the Americas. The
biological richness results from great habitat variation and diverse
ecological regions, complex topography, climate, geology, and geographical
location.
Mexico is also world champion of endangered and now extinct freshwater
fish. According to biologist Salvador Contreras, there are 20 fish
species now known to be extinct, and out of 480 species scientists
have identified in Mexico, 160 are at risk, most of which are found
nowhere else on earth. Eight new species have been discovered in
the last three years; at the same time many are going extinct while
they are being studied. The chief culprit is the depletion of freshwater
springs and underground aquifers for residential and industrial
use. "You might be able to protect a tree by putting a fence
around it, but an underground spring? If it's out of sight,
it's out of mind," Contreras says.
According to the 1994 INEGI Environmental Review, there are at least
242 species in danger of extinction, 435 considered threatened,
244 considered rare, and 84 subject to special protection. Of all
of these species, 411 are native to Mexico, and of these 124 are
in danger of extinction.
Mexico is taking a number of steps to protect its wildlife. It joined
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
in 1991, a global organization that four years earlier declared
Mexico to be one of the most notable traffickers of wildlife in
the world. More than 6 million animals were sold in a legal manner
to the United States alone in 1991 and 1992, with an importation
value of $19 million. Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Chiapas, Quintana Roo,
and Oaxaca are the states most affected by the legal and illegal
traffic in animals. Although there are laws against illegal trafficking,
the capacity for enforcing them is low. More shocking, in a study
of the black market, CITES estimated that 85 percent of the animals
that were captured died before they could be sold.
RESEARCH
The first conference on biodiversity in Mexico was held at the
National Autonomous University in Mexico in 1988. The organizer
of that groundbreaking conference, then-UNAM-biologist T. P. Ramamoorthy,
also edited the proceedings, Biological Diversity of Mexico (Oxford
Press). In 1992, the president of Mexico created the National Commission
for the Use and Understanding of Biodiversity (CONABIO). The commission
coordinates research and ongoing projects throughout the country.
Headquartered in Mexico City, CONABIO is an "independent agency"
and non-governmental civil association . . . headed by the president
and the head of the environmental secretariat.
CONABIO hosts the Mexican Information Network on Biodiversity (REMIB),
which collects and synthesizes information on biodiversity. Unlike
its counterpart in Costa Rica, CONABIO takes an academic approach
and does not offer concessions to pharmaceutical firms. It has,
however, established a private trust fund (Fideicomiso Fondo para
la Biodiversidad) with donations from private industry and international
environmental groups. Nacional Financiera, one of Mexico's major
banks, oversees the fund, which is audited on an annual basis. The
1996 budget was 2.5 billion pesos, 72 percent of which was to be
used to support projects (the remainder was for equipment and operating
expenses).
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