National Land Conservation Program
Structure

Mexico enjoys a great variety of natural expressions such as deserts, lakes, forests, wetlands, among other ecosystems. Each one possesses a great diversity of species, placing our country as one of the most important, worldwide, for its biodiversity.

Most of these riches are privately owned, either by individuals or social proprietors (a form of private corporative) who are committed to conserving and protecting these natural resources for their own benefit and that of future generations.

With the help of the Global Environmental Facility, the World Bank, and the Packard Foundation, Pronatura has developed an institutional program of national coverage, dedicated to work hand in hand with land owners toward the conservation and the management of biologically important lands.



Mission

The Land Conservation Program works hand in hand with land owners in the search for conservation alternatives in the long term.

The Program offers a series of alternatives for the use and management of natural resources that allow the joint work with proprietors in the search for potentiating productive uses, and at the same time, conserve to perpetuity the natural, scenic, cultural, recreational or environmental attributes of their lands.

The Program Works through:

1. The identification of critical lands for the conservation of Mexico’s ecosystems.
2. The protection of these areas through the joint work of communities, proprietors, ejidos, and other public and private organizations.
3. The co-management of protected natural areas (ANP) together with the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas.

Objectives

1. Enlarge the area of private and public land under protection in important forest, tropical, desert, or coastal ecosystems.
2. Create a package of legal instruments, incentives and implementation techniques for private proprietors who promote the conservation and sustainable use of important biological terrains.
3. Implementation of such tools in priority sites.
4. Influence public policies, with the objective of strengthening private conservation instruments.
5. Build the capacity for the use of these instruments in Pronatura, as well as other non-governmental organizations and government agents.
6. Divulge the learned lessons.

Methodology

The method involves six steps:

• Site identification (criteria).
• Base line elaboration.
• Negotiation.
• Implementation of legal instruments for conservation.
• Monitoring Program elaboration.
• Management Plan elaboration "Negotiation is key for success of private conservation instruments".

It is a continuous process; from the beginning, middle, and end.

Partners

The advancements and triumphs accomplished by the Program would not have been possible without the collaboration and commitment of proprietors and communities dedicated toward the conservation and protection of our natural environment. For this reason, we would like to thank everyone for their trust and hard work.



The synergies and alliances with national and international organizations have permitted the sharing of experiences, the perfection of tools for conservation, and the distribution of generated results and products. We give thanks to: The Nature Conservancy, the Centro de Derecho Ambiental de Costa Rica (CEDARENA), the Environmental Law Institute, the Alianza Regional para Politicas de Conservacion en America Latina y el Caribe (ARCA), Amigos de Sian Ka'an A.C., and the Asociacion de Reservas Naturales Privadas de Mexico A.C. (ARENA).

Our work would be insufficient without the support we have received from the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (CONAMP), and the state and municipal governments. We would also like to thank those who had and still have the vision of strengthening the conservation movement of private lands in our country, especially Dr. Ernesto Enkerlin, Dr. Arturo Gomez Pompa, Dr. Flavio Chazaro Ramirez, and, in general, to all the proprietors and communities who have placed their trust in Pronatura Mexico for the conservation of their lands.

Lastly, it is important to mention that without the financial support from various generous international and national foundations and organizations who have shared our mission and objectives, it would not have been possible to build, support, and operate this program:



- Global Environmental Facility (GEF)
- The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
- The Tinker Foundation
- J.P. Morgan Foundation
- The Overbrook Foundation
- Mac Arthur Foundation