Adaptations of a Yucatec Maya Multiple-Use Ecological Management Strategy to Ecotourism

Abstract

Over the last 40 years, the Yucatan Peninsula has experienced the implementation and promotion of development programs that have economically and ecologically shaped this region of Mexico. Nowadays, tourist development has become the principal catalyst of social, economic, and ecological changes in the region. All these programs, which are based on a specialization rationale, have historically clashed with traditional Yucatec Maya management of natural resources. Using participant observation, informal and semi-structured interviews, and life-history interviews, we carried out an assessment of a Yucatec Maya natural resources management system implemented by three indigenous communities located within a natural protected area. The assessment, intended as an examination of the land-use practices and productive strategies currently implemented by households, was framed within an ecological-economic approach to ecosystems appropriation. To examine the influence of tourism on the multiple-use strategy, we contrasted productive activities among households engaged primarily in ecotourism with those more oriented toward traditional agriculture. Results show that households from these communities allocated an annual average of 586 work days to implement a total of 15 activities in five different land-use units, and that those figures vary significantly in accordance with households' productive strategy (agriculture oriented or service oriented). As the region is quickly becoming an important tourist destination and ecotourism is replacing many traditional activities, we discuss the need for a balance between traditional and alternative economic activities that will allow Yucatec Maya communities to diversify their economic options without compromising existing local management practices.

Interest of inhabitants of Sisal, Yucatán on the community development as a tourist centre through the use and management of its cultural and natural heritage

“…Durante la primera mitad del siglo XX, el henequén (Agave fourcroydes) fue el principal producto de exportación de la región (García-Frapolli, Toledo y Martínez-Alier, 2008), pero hoy en día, después de la pesca, el turismo constituye una de las principales actividades económicas del puerto.…”

Las unidades de manejo tradicional, base de la conservación comunitaria en Morelos, México

“…La organización se describió con base en entrevistas semiestructuradas aplicadas a 10 informantes clave, seleccionados por su saber tradicional o liderazgo (Galeano, 2007;García-Frapolli et al, 2008).…”

“…En ese sentido, se ha documentado la importancia del diagnóstico participativo de las UMT como la milpa, los huertos tradicionales (Gómez-Pompa, 1993), la SBC (Monroy-Ortíz et al, 2009) y los bosques secundarios y maduros, manejados por los grupos originarios (García-Frapolli, Toledo, & Martínez-Alier, 2008). Las UMT muestran variables etnobiológicas de conservación comunitaria, entendida como el conjunto de formas de apropiación y producción sostenida de los medios naturales, derivadas de la visión holística del territorio de los grupos rurales y de la prioridad en el destino social de la producción y solo de manera secundaria para el mercado (Colín & Monroy, 2004;Leff, 2011;Toledo & Barrera-Bassols, 2008).…”

“…The organization was described based on semistructured interviews applied to 10 key informants, selected on their traditional knowledge and leadership (Galeano, 2007;García-Frapolli et al, 2008).…”

“…The importance of the participatory diagnosis of the TMU, such as cornfields, traditional orchards (Gómez-Pompa, 1993), LDF (Monroy-Ortíz et al, 2009), and secondary and mature forests managed by the native groups (García-Frapolli, Toledo, & Martínez-Alier, 2008) has been documented. The TMUs show ethnobiological variables of community conservation; these are understood as the collection of appropriation forms and sustained productions of natural resources, derived from the holistic view of the territory of rural groups and from the primacy in the social destiny of production and of the market solely in a secondary manner (Colín & Monroy, 2004;Leff, 2011;Toledo & Barrera-Bassols, 2008).…”