The obtaining of biosphere reserve decrees in Mexico: analysis of three cases

During eight years, the Biological Research Center of the Northwest promote d the federal decrees to attain legal protection of three key zones for bio diversity conservation in Mexico: La Sierra de La Laguna, El Desierto del V izcaino, and El Archipielago Revillagigedo Biosphere Reserves. In this work , we discuss the biological and socioeconomical importance of these three r egions, the necessary steps to attain a Presidential decree in Mexico, and the required strategies to promote local and political support for each dec ree. In a country like Mexico, the promotion of one Presidential decree to declare a zone as a biosphere reserve must successfully address two differe nt goals: the technical and the political. The technical phase can be succe ssfully completed by a research centre or university in 6 to 12 months; whi le the political phase may or may not be successfully completed. If success ful, in our experience, it can be attained with 2 to 96 months of continuou s efforts.