On the occasion of the 21st Annual Awards Ceremony that took place at its headquarters in the Theatre of the Insurgents, the COMPARTIR Social Foundation, I.A.P., presented awards in the five categories that are granted each year.  The Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Sierra Gorda Ecological Group (GESGIAP), Roberto Pedraza Muñoz, received the award in the category of Institution in Education from the distinguished Sr. Eduardo Dondé of the Rafael Dondé Foundation, which established the awards. 

The COMPARTIR Social Foundation, I.A.P., invited Martha Ruíz Corzo, Director of the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, to say a few words about the work of the civil society within a Federal Protected Area.  She spoke about her work as Co-Founder of the Sierra Gorda Ecological Group (GESGIAP) and about the federal decree in 1997, which designated 32% of the state of Querétaro as a Biosphere Reserve, at which time she was appointed the public servant Director by President Zedillo. 

The COMPARTIR Social Foundation, I.A.P., is a non-profit organization whose mission is to strengthen institutions of the civil society that work on behalf of disadvantaged populations through mobilization of resources and through recognition and dissemination of their work in order to develop a society that is more just and equitable.  The Award to an Institution in Education is an important recognition of the development work by GESGIAP since 1989 in environmental education, training, and productive diversification, which capitalizes on the multi-level educational offerings of the Sierra Gorda Earth Center. 

The COMPARTIR Awards are a recognition that COMPARTIR Social Foundation, I.A.P., has granted since 1988 to people who have achieved exemplary work on behalf of others as a part of institutions and non-profit organizations that have distinguished themselves by actions that benefit those in need.  In addition to recognizing these success stories, the awards aim to inform the public about the diverse ways of demonstrating visions of reality and ways of intervening in society, and of how to conceive, design, and put into practice solutions to specific social problems.  Receiving such a prestigious recognition of our work reaffirms the reason for it and the scope that is permitting inhabitants of the Reserve to thrive in the area with tools, attitudes, and new habits that improve the quality of life for the population while at the same time conserving the biodiversity and the environmental services of their forests and wooded areas.

The Inter-American Development Bank (BID) chooses GESGIAP to develop a complete project.

After a close competition, which began with the Geotourism Competition sponsored by the National Geographic Society and Ashoka Entrepreneurs for the Public, the proposal submitted by GESGIAP, "Sustainable Tourism in Sierra Gorda," moved to a final stage, where it was chosen by the Inter-American Development Bank to submit a comprehensive proposal for four years. This will provide the necessary financing to complete the full complement of eight community ecotourism projects we operate in the Reserve, with training activities related to attention to visitors, guide education, administration as well as product development and an aggressive marketing campaign, including a foray into European markets with the support of our partner in Spain, AccióNatura.

Again, this is a major achievement for the Sierra Gorda Project, which speaks of our competitiveness and ability to work with major donors.  It signifies the consolidation of a real economic alternative for the Sierra communities and the protection of biodiversity.

GESGIAP and Viva Sierra Gorda participate in the Governors Climate Summit of the United States of North America in Los Angeles, California

Thanks to the invitation of Ms. Linda Adams, Secretary for Environmental Protection of the Government of California, Sierra Gorda Querétaro will be represented by Martha Ruiz Corzo and Laura Pérez-Arce, who will be participating in this second Summit where experts will be discussing the changing rules and the strategies for compensation, adaptation, and mitigation of emissions for governments, industries, and organizations. 

Specifically, the panelists will be discussing lessons learned from the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol and the processes of certification that this entails as well as the voluntary markets and their implementation arrangements, which will relate substantially to the Sierra Gorda experience, the only reserve in Mexico that has completed ten sales to international clients under a voluntary arrangement.  The Sierra Gorda experience will be presented to the panel of the “Evolution of Carbon Markets,” with speakers of the first order such as:  Jill Duggan, International Emissions Adviser, Department of Energy and Climate Change (United Kingdom), Adrian Fernandez Bremauntz, President, National Institute of Ecology (Mexico); Gary Gero, President, California Climate Action Registry; Mina Guli, Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer, Global Climate Strategies; and Marc Stuart, Co-Founder and Director of New Business Development, EcoSecurities, among others.

Work is progressing in the restoration of a priority watershed alongside the highway to the Mission de Tilaco, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.  

The Tilaco Valley watershed, home to nearly 1,000 residents in different neighborhoods, provides water for productive activities such as seasonal agriculture and extensive cattle ranching—both the principal causes of environmental deterioration.  People here are trapped in a vicious cycle as they continue to have no other productive alternatives.  However, this same use results in a diminished production of their spring waters and the loss of tons of soil each year during the rainy season.  For this reason, GESGIAP and landholders as part of a project with major financing from the Gonzalo Rio Arronte Foundation initiated different restoration jobs, such as: reinforcing a comprehension among the population about the vital importance of watersheds; constructing infiltration sites (stone dams, watercourse ditches, live barriers, etc.), and establishing agro-forestry and forest-pasture systems to provide a new tool to the agricultural producers and cattle ranchers, which diminishes the environmental impact of their productive activities.  Further work is contemplated during 2010, gradually increasing the fertility of these lands while at the same time augmenting infiltration of water into the subsoil. 

On September 4, in the facilities of the Sierra Gorda Earth Center, staff of the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection distributed credentials for service as surveillance guards to 15 people including municipal police, officials of the Reserve´s Directorate, and staff of Bosque Sustentable, A.C., and GESGIAP. This undoubtedly will enhance the presence in the field of observers to detect and prevent environmental crimes and provide better coordination between municipal and federal authorities.  Those guards who already have been accredited municipal police officers are running the night patrols and surveillance of critical routes of illegal timber harvesting. Therefore, we soon hope to lower the number of crimes of this nature.

Derivados del Campo Serrano (By-Products of Sierra Country) Visit the new store that sells regional products from the Sierra Gorda; open to the public in October, it is located just one block from the historic center of Jalpan de Serra.

A dairy processing plant has begun operations, and a store with regional products and coffee service in the new business called Derivados del Campo Serrano (By-Products of Sierra Country) is located across from the Hotel Mission Jalpan, above the Querétaro-Xilitla highway.  As part of the project, “Reducing the impact of cattle ranching on biodiversity through payment from environmental services and intensive cattle ranching,” which was approved by the World Bank Development Marketplace and currently is in development by GESGIAP, a dairy processing plant will be inaugurated that will be a substantial component of the project.  Thus, the production of the six farms involved in the project will be processed in the plant, providing for the first time in the region the existence of its own brand of dairy products with the guarantee of healthiness in being pasteurized and in being derived from cattle free of brucellosis or tuberculosis.  The plant is located in the historic center of the city of Jalpan de Serra, which also serves as the point of sale, generating local employment and offering products at lower cost than other brands, since they are local products and thus the cost of transportation is diminished.  Certainly, there will be substantial success as well as an awakening of interest among other cattle ranchers in intensive and technical management of their farms, which gradually will be changing old practices of production in the Sierra Gorda.

Photo of the month .  

Along the streams of water of the Sierra Gorda, there are galleries of forests comprised of willows, cottonwoods, and Montezuma cypress, which shelter the rivers and streams with their shade and provide habitat to an important number of species.  In the photo, you can see Montezuma cypress that grow along the Jalpan River, magnificent and ancient.