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Death Ranks Sixth
by Scott Walker
MEXICO
-- I've often heard this statistic thrown
around: On a scale of one to six, one's own death ranks sixth
while public speaking ranks first as the thing people most fear.
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Divorce, loss of spouse, loss of job, and something else fall
somewhere in between. I had arrived in a cloud forest high above
the Mexican Huasteca with a donkey carrying my backpack, 14
km from the nearest refrigerated beer and 7 km from the security
of my Jeep. I found myself - the only white-skinned, blue-eyed,
English-speaking person in town - standing in front of a room
full of Mexicans who had granted me their complete and undivided
attention.
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I had set up my cloud forest visit several months prior with
the Director of Ecology of the Tamaulipas Secretariat of Social
Development (SEDESOL). SEDESOL manages the El Cielo Biosphere
Reserve that juts up from the low-tropical coastal plain of
northeastern Mexico.
The mountain range catches the warm, moist winds of the Gulf
of Mexico, turning them into rain clouds that dump meters
of water upon the mountains each year. I was here in search
of a thesis project that would involve the management of protected
natural areas. I was also intent on creating an international
thesis study in a relatively undeveloped area. It just so happened
that when I arrived for my pilot study, I found myself in the
middle of a two-year community development program called !Organizate!
The program was organized by a regional nongovernmental organization
by the name of Terra
Nostra (Our Earth) and was financially backed
by Mexican and international funding organizations. The objectives
were for the people of Alta Cima, Mexico to identify their resources
and strengths, their economic situation, and then to develop
a plan of action for overcoming their obstacles to community
development.
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Cielo was declared a biosphere reserve in 1985, the logging
that was going on quickly ceased. One person told me that before
the logging ended, trucks loaded with logs were hauling trees
out of the reserve day and night. As they say, "it's not the
fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end." The sudden
stop of timber harvesting left whole communities economically
devastated.
The unemployment rate in 1995, was estimated at 70%. The remaining
30% were partially employed by searching for, and harvesting,
wild palmilla. Palmilla is a palm plant used in large flower
arrangements in the United States. The residents of El Cielo,
not having automobiles or much education for business development,
collect the plant and sell them to a middleman, who then sells
them to a floral buyer in the United States. The person doing
the grunt work of harvesting the plants makes about US$3 a week.
You can clearly see the need for the community development program
and the search for some alternative means of financial gain
for reserve residents.
The day I arrived in El Cielo was the last day of one of the
community participation meetings facilitated by Terra Nostra.
All weekend long, locals had been working together to chart
a course of action for continuing their community self-development
program. A small restaurant and store had already been built
to capture some of the tourist pesos.
The next project was to be a small hotel. Feed 'em and give
'em a place to stay and they'll pay. Pool the community's resources
to build the programs and projects and the benefits can be spread
out horizontally so everyone involved gains. In rural and undeveloped
areas where people often depend upon one another for support
anyway, the background social fabric has already been established.
This crowd only needed some direction and a little shove to
improve upon their lives.
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Now I was in the spotlight, or lantern light in this case.
I hadn't spoken a word of Spanish for five years before this
trip and I found myself clumsily trying explain the concept
of my pilot "Ecotourism Impact Study" to this pioneering group
of campasinos. Totally unexpected was this impromptu presentation
and the warm welcome I received. I had been prepared to be shunned
as the gringo intruder. As it turned out, one of the things
this group had identified in earlier meetings was to try to
get research specialists into the reserve to study something
other than birds, butterflies, and bugs. I became one of the
chosen. Right there, right then.
Several years have gone by and I've completed my thesis research
on "The Study of Ecotourism Demand and Supply" which has served
as a launch pad for yet another participatory event in El Cielo.
Terra Nostra and SEDESOL have joined together to develop a cooperative
ecotourism management plan for the reserve. Once again I'll
find myself, the only white boy in town, speaking in front of
a group of Mexicans. However, this time I'll be facilitating
a participative meeting between individuals, local leaders,
and government officials. My Spanish has improved a bit, and
so have the lives of the residents of El Cielo. Communities
can and do benefit from tourism. It may take some help from
outside to get them started, but with some direction and a little
push, the rest can be achieved from within.
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