"A mistake made by the community is a thousand times better than a solution imposed by an expert." - (Popular saying)
Editor's Note: This article is an update to Proyecto Piloto de Turismo Rural en el Ejido de San Nicolas Totolapan published in Planeta in 1997.
Three years ago Mexico's ejido community of San Nicolas Totolapan began a discussion to develop tourism. Balam Consultores took partled took complete autonomus control of a nascent tourism, and three years since organized planning - of which Balam Consultores took the lead - began. This is the story of the first community-organized recreational park near Mexico City. As a pioneering effort, it has matured through both positive and negative experiences.
The project is not focusing solely on tourism. There have been other projects, including a fish farm, a plant nursery, vegetable green houses and a deer breeding farm. In addition, the community received more than 20 visits from other communities, aspiring or practicising forms of ecotourism throughout Mexico.
Infrastructure added in the past year include the placement of 25 hand-carved wooden sings, the aquisition of 14 radios and a base antenna, 30 new uniforms, 25 jackets and the development and maintenance of more than 50 kilometers of trails. The daily guard of natural resource over 2,300 hectares was paid from the income generated by tourism.
After six years specializing in nature tourism in Mexico, the staff of Balam Consultores (Antonio Juárez and Juan Carlos Ibarra) decided that if tourism could work in San Nicolas Totolapan to promote conservation, the locals residents and owners of the ejido needed to be in charge of this project. Hence, they needed to be empowered with the tools needed to assess tourism impact as well marketing and public relations.
Balam provided more than 600 hours of instruction. Perhaps the greatest lesson taught -- and one rarely taught in Latin America -- is that of self-esteem. Too often farmers and campesinos have been told that there are "experts" who know better than they can ever imagine. Instead, our methodology focused not only on teaching new topics, but also on commending locals for the expertise they already possed. All of our programs encouraged and promoted self-confidence. Dealing with peasant communities, this is a value infrequently promoted or acknowleged.
Measuring success via typical environmental standards would lead many to think that the first stage of this project was not as successful as it should have been. Investments were made in social infrastrucutre. For example, park revenues helped subsidize the party for the town's saint. Strictly speaking, this did nothing for conservation. Yet it helped lay the foundation for community trust of a project of this magnitude.
I believe that our best work was placing the project in the hands of the community. We provided a consultancy, but we made it clear that we were working for the community. Giving the local residents the chance to resolve problems is the only true solution. We have learned that a mistake made by the community is a thousand times better than a solution imposed by an expert
Antonio "Febo" Suarez runs Balam Consultores with his partner Juan Carlos Ibarra. He can be contacted at febobalam@laneta.apc.org
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