Watersheds and Cities II

In 2001, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation approved the Watersheds and Cities I project, which allocated US$300,000 for the sustainable management of three priority watersheds ( Saltillo , Oaxaca and Mexico City ). The first phase of the project finished on December 2004. Fundación Gonzalo Río Arronte, IAP is funding jointly with FMCN a second phase which will focus in four strategic lines:

• Communications and public awareness.
• Financial mechanisms.
• Watershed management.
• Learning communities.

National Enabling Environment for Mexico (NEEM)

NEEM’s central purpose is to improve management and conservation of natural resources in targeted watersheds. The goals of six-year enabling initiative are to:-

• Identify and support issues related to priority sites based activities
• Identify and support national issues to promote conservation and economic development in areas of high biodiversity;

• Promote watershed management as an integrative theme that supports conservation and natural resource management; and
• Provide technical assistance and training to Government of Mexico agencies, particularly to help implement management plans at sites of high biodiversity.

San Pedro Initiative

The San Pedro River is born in the state of Sonora and crosses the border into Arizona in the United States . In addition to the water it supplies to the region, it is home to a high level of biodiversity. In 1999 the United States ’ Department of the Interior and SEMARNAP agreed to collaborate to ensure the conservation of the San Pedro river watershed through an extension of the neighboring Los Ajos-Bavispe Reserve. With their help FMCN began a fundraising campaign to establish an endowment within FANP, whose interest income supports the conservation of the San Pedro river watershed. The campaign reached its US$1.5 million goal in 2000. Donors to this initiative include the Packard, Ford, and Summit Foundations, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Goldman Trust Fund, and Wick Communications of Arizona.

• Strengthening of “capacities for policy implementation, particularly those of federal, state and municipal agencies” in order to help achieve improved natural resource management in Mexico ;
• Support to “the government federal mandate to appropriately decentralize authority and increase implementation at the state and local level”;
• Creation of “public-private alliances that link national and local institutions”, particularly to support development of new economic opportunities (especially for women and young people);
• Involvement of communities in the planning and management of natural resources and watersheds.

Priority Watersheds

El Triunfo and Manantlán are some of the country’s most important watersheds. Dams along the Grijalva River (which generate 40% of the country’s hydroelectric power) receive 11% of their water from the former, while the latter supplies water to the city of Colima and to the Manzanillo Tourist Corridor. The Gonzalo Río Arronte Foundation (I.A.P.) donated US$2 million to the conservation of the forests of Sierra de Manantlán, and an additional US$1 million for El Triunfo. Additionally, the Packard Foundation donated US$1 million for El Triunfo.