Welcome

With great pleasure and awareness of the importance of natural resource conservation efforts, we wish to share with you the most relevant advances achieved by Pronatura Peninsula de Yucatan over the past 12 months of the year 2003. We share these achievements with you, our board of directors, partners and friends who are committed to the conservation of the Yucatan Peninsula.

Birds´ Festival 2004

By third year pronatura peninsula de yucatan, along with the government of the state of Yucatan, niños y crias a. c., ecoturismo Yucatan and the program for birds conservation, invite you to participate in the third festival "toh” of birds of Yucatan, which will be celebrated from the 13th to the 21st of November, 2004.
This festival will have exhibitions, conferences, tours. It is an event that promotes the natural birds and other resources fron Yucatan. It is also an opportunity to incorporate local naturalistic guides and allow you to coexist with national and foreign experts.

For information and reservations, you can contact:
Ecoturismo Yucatan
toh@ecoyuc.com
Tel: 52 (999) 920-2772
www.ecoyuc.com

All information about the Festival will be published in Internet in the website:
www.yucatanbirds.org.mx
www.ecoyuc.com
News articles and photographies of the events of the last year are available in those Internet pages, as well as other information of interest to the observers of birds.

Coastal Program

1.-A partnership agreement was signed between the Ria Celestun Biosphere Reserve in Yucatan and the Dauphin Island Bird Sanctuaries in Alabama (USA). This agreement allowed us to obtain donations of equipment in the form of binoculars and bird guidebooks. At the same time it allowed the consolidation of the group “Los Peregrinos”, consisting of fishermen of Celestun who have received training from PPY in bird observation and as nature guides. This group and the students of the fourth and fifth grade of the primary schools of Celestun have been the main beneficiaries of this agreement.

2.-PPY has been working continuously for more than a decade in the protection and conservation of the marine turtles, species considered in critical danger of extinction, and during this period PPY has helped to set free more than one million turtle hatchlings. With the Marine Turtle Conservation Program we continue to contribute to preserving the Yucatan Peninsula as principal nesting zone in the world for the Hawksbill Turtle. These achievements were also promoted with the help of Sistema RASA with a radio campaign lasting approximately two months. Finance from CONACYT was requested for the Marine Turtle Program, with the participation of biology students of the UADY and Masters students of CINVESTAV.

3.-This year we received the help of volunteers that gave their time to assist in different PPY activities. One example was the contribution in the design and implementation of a bird monitoring program in the Ria Celestun Biosphere Reserve with the participation of local guides who were previously trained by PPY.

4.-The Flamingo Monitoring Project financed by the British Embassy in Mexico was restructured to produce an interpretative map about the habitat use of this species, considered as “keystone species for conservation” of the coastal wetlands of the Peninsula.

5.-The vegetation map of the Ria Lagartos Biosphere Reserve was also updated with the help of CICY within the Project “Monitoring and Prevention of Forest Fires” financed by PPIRA/USAID.

6.-SECTUR incorporated the “Toh Yucatán Bird Festival” as one of its priority events as from 2003. This annual event was held for a second consecutive year and is an example of strategic alliances between the government, non-governmental and private sectors including nature guides from coastal communities.

Visit these projects on:http://www.pronatura-ppy.org.mx/e_proyectos-tortu.html
http://www.pronatura-ppy.org.mx/e_proyectos-flame.html
http://www.pronatura-ppy.org.mx/e_proyectos-capa.html

Mayan Forest Program

1.-As part of the Land Program for the Calakmul Region, the “Advocacy Group for Conservation and Sustainable Development in Campeche state” was formed on 28 March 2003: This is a decentralized public group with separate identity and property, allowing it to strengthen resources, efforts and capacity aimed at conservation and management, thereby consolidating the State System of Public and Private Natural Protected Areas.

2.-With the collaboration of other institutions a Conservation plan for the site Calakmul-Balam Kú-Balam Kin, was drawn up which will be put into action in 2004. This plan represents the first inter-institutional effort with an agile and careful planning approach, which assists in directing our efforts towards a real physical impact on biodiversity conservation at the overall scale.

3.-PPY continues local capacity building and training in the Calakmul region with the projects “Youth to Youth” and “Water and population for a sustainable future”. Training and assistance was given to more than 15 youths in leadership and environmental education. This group organized an exchange with a similar youth group from the Celestun Reserve, and now the youths have tools available to identify and analyze the problematic questions in their community and propose strategies to resolve them. We also achieved an analysis of quality, quantity, use and demand of water in 3 communities.

4.- One unit of dormitories with a capacity for 12 people as part of our new operative centre was constructed in Zoh Laguna in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve thanks to the support of the National Wildlife Federation, Packard Foundation and CEMEX. This operative centre will allow us to have a better place to work with the community and offer space to researchers and PPY staff in the area

5.-Pronatura forms part of a tri-national project (Mexico, Belize and Guatemala) working towards identifying a series of sites that according to their physical characteristics can be targeted for conservation. With this effort, PPY forms part of a strategic alliance that contributes to identifying priority biodiversity sites in a large area of 12 million hectares.

6.- A 2 year proposal was approved by the North American Wetlands Conservation Council for the conservation and management of an 85,910 hectares site of “guayacán” forest in the Balam Kú reserve, in the south of Campeche state.

7.-In the Otoch Ma’ax yetel Kooh Flora and Fauna Protection Area we contributed towards better organization of ecotourism activities, assisting the Punta Laguna community to form a tourism services cooperative, which will allow them to formalize this activity and improve service quality.

PPY link on the web

Have a look at a recent overview article about Celestun, where the Coastal Programme of PPY is active in training and capacity building among guides and boat-drivers (with a link to the training work of PPY in Celestun). Planeta.com is a very important site on ecotourism in Mexico and the world. Visit http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/mexico/yucatan/celestun.html, or for more on Yucatan in general see http://www.planeta.com/yucatan.html.

Pronatura at the Stanfords Site

"Life in a Mexican Fishing Village" - as titled an article by Gerhard Buttner, who works in the Coastal Program with Pronatura Peninsula de Yucatan - recounts his life in Celestun, his work with PPY and his experiences over the past six months. The article appears on the Stanfords website, one of the largest vendors of maps, travel guides and books in London and worldwide. The article may be read by visiting:
http://www.stanfords.co.uk/newsletter/current/archive/july_august_2003/htm/special_feature.htm

PPY now has its own new offices

On the 17th of November 2003 the governor of Yucatan state, Patricio Patrón Laviada, inaugurated the new offices of PPY. This achievement represents an institutional effort of various years, which was made possible thanks to the support from the Yucatan state government, an exchanged donation with the Centre for Scientific Research of Yucatan (CICY) and the assistance of the PPY Board of Directors. We are now the first of six regional sections of Pronatura in the country with offices on their own property.

How to participate!

Feel free to support us through your donations! They guarantee the continuation of our programs throughout the Peninsula.
Send your check in US dollars to:
Pronatura Península de Yucatán, A.C. Calle 32 No. 269 x 47 y 47-A, Col. Pinzón II, Mérida, Yucatán, México. Zip Code 97207.
Or make a deposit to Pronatura Peninsula de Yucatan, A.C. at CitiBank N.Y. International Account 41859000043, ABBA: 021000089, Banco Nacional de México, S.A., Branch 4185, Address: Avenida Prolongación Montejo No. 113 x 15, Colonia Itzimná, Mérida, Yucatán, México. Zip Code 97000

Please send us a copy of your deposit slip with the following information: Name, amount deposited, and indicate your donation to be directed to this program.
Send the copy of this information to the Business Administration Office (Gabriela Ramírez) to:
Pronatura Península de Yucatán, A.C. Calle 32 No. 269 x 47 y 47-A, Col. Pinzón II, Mérida, Yucatán, México. Zip Code 97207, or by fax to Mexico (52) 9999 88-4436 or (52) 9999 88-4437 ext. 220.
On receipt of your check or your deposit and your personal information, we shall send you a letter of thanks with a receipt for your tax deductible donation.