By Bas Verschuuren and Jaime Santiago Mariscal

Photography By bas Verschuuren

Sacred natural sites are the world’s oldest protected areas, places where cultural and biodiversity are inextricably linked. Mexico’s many cultures still protect large numbers of biodiversity rich sacred sites today. EarthCollective’s Cultural Values and Nature Initiative (CVNI) and Pronatura Mexico’s Biocultural Diversity Unit in collaboration with the IUCN Specialist Group on Cultural and Spiritual Values (CSVPA) report on their advances with a national conservation effort to protect these sacred places and the nature they contain.

Nearing 2012 we are becoming more and more familiar with the sacred time and places of the ancient Maya civilization. What many people do not know is that the Maya, like most other traditional cultures on the American contingent, still revere countless sacred natural sites; caves, springs, mountains, rivers, forests, trees, rocks and caves that are all part of a sacred landscape. These sacred natural sites are central to a rich body of cultural knowledge and practices that help maintain ecosystems as well as many wild plant and animal species. Because llittle is known about the numbers and distribution of these sacred natural sites Pronatura, CVSPA and CVNI in collaboration with custodian communities, set out learn about these places and to collect this information on their management and values throughout Mexico.

  Bayagory Mountain with its sacred caves is set in a vast agricultural expanse, some fields still to wet to be farmed after previously having been wetlands. The cactus fruits are being harvested annually and are of economic importance to the local people.

Mexico is one of the most biological and culturally diverse countries in Latin America and as a result of this many sacred sites with high biodiversity values exists throughout its many indigenous territories. The country is considered biologically mega-diverse, with approximately 10% of all living species on earth occurring in it. Specific places harbour high levels of endemism, often similar to those of island countries, ranging from around 10% for birds to more than 60% for amphibians and some groups of plants. In terms of ethnic diversity, Mexico harbours at least 62 different indigenous peoples and according to some scientists is home to America’s largest population of indigenous communities, speaking 230 endemic indigenous languages and dialects.

Mexico’s sacred natural sites and landscapes have often endured immense pressures from colonization, religious transitions, language death and impacts from modernization such as large scale agriculture, mining, infrastructural development, urbanization and deforestation. In many cases, as we will see further on in this article, these sacred sites are the last remaining green fragments in otherwise converted landscapes, strongholds of cultural and biological diversity. These sacred natural sites can be seen as a conservation network worth saving for its contributions to biodiversity protection as well as to the continuation of cultural heritage and practice.

In order to safeguard this network Pronatura has developed a methodology for the inventory of sacred natural sites that help protect biodiversity. Based on scientific input from various national agencies such as CONANP, CONABIO, CDI and a Geographic Information System Pronatura’s methodology helps to identify the high biodiversity areas where these sacred natural sites may be found. Although many sacred natural sites are contained inside protected areas, world heritage sites and indigenous territories many more are still left unprotected. Often these are sites that have great conservation potential from a landscape connectivity point of view. Yet others with relatively low biodiversity value or nature conservation potential are important to the conservation of cultural practice such as ceremony, pilgrimage, story and song. Because of this the importance of recognition of the many values of scared natural sites at the national level cannot be underestimated.

An important example can be taken from neighboring Guatemala where a local NGO, Oxlajuj Ajpop - headed by Mayan spiritual leaders and supported by an international network for cultural development, COMPAS - has developed a proposal for the legal recognition of sacred natural sites. At the National level the proposal has recently passed parliament and the law is in its final stages of being adopted. Although progress is being made in Mexico too, getting all the key players to work together to protect this conservation network remains complicated and a challenge. Meanwhile the clock is ticking and the languages and biodiversity being lost today will be lost forever.

In order to strengthen its mission Pronatura joined hands with EarthCollective’s Cultural Values and Nature Initiative to assess part of this sacred conservation network. Jaime Santiago Mariscal (Pronatura) and Bas Verschuuren (CVNI & IUCN CSVPA) embarked on a 7000km journey through the states of Sinaloa, Sonora and Chihuahua in north-western Mexico. In search of sacred natural sites and to learn about their situation first hand, they visited the territories of the Mayos and the Seris in the coastal desert as well as the snow covered mountains of the Tarahumara.

Huatabambo is a dusty town of 7000p and as the capital of the Mayo territory it connects to many smaller communities set in a landscape dominated by large scale agriculture. The Rio Mayo flows from the mountains in Chihuahua to the coastal floodplains of Sonora but after having been dammed for irrigation water in the late sixties not a lot of water reaches the sea today.  Despite this the region features many coastal wetlands of international importance such as “Mononcarit” which provide invaluable services and natural beauty to the area. Don Erasmo Leyva is quick to tell us that their mangrove systems support a multimillion dollar shrimp and fishing industry in the gulf of California as well as a range eco tourism options.

The sacred site of San Antonio for example consists of a cross and a single tree known to mark the vast agricultural expanse for miles around.

 Don Erasmo takes us to a sacred mountain that was once used by sorcerers to perform rituals and collect medicinal and magic plants. The mountain overlooks the coastal floodplains whilst land inward it overlooks brackish bird speckled wetlands which saline soils have saved the area from agricultural expansion. The Mayo still depend on these places for the many medicinal plants they use today. Even more so, they collect “Tanabari”, the cocoons of four butterfly species which are made in to bracelets that are used by the “Pasquales” to perform traditional dances. These butterflies are now endangered because most of its habitat has been replaced by large scale monocultures that demand chemical fertilizer and pesticides. In order to save the culturally significant species the government promotes sustainable harvest and recuperation in greenhouses but according to Don Erasmo, restoration of the sacred natural sites where it occurs should also be part of the plan.

 In the government supported greenhouse “Tanabari” are being harvested without damaging the animal inside the cocoon. At the sacred Mountain the team is recording its natural habitat along with the cultural use and significance.

The Mayo, unlike their northern neighbours the Yaquis, do not have land rights to their territories, most of which the government has sold of to the “Haciendas” in order to make the region economically productive. Each year thousands of Mayos travel on foot or by boat and  gather at the sacred site of Santa Cruz that is located in the state’s largest intact coastal dune system. Around Santa Crus the lands have been converted much of the land into shrimp farms causing the pilgrims to having to negotiate access. Despite the loss of natural habitat, private conservation agreements could help to protect the remaining natural areas and safeguard its cultural use in accordance with landowners and industry. This legally recognized tool has been developed by Pronatura, and in many cases can offer a solution for the management of sacred natural sites.

 Every year, thousands of pilgrims come to the sacred natural site of Santa Cruz set in the state’s largest intact coastal dune system. Access remains to be negotiated with private land owners that are rapidly converting parts of this natural ecosystem into shrimp farms.

At the sacred mountain of Bayagory for example such agreements could be used to address the interests of the community as well as the landowners that surround the site. The mountain is know for its sacred caves that have special spiritual powers and if entered inappropriately will make one go mad. Safeguarding the mountain and its sacred sites will also secure the sanctuary of cactus that traditionally is being harvested by the local communities. Conservation opportunities lay in the regulation of traditional use as well as in restoring landscape connectivity by involving the multiple actors. As such sacred natural sites can be a powerful concept at the basis of conservation planning.

Resources:

CVNI: www.culturalvalues.org

Pronatura México: www.pronatura.org.mx

CSVPA: www.csvpa.org

IUCN: www.iucn.org

EarthCollective: www.earthcollective.net

COMPAS: www.compasnet.org

Oxlajuj Ajpop: www.oxlajujajpop.org