Baja California has an extensive territory full of natural wonders, one of them are the wetlands of San Quintin Bay, which besides being a place rich in flora and fauna, also has blue carbon.
With that in mind, the Secretary of Environment and Sustainable Development together with Terra Peninsular organized a tour to the wetlands and natural protected areas.
The head of the Secretary, Mónica Vega Aguirre, was accompanied by the Executive Director of Terra Peninsular, César Guerrero, as well as staff from both institutions.
The tour took place in the bay’s protected natural areas:
- Punta Mazo Nature Reserve and Monte Ceniza Nature Reserve, both protected by the civil association.
- They also visited the San Quintin Nature Reserve of the State Government, where they intend to establish a collaboration agreement to strengthen and safeguard the protected natural areas.
“It is important to pay special attention to the development of San Quintin and to join the new municipality in the implementation of environmental policies that will make it a model city in sustainable development,” said Mónica Vega.
The visited natural areas are home to endemic species of Baja California, such as the San Quintín kangaroo rat and the glossy snake (Arizona elegans), while the flora includes the Dudleya anthonyi, better known as Anthony’s liveforever, which can be seen on the slopes of the volcanoes, as well as the emblematic Agave shawii. Hence the importance of increasing the protection of the state’s natural protected areas.
In addition, it was agreed to establish a collaboration agreement to work together on public policies in terms of binational environmental funds exploiting the blue carbon potential of our wetlands, as well as reactivate the State Wetlands Committee and manage inspection and surveillance complaints in the San Quintin area.
“It opens the way for us to generate public policy to make blue carbon credits a reality so that in the future the area will benefit from this type of stimulus,” said César Guerrero.
The next step is to formalize management agreements for San Quintin’s protected areas in order to generate environmental public policies for the new Baja California municipality and to promote aquaculture, tourism and sport fishing in a responsible manner.
“Recognizing San Quintin Bay as a state protected natural area with federal support and where organized civil society has an important role, helps us to have more efficient conservation schemes,” added Terra Peninsular’s Executive Director.
