Environmental conflicts and nature reserves: redesigning Sierra San Pedro Mártir National Park, Mexico

• Published in: Biological conservation Vol. 117; no. 2; pp. 111 - 126
• Main Authors: Bojórquez-Tapia, Luis A, de la Cueva, Horacio, Dı́az, Salomón, Melgarejo, Daniela, Alcantar, Georgina, José Solares, Marı́a, Grobet, Gerardo, Cruz-Bello, Gustavo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-05-2004; Elsevier
• Subjects: Analytical hierarchy process; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Baja, California; Biological and medical sciences; Conservation; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geographical information system; Land suitability assessment; Mathematical programming; Multicriteria modeling; Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking; Central America; Mexico; California; United States; North America; America; Conservation; Land suitability assessment; Analytical hierarchy process; Geographical information system; Multicriteria modeling; Baja, California; Mathematical programming; National park; Conflict; Geographic information system; Nature reserve; Conservation; Land suitability assessment; Multicriteria modeling; Analytical hierarchy process; Mathematical programming; Geographical information system; Baja; California; Modeling; Environmental protection
• ISSN: 0006-3207; 1873-2917
• DOI: 10.1016/S0006-3207(03)00265-9

Nature reserves can be considered a land-use category that competes with other land-uses for territory. Therefore, one fundamental goal in conservation planning is to arrive at nature reserve designs that protect the most valuable lands for conservation, and avoid the inclusion of tracts of land valuable for other stakeholders. However, the complexity of conservation issues, the urgency for protecting critical biodiversity components and the lack of data have forced planners to rely on expert knowledge and public participation for designing nature reserves. Handling expert and public knowledge is challenging because it can be subjective, biased, value laden, context specific, and ambiguous. Here, we present a land suitability assessment (LSA) approach for designing the Sierra San Pedro Mártir National Park, Baja California, Mexico. The LSA allowed us the optimal configuration SSPM in terms of delimitation (inclusion of the most valuable biological resources) and zoning (segregation of incompatible land-uses).