I recently wrote about the "promise and peril" of tourism in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, so I was further dismayed to hear that the San Cristobal Nature Preserve, the remaining turtle nesting site there, was in danger of being bulldozed. ResponsibleTravel.com reported that:
Since July last year the preserve has been under threat from a Sinaloa-based company hoping to develop on approximately 750 acres of the precious land. The company, with the help of corrupt government officials, was able to successfully register falsified land deeds in order to claim the land and have since been attempting to clear it for development.
René Pinal, owner of the preserve and founder of the non-profit organization ASUPMATOMA (Association for the Environment and the Marine Turtle in Southern Baja) is battling with the company to prevent them from bulldozing and building on his property that consists of more than three miles of the pristine shoreline.
So I gave Pinal a call to get the full scoop. Pinal has been a developer in the area for two decades, so he's witnessed much of the rapid growth that I noted in my piece. But he has chosen to pursue low density buildings, use solar energy sources, and install biodegradable septic systems on this properties. He also has become a passionate conservationist in the area—leaving over 2,000 acres of his land undeveloped in order to protect wildlife and preserve the nesting habitats of several breeds of sea turtles. He created ASUPMATOMA more than 18 years ago, and maintains a series of three reserves on his property on the Pacific side of the peninsula, north of Cabo. That is, he says, until a developer used false documents to lay claim to his land. Mexican authorities signed off on the falsified papers, he claims, and he's now fighting corrupt practices to regain his land.
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