Potential use of land trust mechanisms for conservation on the Mexican‐U.S. border

Abstract

Land trusts have been widely recognized as a successful method for preserving agricultural land, historic buildings, scenic views, trails, wetlands, and wildlife areas of biological importance in the United States. In Mexico, such land trusts are practically unknown. In the Mexican‐U.S. border region, where landscapes are rapidly deteriorating and habitat is disappearing at an alarming rate, private conservation might prove an invaluable asset as a complement or alternative to slow‐developing intergovernmental conservation agreements. This paper examines the main issues for the application of land trust mechanisms in Mexico and concludes that, in spite of limitations, it is an alternative of great promise and potential.

Notes

Corcuera obtained her Master of Environmental Planning in 1999 at Arizona State University (ASU) and now works as an independent consultant; Steiner is Professor and Director of the School of Planning and Landscape Architecture at ASU; Guhathakurta is Associate Professor at the same school. This research was partially funded by the Friends for the Center for Latin American Studies, Arizona State University, the Southwest Center for Environmental Research and Policy (SCERP), and the Office of the Vice‐Provost for Research and the Graduate College at Arizona State University. Much of this article was based on information gathered by Elisa Corcuera for her master's thesis. She thanks her committee members: Profs. Steiner and Guhathakurta, and Joe Quiroz. The authors also especially thank David Pijawka, Jon Fink, Bianca Bernstein, and Monique de los Rios.