Conclusions and Recommendations

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Results

The fact that 10.66% of Sonora is protected means that we are one third of the way to conserving 30% by 2030. It is imperative to accelerate the pace as time is running out for many species and, with each passing year, climate change increasingly affects both entire ecosystems and people, exacerbating the situation for communities most vulnerable to droughts, forest fires and floods. We hope this report will serve to establish a baseline and spur the implementation of the 30x30 goal in our state.

Protecting a total of 3,490,669.59 hectares—19.34% of the state—in the next seven years may seem impossible, but we must recognize that never before has there been so much environmental awareness among the population. This is especially true in the state's livestock and forestry communities, which are already seeking to transition to more sustainable models of production. If they are supported by academic institutions and citizens' organizations, and if there is strong political will, it is possible to achieve and even surpass the goal.

To reach the ambitious goal of having 30% of the state's surface area under some kind of conservation management, we recommend the following actions:

Reactivate the Natural Protected Areas System of the State of Sonora with the participation of representatives from the three levels of government, academia and organized civil society.

Conduct a series of meetings with experts to determine the priority areas for conservation, using the growing number of scientific studies together with the field experience of experts from government, NGOs and research centers.

Promote the creation of new state protected areas and provide them with Management Programs and sufficient resources to operate effectively.

Collaborate with the federal and municipal governments to create new NPAs under the jurisdiction of these other levels of government.

Strengthen and promote the voluntary conservation of private and social properties with financial incentives for their management.

Promote and strengthen state legislation in support of wildlife corridors and ecosystem connectivity through NPAs and other land conservation mechanisms

7 Promote the reactivation of the State Environmental Fund as a mechanism to incentivize conservation.

It isn’t merely a matter of designating any part of the state as an NPA in an effort to complete a numerical goal; a far-reaching strategy is required to help determine priorities. As our study reveals, decrees may not add conservation hectares when they are established in already protected sites, and there are areas where human impact is so great that they are no longer representative of their original ecosystems, all of which must be taken into account when proposing new NPAs. If we really want to be strategic, we must conserve portions of all the ecosystems present in the state, and such portions must be large enough to support complex bioclimatic processes and must be well connected to each other by ecological corridors. Moreover, they should be established in support of the rural communities that inhabit and work landscape and under

Finally, it is important to note that even though the scope of this report is limited to an analysis of the area protected on paper, effective conservation with tangible results in the field requires much more than a designation. Along with the effort to increase the protected territories, it is necessary to create financial structures (e.g., budgets, endowments, etc.) governance structures (e.g., management programs, polygons, action plans) and management structures (e.g., consolidated institutions with offices, park rangers, vehicles, etc.) that are sufficiently robust that the NPAs can exercise real and not just apparent conservation. Currently, existing NPAs lack sufficient personnel, budget for surveillance and monitoring, effective legal defense capabilities and a strategic vision at the state level to govern and coordinate their actions. As communities increasingly value natural spaces for the multiple benefits they provide, the state government must react appropriately, prioritizing conservation in planning and budgeting.