For more information, please contact: Abraham Berumen Watch the video
The Metropolitan Planning Institute of the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara (IMEPLAN) is a decentralized and inter-municipal public body that promotes effective metropolitan management through planning instruments that guide decision-making in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara (AMG). IMEPLAN promotes the creation of planning instruments and activities for sustainable urban development.
Among these activities is the creation of the Metropolitan Urban Forest Agency (AMBU), which aims to guarantee the rights of the metropolis to the preservation and restoration of ecological balance and the protection of the environment. AMBU oversees 11 urban forests, and over time it is expected to increase this number.
AMBU will work closely with the Cities4Forests network to promote the conservation of biodiversity, the preservation and protection of micro-basins, and to support the environmental services that urban forests provide, such as improving air quality and improving the quality of life of its inhabitants.
Although there have been significant advances in the urban forests of the AMG, there is still room for improvement for the preservation, restoration, and conservation of “near” and “distant” forests of the metropolis and the installation of green infrastructure. It is of great importance for IMEPLAN to be part of the Cities4Forests community since it is expected to generate synergies and explore opportunities for cooperation in the sustainable management of the forests of the nine municipalities of the AMG.
STORY
Rediscovering The Lost Puma In Primavera Forest
The City of Guadalajara has grown in such a way over the decades that it is now connected to the Primavera Forest, which was decreed as a Flora and Fauna Protection Area in 1980.
On official records, the last puma had been hunted, and so it was thought that this great cat no longer inhabited these pine and oak-covered volcanic mountains. However, in 2009, with a hidden camera located strategically within the 30,000 hectares, a male Puma Concolor was spotted, which caused a great stir. Following this, more monitoring and a series of investigations were conducted that led to a comprehensive conservation project in which the city worked with the local “ejido” to carry out the state’s first nature conservation corridor.
An “ejido” is a system of distribution and possession of the land that was institutionalized after the Mexican Revolution and that consists of granting a plot of land to a group of people for its exploitation.
Guadalajara worked on a comprehensive proposal and followed-up with the first step to protect flora and fauna in the Primavera Forest. Since then, several puma offspring have been seen in the area, which reconfirms that efforts to connect surrounding green areas are being effective. Given the growing fragmentation of the habitat and the puma living right next to the city, Guadalajara’s response is to increase the adjacent wooded areas and conserve the land to ensure that the wealth of local biodiversity continues to improve.
[See Brussels: The Sonian Forest to learn more about European efforts to reconnect parts of regional forests.]
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Redescubriendo al puma perdido en el Bosque La Primavera
La ciudad de Guadalajara ha crecido de tal manera que se ha conectado ya con el Bosque La Primavera, el cual fue decretado como Área de Protección de Flora y Fauna desde el año 1980.
Sin embargo, había registro de que se había cazado al último puma en la década anterior, por lo que se pensaba que este gran felino ya no habitaba las montañas volcánicas cubiertas de pino y encino.
Fue en el 2009 cuando a través de una cámara trampa ubicada estratégicamente dentro de las 30,000 hectáreas se pudo constatar de la existencia de un macho de Puma concolor, el cual causo gran revuelo por todo lo que esto implicaba.
Se realizó un monitoreo continuo y una serie de investigaciones que nos llevaron a desarrollar un proyecto de conservación integral en el cual se trabajó con el ejido local (Ejido: sistema de distribución y posesión de la tierra que se institucionalizó después de la Revolución mexicana y que consiste en otorgar un terreno a un grupo de personas para su explotación) para realizar el primer corredor biológico conservado del estado, así mismo se trabajó en la propuesta y seguimiento del primer paso de fauna elevado en dicho lugar. Durante el seguimiento del caso se han visto varias camadas de puma habitando la zona por lo que esto nos asegura que el trabajo de conectividad con las demás áreas verdes circundantes está siendo de utilidad.
Ante la creciente fragmentación del hábitat, y con el puma viviendo justo al lado de la ciudad, nuestra respuesta es la de incrementar las áreas boscosas que se conecten entre si y conservar la tierra para asegurar la riqueza de biodiversidad con la que actualmente se goza.
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