Project Details

Sister Park/ Sister Reserve

Short Description and Goal

Eco-Alianza Loreto builds bridges between Mexico and USA facilitating a National Marine Parks Sister-ship Program. Eco-Alianza’s mission is to promote park conservancy through education and training; its objective is to support and coordinate a framework of voluntary cooperative work; for the commemoration and preservation of wilderness areas.

Detailed Description

Eco-Alianza de Loreto, A.C. spearheaded the possibilities of the Park inter-relationship, as well as Sister City status, and has served both as facilitator and coordinator of the programs in a close working relationship with the Channel Islands National Park and the City of Ventura

The Sister Park/Reserve relationship provides for the exchange of best-science practices, park resource management and enhanced Sister City economies associated with eco-tourism programs, including unique cultural exchanges.

One of the keystones of the program is the creation of an Interpretive Learning Center as a permanent display of Loreto’s natural and cultural heritage. The Learning Center represents Phase II of the development of Centro Comunitario para el Medio Ambiente (CenCoMA). Also known as the Community Center for the Environment, the expansion will establish an educational and learning center for the community of Loreto and its visitors, and serve as the “hub” for the Sister Park /Sister Reserve program.

Chronology:

2012 Sister Park Agreement between the United States and Mexico. That agreement provides for the cooperation in the management and conservation of National Parks and Natural Protected Areas. Eco-Alianza gets inspired and researches all the possibilities.

2014 to become a facilitating partner and oversees both governmental and non-governmental concerns Eco-Alianza signs an agreement with the Comision Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP). Agreement provides the framework for collaboration for mutual benefit, and to foster cross-border cooperation to promote sustainable social enterprise, conservation education, scientific research and cultural exchange.

2014, Eco-Alianza de Loreto hosted representatives from the Channel Islands National Park and The Bay of Loreto National Park, in a one-week exploration of an international agreement between the parties. The group included stakeholders and research scientists (a full list of participants is at the end of this article) who spent three days touring and trekking the five islands of the Bay of Loreto National Park.

2015, Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico and Ventura, California, USA confirmed sister city relations. Official proclamation stated : “To encourage bi-national promotion of conservation, education, social entrepreneurship and cultural exchange between its citizens and governments in support of the Parque Nacional Bahía de Loreto and Channel Islands Sister Park Project

2016, the U.S. National Park Service and Mexico’s Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources established a Sister Park Partnership Initiative between Channel Islands National Park and Bahía de Loreto National Park.

2019, a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed with the University of California, establishes Loreto as an official “Sister Reserve” and names Eco-Alianza as the Mexican entity empowered to shepherd potentially dozens of scientific research projects. The MoU signed with Eco-Alianza establishes Loreto and the Bay of Loreto National Park as the second international Sister Reserve of the UCNRS. The first sister reserve arrangement, with Gobabeb Research and Training Centre in Namibia, was established in 2017.

Extra benefits:

Ventura’s business incubator, administered by its city hall, will also serve as a model and as support for our own economic development initiative. The Mayor of Loreto and Eco-Alianza representatives have already visited the incubator space at the invitation of the Mayor of Ventura. Leaders in Ventura’s Sister City Committee are also managers at the city’s tourist visitor center and have offered counsel in establishing a small welcome center in Loreto.

Faithful parishioners of Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó and Mission San Buenaventura support each other in prayer as they’ve become Sister Missions following the park and city examples.

Source:

  1. https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/news/release.htm?id=1292
  2. https://medium.com/@bajaloreto/loreto-beyond-borders-protecting-our-one-ocean-96d08c0329dd
  3. https://www.sanbuenaventuramission.org/links/loreto-sister-city-sister-mission
  4. https://www.sanbuenaventuramission.org/images/UNESCO_support_for_the_Missions.pdf
  5. https://ucnrs.org/uc-natural-reserve-system-gains-sister-reserve-in-baja-california/
  6. https://ecoalianzaloreto.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/English-Version-Letter-of-Intent-between-DOINPS-and-SEMARNAT.pdf

 

Resources This Project Needed

Eco-Alianza’s presentation to communicate the project idea in 2014:

http://www.alegriafresh.com/news/pdfs/SisterParkProgramOverview.pdf

Initiated by

  • Eco-Alianza de Loreto, A.C

Initiators are

• Private individual(s) / Civil society

Funded by

• Municipality
• Federal or State Funds

Project Website(s)

Social Media Link(s)

Contact Info

Project Topics

Environment, Climate & Energy, Science, Sustainable development, Tourism

Level / Project Complexity /

High

Participating Cities

  • Loreto
  • Ventura
  • Bahia de Loreto National Park
  • Channel Islands National Park

Sizes of Participating Cities

• 5.000 - 20.000

Participating Countries

  • The United States of America
  • Mexico

Project Region(s)

• North America

Additional Media & Attachments

    Media Credits

    Cover picture credits: Photo by John Dean on Unsplash