Conservation Easements and Mexican Law

In Mexico, the laws and legislative processes concerning real property rights are derived from the Civil Code. Private lands protection has mainly taken place at the state level where conservation organizations such as Pronatura have used civil legislation to establish contractual civil law land rights that are durable and effective against third parties.

In Baja California Sur, land conservation has taken place through the use of appurtenant easements created under Civil Code (articles 1062, 1063 and 1114). These voluntary agreements restrict the type or intensity of use over the land in order to preserve the land’s natural resources or archeological, historical or cultural attributes. The easements are formalized before a Notary Public, recorded in the public registry or in the Registro Agrario Nacional if the property is ejido land.

Pronatura is Mexico’s leader in private lands conservation. Pronatura structured Mexico’s first conservation easement in 1998 at Las Cañadas, in the state of Veracruz. The following year, a government road-building project began to cut a swath through the private conservation reserve. The Court hearing the case held that the protected property provided a public benefit and ordered a halt to the construction project.

In “Rancho El Paval,” Pronatura structured a private property conservation easement within El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve in the state of Chiapas, in which the conservation easement’s dominant parcel is the entire Biosphere Reserve, with Pronatura and the Biosphere Reserve sharing legal enforcement power.

In Baja California, project partners have formed the Bahia de los Angeles Conservation Alliance to permanently protect the 150-mile La Asamblea-San Francisquito Coastal Corridor. Project partners established Mexico’s first coastal private conservation reserve at La Unica. Pronatura and WiLDCOAST structured the 300-acre conservation easement with the Smith family. The conservation easement, one of seven coastal corridor priority sites, delineates appropriate sustainable development and zoning. The conservation easement was reviewed by the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA) to make sure the validity of the contract and constitutes an important conservation model for the region. The International Community Foundation manages the Bahia de los Angeles Conservation Trust.

In December 2004, project partners structured a conservation easement with five other different owners, permanently protecting 1,127 acres of wetlands in the Guadalupe Wetland complex. The International Community Foundation, which manages the Bahia de los Angeles Conservation Fund, was instrumental in securing the conservation easements. In 2005, Pronatura-Noroeste secured 2650 acres in Bahia de Los Angeles, safeguarding three of seven ecosystems considered vital for biological conservation in the region.