Because of its social and natural traits, Baja California Sur is one of the few regions of the world where there is a chance to maintain a relatively high standard of living and protect existing natural resources for future generations.  From the time of the explorer Hernan Cortés through the period of agrarian reform, the Jesuits, and the Bourbons, this region has inspired people to achieve things that are simply unattainable elsewhere.  In today’s world, this would be a state with a strong economy, high quality of life, and a healthy natural environment.

Although this report will clearly demonstrate the often desperate needs of Baja California Sur, we hope that it has also shown that there are many reasons for optimism.  Baja California Sur is enriched by the following strengths: 

• A wide variety of people and organizations who are committed to conservation and sustainable development, such as nonprofits, civil servants, artists, academics, business people, and environmental instructors.

• Scientists and academicians with high levels of training who do not only work in the state but also for the state.
• An exceptional natural value inherent in the countless objects of environmental conservation in Baja California Sur.
• A climate of peace and social safety that, although rapidly threatened, can prevail throughout the entire state.
• A relatively high Human Development Index.
• High quality and progress in educational attainment.
• A high quality of life in the city of La Paz (ranking third in the country after Colima and Aguascalientes).[1]
• The highest level of environmental sanitation of all the states in the country.[2]

Finally, one great reason for optimism is that several sectors—including the growing number of US and Canadian citizens who have taken up permanent or temporary residence in Baja California Sur—have become sensitive to the needs of the communities in which they live, work, and visit and beginning to get more engaged as both donors and volunteers with a growing number of the state’s nonprofits. In this regard, understanding how these expatriate residents approach and become part of the state’s social spaces, how they become aware of the concerns of a society and make them their own concerns, could be a first step to guiding their philanthropic goodwill toward meeting the needs of their newfound home.

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