April 18, 2012- YouTube Video

You might enjoy this video tour of the area: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR1nXdyZIj0

March 2012- Wild Coast Film Tour Meets the Senate

Wild Coast / Costa Salvaje has been playing a important support role in educating the community about protecting their natural resources and Serge Dedino, the executive director, came to Barra to help with a presentation of environmental films to the community. Wild Coast wrapped up their environmental film tour in Mexico; Blue on Tour with a visit to the Mexican Federal Senate in March. The presentation by the Commisaria/Mayor of Barra de Potosi, Araceli Oregon Salas to the Senate Committee on the Environment was interupted by a 7.4 earthquake that sent both senators and presentors running for the streets. Luckily, there were no injuries or damages. The film tour was an enormous success, generating interest in local issues in the communites where it was shown and attracting support at the Senate level to preseve Mexico's waters.  Here is the link to the Wild Coast report of the tour:

http://www.wildcoast.net/media-center/news/557

Film Fest

February 27, 2012- First Anniversary of Fonatur Fight

This translation of an article from Sur Acapulco summarizes the status of the fight against Fonatur after its first year:
Barra de Potosi Celebrates the First Anniversary of the Fight Against Fonatur's Concession
By Brenda Escobar
 Inhabitants of Barra de Potosi, in Petatlan,  in coordination with the Wild Coast organization, celebrated the first year of resistance against the the grant that the federal government gave Fonatur, which authorized the use and enjoyment of 15,000 hectares in the area and a little more than half of the bay of Zihuatanejo.  
Yesterday at a press conference at Casa Marina in Zihuatanejo,  Adriana Luna Parra, the coordinator of the non-profit group Save Barra, Araceli Oregon Salas, the comissaria (mayor) of Barra de Potosi and Serge Dedina, the Wild Coast CEO, spoke about the position of the people against the threat of Fonatur building a dock for cruise ships.  
Luna Parra recalled that a year ago, the inhabitants of Barra de Potosi had received "the news that the Ministry of Communications and Transport -  Fonatur, had the concession from Barra de Potosi to Zihuatanejo for the proposed dock",  and so the people formed the association Save Barra against the civil authority they consider arbitrary and in violation.  She said that three years before learning of the concession, the inhabitants invited the Faculty of Biology, of the Autonomous Metropolitan University, to do an assessment of biodiversity, "so that the community could be more aware of the richness they have in their ecosystem, and in this diagnosis they have found 215 different species of birds and Conabio has assessed the mangrove of Barra de Potosi as one of the most important of the Mexican Republic. "
 Luna Parra gave an account of all actions have been carried out to demand the revocation of the concession; from letters addressed to President Felipe Calderon and the petition to the SCT, which in turn was issued to the governor Angel Aguirre Rivero; "the Petatlan and Zihuatanejo councils had an agreement to request the revocation; but to date we have no evidence that indeed such requests have been sent to the SCT. So we assume, until we have evidence that this has been received, it is used just to tell people that they already made the request, but it is useless if not delivered, if not claimed and if not move to revoke the concession."
 The former PRD federal deputy said that to celebrate the year of resistance to Fonatur, on Monday afternoon Barra de Potosi held the Blue Film festival that was coordinated by the Wild Coast environmentalist association with a film and documentaries on coastal and marine environments, "there is a commitment to the community of Barra to continue this fight, with this resistance, keep out Fonatur, we do not want Fonatur, we do not want cruise ships, we do not want a mega project that does not involve a comprehensive development that is not inclusive and respectful of the rights of the community and free and independent tourists who go to Barra de Potosi to enjoy the beaches and pleasure and entertainment of people in Barra de Potosi. "
  Commissioner Araceli Oregon Salas noted that thousands of domestic and foreign tourists prefer Barra de Potosi for the beauty of the place, "for the great amount of biodiversity both birds and fauna.  We have 450 hectares of mangrove which have been and will remain the lungs of the Costa Grande, in addition to the importance of mangroves to the ecosystem, we know that if we let Fonatur run roughshod in Barra de Potosi, we will lose them and the life they give to Barra de Potosi. "  "We tell the people of Fonatur that we are not against change, we support changes that do not threaten life, or are not against nature, or which do not conflict with the fishermen and the future of children, which do not conflict with the right to food, we ask them to think about the things they do, if we have a tourism development they have take into account the natural wealth we have, " she said.
 The Wild Coast CEO, Serge Dedina, said it's important to preserve the mangroves and stressed that Barra de Potosi is 450 hectares, "Mangrove ecosystems are almost the most important ecosystems in the world to combat global warming."  He said that in Mexico there are about 900 thousand hectares of mangrove and it is estimated that 45 percent of that total in recent years has been lost, he insisted that mangroves are important for fishing and the Mexican government has spent "a great deal of time "in the conservation and protection of mangrove in the country" and serves as a model worldwide. "  
Serge Dedina said that there are different tourist models, on the one hand mega tourism and on the other hand that offered by Barra de Potosi, "it is one of the most impressive coastal lagoons I've seen in Mexico, it has more than 200 species of birds, a wealth of fish and is one of the most special places of coastal culture in Mexico, it is a very interesting area where they still practice the art of hand fishing that has been lost around the world; that they still use their wooden fishing boats - something that has been lost in all Mexico."  Dedina pronounced that because "there is a transparent, democratic process to design the future of Barra de Potosi, where first the interests of the community are expressed to Fonatur and that the community of Barra de Potosi will express themselves politically and through conservation. "
 The environmentalist said the projects of Fonatur elsewhere in coastal tourist locations "are proposals to make mega projects, we think it is a problem not only to cause so much destruction of pristine areas that have value to the world but also also that the same areas that already exist: Zihuatanejo, Acapulco, Los Cabos will lose a lot of business because they will create new destinations without increasing and strengthening what already exists. "  "We know that the Mexican model of tourism is the world's best and there are several models, but I think that tourism as promoted in Barra de Potosi is the future, is a type of tourism where visitors can have contact with the expression of authentic culture of the people and with nature that exists nowhere else in the world, then the message of Wild Coast is we can all help with the conservation of Barra de Potosi, "he said.
sign in Zih harbor