Citizen Participation and Local Ecological Order: The Case of the Municipality of Nogales, Sonora

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze citizen participation and its influence on ecological land use planning in the municipality of Nogales, Sonora. To this end, the analysis focuses on two issues within the formulation of poet (the Program for the Ecological Organization of the Territory), the formation of coel (the Committee for Local Ecological Management) and the interaction of actors in two participatory workshops in working groups on agricultural, economic development, tourism, conservation and urban development issues. The results indicate that there are clear, decisive positions on the part of the participating actors for the ecological arrangement of municipal territory, particularly in issues such as water, connectivity infrastructure, land use changes, urban expansion, plundering species and the alteration of ecosystems as well as the influence of the border aspect for local environmental public management. Citizen involvement exercises in environmental matters are relevant since it has been demonstrated that citizens can continue to advance the task of constructing new ways of participating in the environmental field and contribute to ecological land use planning.