Program Management

As Assistant Director for the Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans (CEDO), I managed the following programs:

Ecosystems conservation program. 
CEDO implemented coastal conservation strategies for engaging local stakeholders to actively participate in the management and sustainable use of resources, further strengthening legal conservation instruments in these areas. We conducted field trips and workshops to increase surveillance, monitoring of resources, and economic development potential of local community groups. I oversaw a team that helped a civic group acquire funding for ecotourism, bird monitoring, and other activities. A group of women received a seed fund to start a craft business with recycled material. A group of fishermen got a fund for the monitoring of sea lion (Z. Californianus) and ecotourism activities. Youth from Puerto Peñasco and other rural communities participated in CEDO's annual environmental contests, engaging them in environmental issues, including sustainable fisheries, climate change, and wetlands conservation. Among other activities, we carried out several conferences, including the Encuentro Collective Management of Coastal Ecosystem. This conference helped strengthen ties between community organizations working on environment and social justice in northern Mexico. 

NaturArte program. 
CEDO conceived NaturArte for its potential for marketing, training, and developing ecotourism projects in the Morua wetland, a hypersaline estuary in the northern Gulf of California, Mexico. The National Commission for Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) supported the program's concept, and CEDO secured funding from USAID and Development Alternative Inc. (DAI). The latter helped develop both a strategic and a business plan for NaturArte as a regional ecotourism enterprise. The program assisted two oyster cooperatives in developing micro ecotourism businesses to enhance their oyster farming income and stake in the estuary. NaturArte faced some challenges, including the decrease of tourism due to an economic crisis at the time and a decreased interest and capacity of the cooperatives to continue with the project. NaturArte fostered an interest in the protection of this wetland in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico.

My role as Assistant Director allowed me to oversee other programs and projects, including the Education, Outreach and Communication Program, and the Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture Program.