Environmental Education for the Development of Capacities in Rural Communities of the Pico de Orizaba National Park

Abstract

The Natural Protected Area Pico de Orizaba National Park, has an area of 19,750 ha, is the mountain with the highest altitude in Mexico with 5,636 msnm.  It provides valuable environmental services, it is an important catchment area for the recharge of aquifers, it maintains the hydrological surface nertwork of several basins, supplying water to more tan one million people, also protecting them against extreme climatic phenomena. Conserve the coniferous forests and moors of height of this area, contributes to conserve the only glacier present in the mountain. Despite being important for the services it provides, it currently faces different environmental problems (wildlife hunting, logging and forest fires, to name a few), which undermine the conservation actions implemented. The loss of biodiversity due mainly to the activities carried out by the rural communities with a high degree of marginalization that are adjacent, have affected species of great importance. In the present work, different environmental education tools were applied such as: training, project management, linkage with other sectors and with other communities, strengthenning conservations actions. The tools were implemented in two communities: Puerto Nacional in the municipality of Tlachichuca in the state of Puebla and Rancho Nuevo in the municipality of La Perla in the state of Veracruz. The capacity development of the communities was fostered, through the appliction of five trainings addressing different topics and the creation of working groups giving guidelines to work alternatives that allow the conservation of the biological doversity of the park.