The participants received acknowledgements for the Participatory
Strategic Planning Workshops, at La Chorera in San Quintín.
Participatory Strategic
Planning at La Chorera
By Jorge Andrade and Antonieta Valenzuela
Introduction
T
he world and its rural areas are in a deep global crisis that has many dimensions: ecological, economic,
cultural, political and ethical.
Rural areas, including the area of San Quintín Bay
in Baja California, are between the urban societies
and nature, and it’s through their production processes that relations among humans and ecosystems
are established (Morales Hernandez, 2010).
Today the crisis in the rural context has resulted in an extensive
and intensive exploitation of natural resources. This is considered
one of the most important causes of the majority of the visible planetary changes, the loss of natural ecosystems and their environmental services (Carabias, 2001; Landa et al., 1997 and Didier., 2002).
In addition to this, the loss of ecosystems results in the deterioration of the life quality of people who live in rural areas: “Social problems and ecological problems are indivisible and interdependent.”
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Understanding this, civil society organizations have sought to create a network with San Quintín Bay inhabitants
who share the same concerns in order to address different
socio-environmental problems, and by doing so raise awareness about the use of natural resources to generate solutions that have a positive impact on the bay ecosystems and
its inhabitants’ life quality.
In this context and with this vision, the Participatory Strategic Planning Workshops were held in the community of La
Chorera in San Quintín, as part of the Social Awareness and
Participation program.
And what is participatory? This approach seeks to increase the participation of people based on the dialogue of
knowledge. This posture recognizes that the locals’ knowledge is extremely important, and it also facilitates its exchange among the people involved.