National Water Commission (Comisión Nacional del Agua)-
Bacteria predominantly found in the intestines and feces of humans and animals. The presence of coliform bacteria in water indicates the contamination of water by raw or partially treated sewage.-
Capacity presented by a metallic or electric conductor to conduct electrons.-
The most common type of wastewater treatment lagoon used by small communities and individual households. Facultative lagoons rely on both aerobic and anaerobic decomposition of waste, can be adapted for use in most climates and require no machinery to treat wastewater.-
Global Environmental Facility. Established by donor governments in 1991, helps developing countries fund projects and programs that are claimed to protect the global environment. GEF grants support projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants.-
Speed of the movement of water through the soil. -
Manantlan Institute for Ecology and Conservation of Biodiversity (Instituto Manantlán de Ecología y Conservación de la Biodiversidad)-
National Ecology Institute (Instituto Nacional de Ecología)-
Common name given in Latin America to a sugar mill.-
Sugar mill in operation since 1972 in the Autlan – El Grullo Valley. Since 1993 is part of the group of sugar mills owned by the corporation Zucarmex.-
An iterative process of integrated decision-making regarding uses and modifications of lands and waters within a watershed.
This process provides a chance for stakeholders to balance diverse goals and uses for environmental resources, and to consider how their cumulative actions may affect long-term sustainability of these resources.
The Guiding Principles of the process are Partnerships, Geographic Focus, & Sound Management (strong science & data).
Watershed management provides a framework for integrated decision-making, where we strive to:
(1) assess the nature and status of the watershed ecosystem;
(2) define short-term and long-term goals for the system;
(3) determine objectives and actions needed to achieve selected goals;
(4) assess both benefits and costs of each action;
(5) implement desired actions;
(6) evaluate the effects actions and progress toward goals; and
(7) re-evaluate goals and objectives as part of an iterative process.
As a form of ecosystem management, watershed management encompasses the entire watershed system, from uplands and headwaters, to floodplain wetlands and river channels. It focuses on the processing of energy and materials (water, sediments, nutrients, and toxics) downslope through this system.
Of principle concern is management of the basin’s water budget, that is the routing of precipitation through the pathways of evaporation, infiltration, and overland flow. This routing of groundwater and overland flow defines the delivery patterns to particular streams, lakes, and wetlands; and largely shapes the nature of these aquatic systems.
Watershed management requires use of the social, ecological, and economic sciences. Common goals for land and water resources must be developed among people of diverse social backgrounds and values. An understanding of the structure and function--historical and current--of the watershed system is required, so that the ecological effects of various alternative actions ccan be considered. The decision process also must weigh the economic benefits and costs of alternative actions, and blend current market dynamics with considerations of long-term sustainability of the ecosystem.
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Man and Biosphere (MAB) programme of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The origin of Biosphere Reserves goes back to the "Biosphere Conference" organized by UNESCO in 1968, the first intergovernmental conference to seek to reconcile the conservation and use of natural resources, thereby foreshadowing the present-day notion of sustainable development. The early foundations of the Biosphere Reserve Concept derived from this conference. The aim was to establish terrestrial and coastal areas representing the main ecosystems of the planet in which genetic resources would be protected, and where research on ecosystems as well as monitoring and training work could be carried out for an intergovernmental programme called for by the Conference. This "Man and the Biosphere" (MAB) Programme was officially launched by UNESCO in 1970. One of the MAB projects consisted in establishing a coordinated world network of new protected areas, to be designated as "Biosphere Reserves", in reference to the programme itself. The Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve is part of the UNESCO-MAB network of Biosphere Reserves. -
Oxygen Biochemical Demand. Measurement of the oxygen required to cover the metabolic needs of aerobic organisms in water rich in organic matter, and also required to oxydate organic and inorganic substances of water. This quantity is commonly expressed in the number of parts per million (ppm) or miligrams per liter (mg/l) of oxuygen, consumed by a sample of water originaly saturated by air, in darkness, during a period of 20°C.-
The organic component of the soil consisting in living organisms, dry plants and residues of animal origin. In a mass unit, this organic component is the most chemicaly active of the soil. Such component stores several esential elements, estimulates the proper structure of the soil, it is a source with capacity for the exchange of cations and regulates the pH changes, supports the relationship between air and water in the soil, and is a huge geochemical storage of carbon.-
It refers to the acidity or alcalinity of a substance. 0-6 is Acid, 7 is neutral and 8-14 is alkaline.-
Revolucionary Institucional Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional)-
The fist stage of wastewater treatment, consisting of the removal of a substantial amount of suspended matter (but little or no dissolved matter) via sedimentation/settling. This is the process that occurs inside the septic tank, during which wastewater settles out into three layers: heavier solids (sludge), partially treated, clearish liquid wastewater (effluent) and lighter solids (scum). Primary treatment must be followed by further treatment to achieve acceptable levels of water quality.-
Regional Sustainable Development Program (Programa de Desarrollo Regional Sustentable).-
Federal Environmental Protection Agency (Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente)-
Ceryle torquata.-
Social Development Ministry (Secretaría de Desarrollo Social)-
Solid materials, organic and mineral, in suspension which is transported or moved of its original place by air, water, gravity or ice.-
Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales)-
Hidrogen ion activity in the soil solution, expressed with a pH value.-
Degree of alkalinity in the soil, expressed by a pH higher than 7.0 in the pH scale.-
Soil quality which allows to provide of nutrients in proper quantities and in balanced way for the growth of plants when other growth factors such as light, humidity, temperature and physical conditions of the soil are favourable.-
Ceryle torquata.-
The teosintes make up a group of large grasses of the genus Zea found in Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
There are five recognized species of teosinte:
Zea diploperennis, Zea perennis, Zea luxurians, Zea nicaraguensis and Zea mays. Zea mays ssp.
mays (maize or corn) is the only domesticated taxon in the genus Zea, according to one evolutionary model, derived directly from Zea mays ssp. parviglumis, with up to 12% of its genetic material obtained from Zea mays ssp. mexicana through introgression.
Teosinte strongly resembles maize in many ways. Some populations of Zea mays ssp. mexicana display mimicry within cultivated maize fields, having evolved a maize-like form as a result of the farmers' selective weeding pressure.
All but the Nicaraguan species of teosinte may grow in or very near corn fields, providing opportunities for introgression between teosinte and maize. First- and later-generation hybrids are often found in the fields, but the rate of gene exchange is quite low.
Teosintes are distinguished from maize most obvously by their numerous branches each bearing bunches of distinctive, small female inflorescences. These spikes mature to form a two-ranked 'ear' of five to ten triangular or trapezoidal, black or brown disarticulating segments, each with one seed. Each seed is enclosed by a very hard fruitcase, consisting of a cupule or depression in the rachis and a tough lower glume. This protects them from the digestive processes of ruminants that forage on teosinte and aid in seed distribution through their droppings. Teosinte seed exhibit some resistance to germination but will germinate almost immediately if treated with a dilute solution of hydrogen peroxide.
In some areas of Mexico, teosintes are regarded by maize farmers as a noxious weed, while in a few areas farmers regard it as a beneficial companion plant, and encourage introgression. Virtually all populations of teosinte are either threatened or endangered: Zea diploperennis exists in an area of only a few square miles; Zea nicaraguensis survives as approx. 6000 plants in an area 200 x 150 meters. The Mexican and Nicaraguan governments have taken action in recent years to protect wild teosinte populations, using both in-situ and ex-situ conservation methods. There is currently a large amount of scientific interest in conferring beneficial teosinte traits, such as insect resistance, perennialism and flood tolerance, to cultivated maize lines, although this is very difficult due to linked deleterious teosinte traits.
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One of the biggest universities in Mexico, University of Guadalajara was founded in 1792. Currently it has 7 regional campus in the state of Jalisco, including the University Center of the South Coast, where the Manantlan Institute of Ecology and Conservation of Biodiversity (IMECBIO) belongs.-
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) leads international efforts to protect endangered species and their habitats. Now in its fifth decade, WWF works in more than 100 countries around the globe to conserve the diversity of life on earth. With nearly 1.2 million members in the U.S. and another 4 million worldwide, WWF is the world's largest privately financed conservation organization.-
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN) is an armed revolutionary group based in Chiapas, one of the poorest states of Mexico. The EZLN claims to represent the rights of the indigenous population, but also sees itself and is seen as part of a wider anti-capitalist movement, fighting for democracy, peace and justice for all Mexicans, and for all people. The Zapatistas are consciously opposed to neoliberalism, the economic system advocated by the Mexican presidents from 1982 to 2000. The group takes its name from the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata; they see themselves as his ideological heir and the heir to 500 years of indigenous resistance against imperialism.
It also includes a political wing, the Zapatista Front of National Liberation (FZLN). The Zapatistas have become iconic world wide in the anti-capitalist movement, especially through their figurehead, Subcomandante Marcos.
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Founded in 1993 as result of the privatization of the sugar industry in Mexico in 1992, Zucarmex is one of the main producers of sugar in Mexico
The company processes sugar cane and sells standard sugar. Currently owns four sugar mills in Mexico: Pujiltic (Chiapas), Mahuixtlán (Veracruz), El Higo (Veracruz) and Melchor Ocampo (Jalisco).
