Unlocking Local and Regional Development through Nature-Based Tourism: Exploring the Potential of Agroforestry and Regenerative Livestock Farming in Mexico
Daniel Alfredo Revollo-Fernández,
Debora Lithgow,
Juan José Von Thaden,
María del Pilar Salazar-Vargas,
Aram Rodríguez de los Santos
Affiliations
Daniel Alfredo Revollo-Fernández
Área Crecimiento y Medio Ambiente, Departamento de Economía, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Azcapotzalco/Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencia y Tecnología, San Pablo Xalpa 180, Azcapotzalco, Mexico City 02128, Mexico
Debora Lithgow
Red de Ambiente y Sustentabilidad, Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Carretera Antigua a Coatepec 351, El Haya, Xalapa 91073, Mexico
Juan José Von Thaden
Laboratorio de Planeación Ambiental, Departamento El Hombre y su Ambiente, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco, Calzada del Hueso 1100, Coyoacan, Mexico City 04960, Mexico
María del Pilar Salazar-Vargas
Posgrado en Ciencias de la Sostenibilidad, Unidad de Posgrado, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacan, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Aram Rodríguez de los Santos
Dirección de Economía Ambiental y de Recursos Naturales, Instituto Nacional de Ecología y Cambio Climático, Picacho-Ajusco 4219, Tlalpan, Mexico City 14210, Mexico
Nature-based tourism offers several positive effects, including bringing tourists closer to nature and increasing environmental awareness among them, creating new sources of employment, diversifying local and regional economies, promoting the conservation of local ecosystems, and protecting biodiversity. A pilot exercise based on choice experiments is presented to estimate the monetary value per year of nature-based tourism (NbT). The exercise was applied in the Jamapa watershed in Mexico, and the results showed that NbT would amount to USD 7.7 million, with tourism activities linked to agroforestry and USD 5.5 million around regenerative cattle ranching. These results provide input for decision makers in developing public policies to benefit society, nature, and sustainable development.
