In the El Nixticuil forest, every fire augurs a new construction. For the past 17 years, residents of Zapopan, Jalisco, have documented forest fires as a modus operandi of real estate companies to achieve changes in land use and, in this way, convert forest areas into land for new subdivisions, housing and businesses.
This has been the case for the last two years with La Cañada del Bosque, where there are currently construction plans for a new shopping center with an area of 2,500 square meters, as announced at the time by Mayor Juan José Frangie to local media.
Nixticuil has been declared a Protected Natural Area (ANP) since 2008 for the preservation of 1,951 hectares. However, the property where the commercial area will be built belongs to the almost thousand hectares that are still forest, but were left out of the decree.
What the excluded region does have is a title as an Ecological Conservation Area in the municipality's partial urban development plans, where it is established that its protection will be prioritized and that transformation into urban land will be prevented.
According to the Zapopan City Council, the project has not yet been submitted for review, but there is a license for the development of La Cañada that has belonged to the La Cima subdivision since 2005, owned by the García Arce family, owner of the AGA refreshment plant, which recently received a change in land use for services and commerce.
Fire in the forest area. Photo: Committee for the Defense of the El Nixticuil Forest.
Cut down and set fire
The arrival of real estate companies to the El Nixticuil forest boomed in 2005 and it hasn't stopped. There are currently more than 20 projects under development and, at the same time, arson and tree felling are also increasing.
“For about 17 years, we have registered a systematic process in real estate that consists of sending someone to burn down the buildings. They burn annually and then surveyors and urban development projects appear, when the forest has been severely damaged,” Adrián Hipólito, a member of the Committee for the Defense of the El Nixticuil Forest, explains in an interview.
To deal with the fires, the Defense Committee created the Community Fire Brigade. A group of 20 volunteers who, in the absence of action on the part of the authorities, each accident get into an adapted van with a thousand-liter tank, hoses and motor pump to put out the fire.
From 2006 until 2022, the Community Fire Brigade has a record of fighting around 350 forest fires in areas that coincide with the real estate projects to be developed.
In the ravine of the El Nixticuil forest where the construction of the mall is planned, an arson occurred in February 2021, which represented an alert for defenders.
It was alarming because days before, according to Adrián Hipolito, they noticed the presence of surveyors in the area of the fire.
Although at the time, the Ministry of Environment and Territorial Development of Jalisco indicated that there would be no changes in land use, this year a cyclone mesh was placed on the La Cañada property to delimit private property without a building permit yet, followed by news about changes for services and commerce.
Despite the Committee's demonstrations to stop the enmeshing, on June 2, there was another fire in the same area and this time it brought other consequences.
“Days after the fire, with the first heavy rains, there was a disaster. A fence collapsed in one of the reserves of La Cima, right on one side of the property on which they want to build. There was a drag of several cars and, we return to the same thing, it is a threatened ravine in which it cannot be built. It's a natural drain of the forest that feeds a stream,” Adrián described.
Fire from the forest area adjacent to the La Cima subdivision. Photo: Committee for the Defense of the El Nixticuil Forest.
Building in La Cañada
Urban growth in municipalities such as Zapopan, which make up the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, has been uncontrolled and without a planning strategy, said Josué Sánchez Tapetillo, a hydrology consultant, during an interview with Journalism Causa Natura.
Sánchez Tapetillo agreed that there is a strategy by real estate companies to set fire to the forest, affect it and be able to request a change in land use.
“We have seen here, in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, the cases of Tlajomulco and the La Primavera forest where forest fires have occurred and this results in the alteration of the natural soil cover that allowed, in the case of the hydrological cycle, the retention of significant volumes of runoff,” explains the consultant.
“But once it catches fire, all the vegetation cover disappears and causes the soil's infiltration capacity to decrease in a very significant way, which can lead to severe runoff and flooding,” he added.
As was the case with the landslide after the fire of June 2 in the forest ravine.
As part of the measures that could lead to a change in urban growth, the consultant indicates that it would be useful to update the Territorial Planning Plan for the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara. As well as information so that citizens continue to be involved in the defense of forests.
A defense like the one carried out by Adrián and his companions in the El Nixticuil forest where they carry out tasks of reforestation, soil restoration, and combat forest fires and pests.
In addition, they currently have two active amparos against El Dosel and Miralto, other subdivisions in the region, and complaints to the State Human Rights Commission.
“In many cases this has to do with corruption and the alliances that real estate companies have with the municipal government of Zapopan, which is the forest's main enemy,” said Adrián.
The accusation of influence peddling with the AGA soda company has been repeated by environmentalists, consultants and local media. The consortium was contacted for this publication, but so far no response has been received.
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