159
reserves (as protected areas for the land-use of crops and cattle) to contain country housing sprawl. The Guadalupe Valley would become the area for tourism
and country housing, hoping not to spread to the other valleys of the watersheds
(Fig. 9.4). The watershed as a management unit would improve the understanding of the water origin and the role users partake in the ecosystem as proposed
by Espejel et al. (2004).
In this chapter it is demonstrated that the planning of a region is a long-term
process, not always successful because emergent problems continuously keep the
planning in process. The plans for the study case, representative case of many of the
Global South, have been socio-ecological system based and the watershed was the
territory to regulate. Nevertheless, in semiarid watersheds as it is the Guadalupe
basin, the aquifer is more susceptible to overexploitation by the increment of waterdemanding crops, by the increase of agriculture surface, and by the growth of the
resident population and water-demanding visitors. If water is a key issue worldwide, in semiarid and arid lands, it is the key limiting factor for development. Now,
planning to bring water from treatment plants of the largest and nearest metropolis
will change the region into a more complex socio-ecological system. Environmental
education did not play the expected key role. That is the reason to propose different
participative and creative processes and co-generate data concerning subterranean
water quantity, quality, and dynamics, as well to use a more efficient language to
transmit crucial information. A future approach has to keep the incorporation of
social-ecological concepts but co-designing and planning the watershed land-use
projects (Guerrero et al. 2015). The transdisciplinary teams have to combine topdown and bottom-up land-use modeling (Verburg and Overmars 2009) in order to
be more successful than nowadays.
Acknowledgements The authors recognize the effort given to the Guadalupe Valley by most
decision makers and residents. This research contributes to the aims of two projects, A-347
Formulation and adoption of the Guadalupe Watershed Management Plan, Ensenada, Baja
California funded by Fundación Rio Arronte and by Conacyt BMBF, UNAM-UABC 155
Evaluation of the bio-economic risks due to aquifer over-exploitation un-arid and coastal regions,
urban and agriculture lands.
References
Ahern J (2007) Green infrastructure for cities: the spatial dimension. In: Novotny V, Brown P (eds)
Cities of the future: towards integrated sustainable water and landscape management. IWA
Publishing, London, pp 267–283
Ahern J (2011) From fail-safe to safe-to-fail: sustainability and resilience in the new urban world.
Landsc Urban Plan 100(4):341–343
Allen WL (2012) Environmental reviews and case studies: advancing green infrastructure at all
scales: from landscape to site. Environ Pract 14(1):17–25
Allen WL (2014) A green infrastructure framework for vacant and underutilized urban land.
J Conserv Plan 10:43–51
9 The Construction and Sabotage of Successful Agricultural Lands in Semiarid Lands…
reserves (as protected areas for the land-use of crops and cattle) to contain country housing sprawl. The Guadalupe Valley would become the area for tourism
and country housing, hoping not to spread to the other valleys of the watersheds
(Fig. 9.4). The watershed as a management unit would improve the understanding of the water origin and the role users partake in the ecosystem as proposed
by Espejel et al. (2004).
In this chapter it is demonstrated that the planning of a region is a long-term
process, not always successful because emergent problems continuously keep the
planning in process. The plans for the study case, representative case of many of the
Global South, have been socio-ecological system based and the watershed was the
territory to regulate. Nevertheless, in semiarid watersheds as it is the Guadalupe
basin, the aquifer is more susceptible to overexploitation by the increment of waterdemanding crops, by the increase of agriculture surface, and by the growth of the
resident population and water-demanding visitors. If water is a key issue worldwide, in semiarid and arid lands, it is the key limiting factor for development. Now,
planning to bring water from treatment plants of the largest and nearest metropolis
will change the region into a more complex socio-ecological system. Environmental
education did not play the expected key role. That is the reason to propose different
participative and creative processes and co-generate data concerning subterranean
water quantity, quality, and dynamics, as well to use a more efficient language to
transmit crucial information. A future approach has to keep the incorporation of
social-ecological concepts but co-designing and planning the watershed land-use
projects (Guerrero et al. 2015). The transdisciplinary teams have to combine topdown and bottom-up land-use modeling (Verburg and Overmars 2009) in order to
be more successful than nowadays.
Acknowledgements The authors recognize the effort given to the Guadalupe Valley by most
decision makers and residents. This research contributes to the aims of two projects, A-347
Formulation and adoption of the Guadalupe Watershed Management Plan, Ensenada, Baja
California funded by Fundación Rio Arronte and by Conacyt BMBF, UNAM-UABC 155
Evaluation of the bio-economic risks due to aquifer over-exploitation un-arid and coastal regions,
urban and agriculture lands.
References
Ahern J (2007) Green infrastructure for cities: the spatial dimension. In: Novotny V, Brown P (eds)
Cities of the future: towards integrated sustainable water and landscape management. IWA
Publishing, London, pp 267–283
Ahern J (2011) From fail-safe to safe-to-fail: sustainability and resilience in the new urban world.
Landsc Urban Plan 100(4):341–343
Allen WL (2012) Environmental reviews and case studies: advancing green infrastructure at all
scales: from landscape to site. Environ Pract 14(1):17–25
Allen WL (2014) A green infrastructure framework for vacant and underutilized urban land.
J Conserv Plan 10:43–51
9 The Construction and Sabotage of Successful Agricultural Lands in Semiarid Lands…