The XVII Legislature of Baja California Sur held a new round of talks on Wednesday, June 10, with community representatives, activists, and environmental defenders to strengthen conservation agreements for the Sierra de la Laguna Biosphere Reserve. Legislators from multiple parties committed to advancing protections for the reserve, which serves as the primary freshwater recharge system for both La Paz and Los Cabos.
A Months-Long Push to Shield the Reserve
The June 10 session is the latest step in a legislative campaign that has intensified since early 2026. In February, the BCS Congress formally joined the Advisory Council of the Sierra de la Laguna Biosphere Reserve, the body responsible for coordinating conservation policy. All 21 state legislators backed the move.
Then on May 7, the full legislature approved a resolution calling on federal and municipal authorities to investigate possible unauthorized construction inside the reserve’s buffer zone. That action followed a May 2 complaint filed with PROFEPA (Mexico’s federal environmental enforcement agency) by the group Rescate de los Pueblos, Tradiciones y su Economía. The complaint cited repeated helicopter flights carrying building materials to upper elevations of the sierra, departing from a point called “Romerillal” near Miraflores in the municipality of Los Cabos.
Community representative Elizabeth Álvarez demanded a complete halt to construction and called the reserve “the most important ecological lung in all of Baja California Sur.” A separate legislative initiative presented in May 2026 seeks to categorically ban any construction, real estate development, or infrastructure not strictly necessary for conservation within the reserve.
Federal Authorities Summoned for June 15
The BCS Congress has also scheduled a meeting for June 15 with federal authorities. Water and ecology committees in the legislature will review projects and complaints related to the reserve in detail. Legislators have stated that any project threatening the local aquifer “lacks social and political viability.”
The Sierra de la Laguna, designated a biosphere reserve in 1994 and recognized by UNESCO for its ecological value, sits at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. Its mountain forests capture rainfall that feeds the underground aquifers supplying drinking water to hundreds of thousands of residents in La Paz and Los Cabos. The reserve is also a popular hiking and ecotourism destination for residents and visitors.
Past fights over projects like the Paredones Amarillos gold mine, the Los Cardones open-pit mine proposal, and the Cabo Cortés resort development have galvanized environmental opposition in the region. In May, rural communities and ejidos announced the formation of an “Assembly of Sovereign Peoples” specifically to defend the sierra, including backing a possible presidential decree to reclaim privately held parcels inside protected areas.
The June 10 dialogue was first reported by Colectivo Pericú.