“La Joya Forestal más Preciada”: El Pensamiento Conservacionista Mexicano en el Bosque de Chapultepec

Abstract

This paper studies, from the perspective of intellectual history and using Chapultepec Forest as a case study, several moments of the Mexican conservationist thought. Drawing on various archives, newspaper sources and legal documents, it analyzes the multiple values that have been assigned to Chapultepec as a natural space, as well as the different ideas and conservation models that have been implemented in it. First, the importance of Chapultepec as a source of potable water supply since the 15th century and how this generated a concern for its preservation is briefly explored. Secondly, it explains how Chapultepec was territorialized as a public park during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries based on a hygienist discourse. Third, the designation of Chapultepec as a natural beauty in 1932 is studied and how it sought to conserve it as part of Mexico's cultural heritage. Fourth, it analyzes Miguel Ángel de Quevedo's arguments about why Chapultepec should be a National Park and the way it was thought from this model of forest conservation. In the fifth instance, the history of the Popular Consultation for the democratic planning of the use, preservation and revitalization of Chapultepec Park in 1983, the new Regulations of 1986 and the subsequent Pro-Chapultepec Park campaign are narrated to show how new actors began to be incorporated in the maintenance and preservation of the site. Finally, it explains how Chapultepec was decreed as a natural protected area, later as an area of environmental value, and how, in line with the principles of participatory conservation, a Citizen's Governing Council was founded with the objective of incorporating the citizenry in the decision-making process surrounding the Forest.