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It star­ted with an ex­hib­i­tion on Isla Con­toy

It started with an exhibition on Isla Contoy - nature reserve and tourist centre

Isla Con­toy is at the east­ern tip of the Yu­catan, very close to the ma­jor tour­ist centres of the Mex­ican Carib­bean coast. It is one of the Yu­catan’s most valu­able or­ni­tho­lo­gical nature re­serves. Due to the pre­vail­ing cur­rents, the pro­tec­ted wa­ters teem with fish and, so far, nearby reefs have shown little sign of coral death. Ever since 1961 the is­land has had pro­tec­ted status, and has more re­cently been des­ig­nated a Na­tional Park. However, in­suf­fi­cient re­sources are avail­able for re­search pro­jects, edu­ca­tion, mon­it­or­ing or sur­veil­lance of the Park bound­ar­ies.

The is­land is also used for tour­ism, and local op­er­at­ors run daily tours to the is­land, bring­ing vis­it­ors from neigh­bour­ing Isla Mujeres and the tour­ist centre of Cancun. The boats land in a small bay with a short, nar­row beach. Vis­it­ors are wel­comed by the mul­ti­lin­gual Na­tional Park guides and in­formed about the nature re­serve and its role, the dif­fer­ent bird spe­cies and other an­im­als likely to be en­countered dur­ing the trip.

 
As of May 2003, an ex­hib­i­tion con­ceived and presen­ted by the as­so­ci­ation Ami­gos de Isla Con­toy, with sup­port from the Light­house Found­a­tion and the European Union, has been open to the pub­lic in the Isla Con­toy vis­itor centre. Large-scale in­ter­pret­a­tion boards and in­form­at­ive mod­els are used to por­tray the di­verse hab­it­ats and fea­tures of the Na­tional Park. In ad­di­tion, the vis­itor centre’s view­ing tower of­fers an im­pos­ing view – with or without bin­ocu­lars – over the is­land, and after climb­ing its many steps, the pleas­ant cool­ness of the sea breeze at the top is very wel­come.

Gradual changeover of en­ergy sup­ply from diesel gen­er­at­ors to the use of solar and wind power. The pro­vi­sion of drink­ing wa­ter is met by treat­ing rain­wa­ter and has been ac­com­pan­ied by the in­tro­duc­tion of ef­fi­cient waste wa­ter treat­ment fa­cil­it­ies. Con­toy has, thus, be­come a show­case for en­vir­on­ment­ally com­pat­ible tech­no­logy.

The visitor centre provides an overview of the Isla Contoy National Park and demonstrates modern techniques.
The visitor centre provides an overview of the Isla Contoy National Park and demonstrates modern techniques.
Isla Contoy