The Restoration of a Lake Basin in Mexico and the Regional Social Participatory Process: the Case of ORCA
This booklet systematises 12 years of the work of ORCA (the Riparian Organisation Against Contamination of Lake Patzcuaro), a regional organisation of 23 mainly Indian peasant communities living in Patzcuaro Basin, Mexico, since 1982. It reveals how a well organised and highly motivated regional popular organisation, in collaboration with committed social and natural science researchers, can mobilise local populations to influence local government environmental policies and acquire greater control over the sustainable management of fragile ecosystems such as Lake Patzcuaro.