This week Mexican President Felipe Calderón withdrew the permit for a 9,400 acre development of a mega resort adjacent Cabo Pulmo National Marine reserve on the southern tip of Baja California. Its proximity to a 20,000-year-old reef and hundreds of species turned this project into a global concern. 2011 CSF Economic Tools for Conservation Graduate Paulina Godoy Aguilar of Amigos para la Conservación de Cabo Pulmo AC, had a big hand in this victory. Because of her efforts and those of many other conservationists and activists alike, hundreds of species and thousands of coastal acres have been saved.

Read the full story here: http://www.oceanfdn.org/blog/?p=611

Photo Credit: Florian Schulz courtesy of The Ocean Foundation.