Comments on “Tourism as a tool to build environmental governance in the Comarca Minera geopark”

Abstract

With these comments we question the article by Velázquez García & Lazcano Benítez [Pasos, 21(1), 23-36. 2023], which addresses in a disjointed and confusing way some aspects of the designation and management of the UNESCO Global Geopark Comarca Minera, Hidalgo (Mexico). Although the title of the article announces the possibility of opening a discussion on tourism in the territory, the manuscript does not develop this idea and instead deviates towards value judgments and unfounded accusations. Because it is based on an erroneous theoretical corpus and lacks a reproducible methodology, the article could only be considered as a text of opinion. Moreover, Velázquez García & Lazcano Benítez outline a political and administrative chaos to which they attribute the failure of a potentially transformative project (“Ruta Arque- ológica Minera”, in the municipality of Pachuca de Soto). The Comarca Minera UNESCO Global Geopark is not unaffected by this situation, but thanks to the fact that it has been managed as an essentially academic project -developed by universities hand in hand with the communities (ejidos)- it has achieved significant successes that allowed it to be revalidated by UNESCO for a new four-year period (2022-2025).