I came to the CEDO Field Station in the summer of 2021 to conduct ethnographic research. We were still in the midst of the pandemic. It was a miracle that I was able to make the trip and that CEDO was able to receive me. It was an experience beyond anything I could have imagined from the moment I arrived. The staff was incredible, even though the facility was on a skeleton crew. It seemed as though everyone there was an expert in some science and still just as happy to help you cook fish in the evening (cooking explanations were sometimes tough with my limited Spanish - flour and sand are basically the same word).
Dra. Nélida Barajas Acosta is on a level of her own. I simply lack the words to adequately describe her intelligence, tenacity, insight, graciousness, and kindness. Since spending a month there in the Summer of 2021, I have returned once already and will return again at least once more in the next year. It is a connection I hope to maintain for my entire career and life.
CEDO truly has a very special involvement with the communities, and its achievements in protecting the wonderful estuaries of the upper Gulf of California is remarkable. Thank you!!!! keep protecting these wonders and their people!!!
CEDO is an outstanding organization whose highly committed staff lives and works in a region of Mexico with exceptional ecological richness and communities with a deep connection to the ocean and the desert. CEDO is uniquely positioned to understand and address the needs of the communities and ecosystems where they work and liaise with external funders and other actors.
I was fortunate enough to be involved in a collaborative project with CEDO while I was an art student at the University of Arizona. CEDO raised the money to build a restaurant for a local oyster farming cooperative, and my illustration class was tasked with designing and painting a mural that wrapped around the outside of the structure and educated visitors about the local ecology. It is still - 15 years later - one of the most fulfilling creative projects that I have been involved in.
I came to know CEDO as an environmental education partner for my college students over 20 years ago. As I learned more about their science and conservation work I developed a deep appreciation for this regional gem. Now serving on the Board, I am more excited than ever about CEDO's current work and long-term impacts in the region. CEDO is an anchor for regional sustainable development.
I have interacted with CEDO since its founding, as volunteer, donor, and board member. For over 40 years it has been a beacon of community support, conservation of our natural resources, and respect for science. May CEDO enjoy 40 more years of success, and may the Northern Gulf of California enjoy 4000 more years of health and well-being.
While in the art program at U of A, I was connected with CEDO and was able to work with CEDO to design murals for their field station in Puerto Peñasco. Everyone from the wonderful board to the scientists I was able to work alongside are incredible and have such passion and knowledge for their mission. It's really rare to find an NGO with such a great and meaningful mission to help the environment that actually follows through and helps their communities prosper.
CEDO is a place, a poem, and an amazing organization of people -- all dedicated to creating environmentally responsible and economically sustainable communities in the northern Gulf of California. For years I led school groups on extended visits to the field station that changed lives and inspired the next generation of conservation and community leaders. Kids who never saw the sea got to explore tidepools with experts and watch a conservation organization in action. CEDO is a gathering place for people and ideas, and it is impossible to visit CEDO and not become a part of it. The world needs more open-hearted organizations like CEDO!
In a world where environmental problems often are shunted aside, where priorities too often lie elsewhere, where resources are hard to come by, and where genuinely binational organizations are scarcer than diamonds, how many nonprofit NGOs manage to stay alive and prosper for four decades?
CEDO is that rare institution. In the face of adversity brought on by conflict between poor Mexican fishing communities and strong conservationist prerogatives, CEDO has navigated this terrain by contributing first-rate research, a conciliatory spirit, and a commitment to the coastal desert environment in which it operates.
With boards of directors in Mexico and the U.S., CEDO has educated generations of students on the ecology of the Sea of Cortés, conducted pioneering studies on the endangered Vaquita sea mammal, created conservation incentives and best-practices guidelines for commercial fishing, and perhaps most importantly, fostered good will between two neighboring countries.
CEDO is an amazing organization with profound roots to the local communities of the Upper Gulf of California, México. Their work to protect wetlands, improve fisheries and educate the youth.
I have known CEDO for many years as one of the most solid, professional and effective organizations facing the problems of deterioration of the seas, coasts and deserts of the Gulf of California, as an articulator organization of various governmental and non-governmental efforts, providing scientifically supported knowledge, strategies focused on results, education and training for local actors and inspiration with an ambitious and realistic vision of the future at the same time. There is no way to imagine a sustainable future without CEDO's valuable contribution.
I was impressed by what I observed of the work of CEDO Intercultural over many years of travel to Puerto Penasco. This led to buying t-shirts at the CEDO and then contributing to CEDO's work and, now, to being a Board member. The Gulf of California is a unique and irreplaceable part of our heritage on this planet. CEDO's work promote sustainable development of the Gulf is vital to securing this vital resource for generations to come.
Working with and for "CEDO Intercultural" is a joy and an honor. for 35 years, the founders (Rick & Peggy Boyer) have focused on collaborative, cooperative, inclusive conservation of the Northern Sea of Cortez, and their work is making a difference. Continuously gathering scientific data, CEDO is able to guide fishermen and regulating agencies to make informed decisions for sustainable fishing and natural resource management. I applaud the work of CEDO, making my world healthier and more beautiful for generations to come.