SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT SYSTEM OF NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FOR TOURISM IN THE COMMUNITY OF SAN PEDRO ATLAPULCO, THE STATE OF MEXICO, MEXICO

San Pedro Atlapulco is a rural indigenous community of; it is located in state of Mexico together with the Insurgente Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla national park. The former population worked as peasants and sold natural resources, but unfortunately the community has never received some support from the government sector. Nowadays, the principal economy is based on tourism because of the availability proximity of conifer wood) which makes a suitable environment in the valleys which manages the tourist´s activities such as horse riding, All Terrain Vehicle (ATV), hiking, Picnic, etc. There is some effect necessary to be evaluated in order to preserve and take advantage for eco-tourism and the need to research the opportunities for its sustainable use and adequate management. The main objective of this investigation is to evaluate the sustainability of the recreative tourism activity through social indicators and the possibility of incorporating this resource to the tourism activity with the aim of proposing an eco-tourism alternative for the community of San Pedro Atlapulco, State of Mexico which would allow strengthening of the tourism product and consequently would present opportunities for the improvement of the quality of life for the residents. The methodology to be used was model to evaluate the Management of the Natural Resources System Incorporating Indicators for Sustainability (MESMIS), which consists of integrating experiences and recommendations of different institutions, which have been working on the development of methodologies to evaluate the management of the sustainability of natural resources.