World wetlands day

From the Web site of Centro Ecológico Akumal (CEA):

February 2 was World Wetlands Day, marking the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the shores of the Caspian Sea.

Mexico is a member of Ramsar and, with over 5 million hectares of wetlands decreed Ramsar sites, is the country with the greatest number of hectares in the Ramsar Convention. However, each year many conservation organizations and environmentalists in Mexico struggle to get Congress to continue to legally protect these ecosystems.

Mangroves are very important wetlands on the Mexican Caribbean and are constantly being destroyed in order to build large hotel developments. About 75% of fish caught commercially spend some time in the mangroves or are dependent on food chains that can be traced back to these coastal forests. Without the mangroves, the shrimp and fish that support many of the tropical coastal communities of the world could not exist. In addition to being an important habitat for fish and wildlife, mangroves absorb sediments that could cloud the water and cause the coral reefs to die. They have also been shown to absorb pollution such as heavy metals, thus preventing their introduction into the marine ecosystem. Mangroves help reduce the impact of storms and the forces of erosion.

Tourism investors in Quintana Roo constantly pressure Congress to change our current wildlife law to allow for mangrove destruction. Much confusion is created, with suggestions that mangroves can be moved or re-created in other places. This will not work; we must do all we can to protect coastal mangroves. We talk quite often of sustainable development, but seldom understand the challenge of protecting such a valuable ecosystem while building hotels and subdivisions.

To find out more about mangroves and the Ramsar Convention, please click here.