An Open Letter to RAMSAR
Our world’s shorelines and water ways are indeed in
trouble. Workshops and new initiatives are fantastic. But how much time
do we really have? Here in the Riviera Maya coastline of Mexico, the wetlands
resemble a crash victim. RAMSAR is not making enough of a difference.
Something must change. If this crash victim receives immediate care, the
victim may survive.
We must have decided as members of RAMSAR that the wetlands deserve our
immediate care for many reasons, and this takes efforts, not just words.
What to do first? “We apply emergency first aid: Airway, Breathing and
Circulation.” These same ABC’s relating to ecology; putting a stop to ALL
deforestation, mangrove filling, disheveled sewage, habitat destruction,
siltation from construction, garbage dumping, chemical runoffs, and poor building
ethics.
To apply first aid, work must be done on both the ground level and the
diplomatic level, and it’s a big job, more than only a desk job!!! Destruction
continues here daily. RAMSAR diplomats are not paying attention to the facts of
the list above, not much. I think that my small grassroots NGO, SAVE, is
doing more and making differences than the well funded diplomatic group of
RAMSAR. Although it is risky to speak out as a private citizen amongst
power giants that run this coastline, it has its rewards, rewards that can be
seen on the ground. If RAMSAR Mexico could take a more active position to help
we could together make a change, but in the past as I have had dialogs with
this group, there has been no action, and no change.
CPR wetlands: In the words of a friend “First we need first aid. Once
first aid is applied, then we have to treat the crash victim. Sometimes we
might need to heal broken bones. We can choose to let the broken bone
stay untreated, then it will take a very long time for it to heal properly or
we might speed up the process by taking active measures, such as placing a
metal rod and a cast.”
If we think about it in this way, the water of this world is our blood, the
mangroves of this world are our lungs, the brains…us as controllers, and the
goal is to live, flourish, grow.
Sometimes the bruises will heal on their own. That’s when conservation alone
helps. “If left untreated, the patient will die, regardless of our ABC’s and
our bone healing.”
Then there is more, systemic failure is not only caused from our neglect, but
also with throwing in global warming to this mixture, that if left untreated,
will doom wetlands by 2050, that’s just 35 years from now. And for us whose
sole livelihoods depends on tourism from this coastline which is truly a fantastic
place, human destruction and human abuse…overuse of our resources is just not acceptable.
Once we have our priorities straight, it’s time to take action. Action
Please!! In our wetlands if left untreated, this will be then the objective
of large scale restoration.
trouble. Workshops and new initiatives are fantastic. But how much time
do we really have? Here in the Riviera Maya coastline of Mexico, the wetlands
resemble a crash victim. RAMSAR is not making enough of a difference.
Something must change. If this crash victim receives immediate care, the
victim may survive.
We must have decided as members of RAMSAR that the wetlands deserve our
immediate care for many reasons, and this takes efforts, not just words.
What to do first? “We apply emergency first aid: Airway, Breathing and
Circulation.” These same ABC’s relating to ecology; putting a stop to ALL
deforestation, mangrove filling, disheveled sewage, habitat destruction,
siltation from construction, garbage dumping, chemical runoffs, and poor building
ethics.
To apply first aid, work must be done on both the ground level and the
diplomatic level, and it’s a big job, more than only a desk job!!! Destruction
continues here daily. RAMSAR diplomats are not paying attention to the facts of
the list above, not much. I think that my small grassroots NGO, SAVE, is
doing more and making differences than the well funded diplomatic group of
RAMSAR. Although it is risky to speak out as a private citizen amongst
power giants that run this coastline, it has its rewards, rewards that can be
seen on the ground. If RAMSAR Mexico could take a more active position to help
we could together make a change, but in the past as I have had dialogs with
this group, there has been no action, and no change.
CPR wetlands: In the words of a friend “First we need first aid. Once
first aid is applied, then we have to treat the crash victim. Sometimes we
might need to heal broken bones. We can choose to let the broken bone
stay untreated, then it will take a very long time for it to heal properly or
we might speed up the process by taking active measures, such as placing a
metal rod and a cast.”
If we think about it in this way, the water of this world is our blood, the
mangroves of this world are our lungs, the brains…us as controllers, and the
goal is to live, flourish, grow.
Sometimes the bruises will heal on their own. That’s when conservation alone
helps. “If left untreated, the patient will die, regardless of our ABC’s and
our bone healing.”
Then there is more, systemic failure is not only caused from our neglect, but
also with throwing in global warming to this mixture, that if left untreated,
will doom wetlands by 2050, that’s just 35 years from now. And for us whose
sole livelihoods depends on tourism from this coastline which is truly a fantastic
place, human destruction and human abuse…overuse of our resources is just not acceptable.
Once we have our priorities straight, it’s time to take action. Action
Please!! In our wetlands if left untreated, this will be then the objective
of large scale restoration.
Some of us know about dealing with systemic failure. We
have to do our best, and we have to do it quick. And we need to unite our
efforts. We have an existing organization RAMSAR to coordinate our efforts
along with local NGO’s.
Regardless how we decide about doing our best, we don’t want to let the patient
die in agony during
our watch.
have to do our best, and we have to do it quick. And we need to unite our
efforts. We have an existing organization RAMSAR to coordinate our efforts
along with local NGO’s.
Regardless how we decide about doing our best, we don’t want to let the patient
die in agony during
our watch.
Nancy DeRosa
Activist for SAVE
Society of Akumal’s Vital Ecology
Salvamento Akumal de Vida Ecologica
www.saverivieramaya.org
www.facebook.com/save.akumal