Ecocide of mangrove swamps bringing catastrophes ashore

Ecocide of mangrove swamps bringing catastrophes ashore

Sat, 12/12/2015 - 11:03


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Mangroves are among the most powerful natural defences against global warming. But their decline, due to the spread of polluting
agents and clearances to make way for big business, is putting countries like Mexico at risk of catastrophic natural disasters. Almudena
Serpis writes for Corporate Watch from Cancun, about the importance of mangroves and the growing resistance against their destruction.
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Preventing disaster in Cancún

Amongst the luxury of Cancun´s hotels and hectic shopping malls, just a few metres away from the Caribbean sea, we walk through empty concrete pathways which cross the city's impressive mangrove swamp. But despite it being one of Cancun's last wild nature enclaves, it is the focus of a million dollar investment plan to transform it into a tourist building complex.

The water is covered with broken branches and damaged trees, signs of what might come if the go ahead is given to seal it with concrete. They are part of the destructive trail left behind by the excavators that stormed the area last July but were forced to stop after a group of concerned animal lovers and environmentalists stood before them so they could not go further.

But despite the area looking ghostly, when we enter it is full of wildlife. According to the grassroots organisation 'Guardians of the Mangrove', which has set up a protest camp inside, this mangrove swamp is home to more than twenty different species of animals, including crocodiles. The area is delimited by fences covered in thick black plastic, which has been ripped to shreds by protesters so that everyone can see what goes on inside.

“We got rid of the plastic after we saw the excavators throwing sand on crocodiles and birds, trying to kill them. It was a horrible scene. Now they can't hide.” says Katerine Ender Cordova, who leads the campaign to defend the mangrove, and accompanies me through it. She and various other women put their bodies in front of the excavators and say that they would do it again. “We won't stop”, she says. Her eyes show passion mixed with fear. The Mexican authorities are not ones to mess with.

More:
https://corporatewatch.org/news/2015/dec/12/ecocide-mangrove-swamps-bringing-catastrophes-ashore