In Tulum, there is a risk of flooding, salinization of drinking water, and erosion.
ROSARIO RUIZ
TULUM
The strategy against climate change is no longer just to fight it but to adapt to the changes it will cause in the environment; in the case of Tulum, there is a risk of flooding, salinization of drinking water, and erosion, highlighted Héctor Lizárraga Cubedo, executive director of the Akumal Ecological Center.
"The effects of climate change can reach us as a society, sometimes we do not take into account the magnitude of the impact, so we have to make the population aware of taking actions, including identifying the areas of greatest fragility, especially here in the coastal zone that is exposed to the impacts of extreme hydrometeorological phenomena”, he said.
It is necessary to identify settlements in fragile areas to possible relocation or have urban designs that adapt to these possible changes and carry out ecosystem restoration in areas already impacted, such as coral reefs.
“We could also think of a saline introduction due to an increase in sea level, which implies that the quality of drinking water would no longer be appropriate, and that increase would also cause impacts on the hotel and residential infrastructure in the coastal zone. There could be consequences to tourism, perhaps a greater amount of sargassum or invasive species or vectors, such as mosquitoes, ”he explained.
He recalled that last year there were extraordinary rains in the entity that led to runoff into the bodies of water that, as in the case of the Bacalar lagoon, caused a change in the color of the water.
He announced that as part of the beginning of the decade of the study of the oceans, they are implementing a series of activities in collaboration with other entities, such as the Mar Fund, the Yucatan Scientific Research Center, and the Ecobahía Foundation. This is the festival "Save the reef", which will consist of awareness talks to have a more informed and aware community, to protect the reef.
Elizabeth Bautista, CEA's environmental education coordinator, reported that on March 10 there will be two events focused on children between the ages of six and ten: puppet theater and a presentation in conjunction with a local library in Akumal.
"The social component is critical for us, if we do not involve society in all our actions we will not have an impact on the monitoring, conservation, or investigation of any environmental problem," she said.
Katia Cordourier, from the Ecobahía Foundation, added that "each and every one of us must know the importance of the reef in order to detect the actions we take that may affect it." For this reason, she reiterated, they will hold talks so that children actively observe what they can do to help their conservation.
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