Citizens of Chiapas gather 15,000 signatures to protect environmentalists

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San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chis., More than 15 thousand people, including environmentalists, academics, and personalities from more than 30 countries, asked the government of Mexico to protect the defenders of the San Cristóbal wetlands, attacked on December 29 “by a shock group that seeks to urbanize ”those spaces.

The academic León Enrique Ávila, a member of the Environmental Network for the Care of Life and Mother Earth of the Jovel Valley, stated that more than 15 thousand signatures were collected through a campaign on the Change.org platform.

“The three levels of government and the judicial authorities are asked to act immediately in favor of the María Eugenia mountain wetlands and the San Cristóbal de Las Casas Ramsar polygons.”

He added that in a week more than 15 thousand signatures were gathered, with the support of 30 countries including Germany, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Romania, Russia, and Switzerland.

Multiple attempts to build in wetland.

“The last days of December 2020 were of tension for the neighbors to the south and environmentalists, and of the multiple attempts by individuals to build in the area of ​​the María Eugenia wetland in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.”

León Enrique Ávila asserted that they have repeatedly attended “social, political and legal protest without any response to date; on this occasion, the reason that unleashed the conflict was the illegal construction of a building on the Ramsar international site, a space considered to be within the María Eugenia mountain wetlands ”.

He highlighted that, in the letter signed by more than 15 thousand people, the federal government of the Fourth Transformation is urged to “decree the María Eugenia mountain wetlands federal area for their biodiversity of endemic species unique in the world, which, “In addition to preventing floods, as it is a natural water reserve that contributes to more than 250 thousand inhabitants, offers environmental services associated with health, promotes intercultural dialogue with native peoples, helps reduce the effect of climate change and prevents future pandemics that affect humanity ”, he concluded.

Source: jornada.com.mx

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