A privileged territory for its invaluable flora and fauna; for being the state with the greatest biodiversity in the country and having virtually all microclimates; for being home to numerous ancestral communities, examples of culture and rational management of natural resources; for having marvelous archaeological sites, and many other reasons. However, Oaxaca has half of its population living in poverty. And around 20 percent in extreme poverty.
Natural and archaeological wealth alongside lacerating inequality. A very serious problem that weighs on the lives of the population is deforestation, erosion, and lack of water. And this occurs despite the fact that its invaluable biodiversity is linked to a highly valued culture. Furthermore, the lives of human populations have depended on the richness and availability of natural resources. Where these resources are abundant and biodiverse, a greater number of populations live. In Oaxaca, as agricultural engineer Félix Piñeiro Márquez notes, there are 18 ethnic groups that, through interaction, have given rise to cultures, culinary traditions, clothing, linguistic and artistic expressions, the result of this interaction.
But, as Piñeiro Márquez asserts, the irrational use of resources, ecosystem alteration, and climate change cause numerous changes. Among the most notable, according to the aforementioned specialist, are ecosystem fragmentation, forest degradation, deforestation, and biodiversity loss. He adds desertification and land-use change; illegal logging; forest fires and pests. All of these are, in some way, induced by economic, social, and political pressures.
In the recent edition of La Jornada Ecológica, which can be found at https://ecologica.jornada.com.mx/, Piñeiro Márquez and his colleagues at the Lu Layú Association (Above the Earth, in Isthmus Zapotec): Saraí Abril Ascencio Zárate (with a degree in industrial biochemical engineering), Gisela Esmeralda Ascencio Zárate (with an agroecology engineer), and Luis Felipe Romahn Hernández (with a master’s degree in forestry sciences), highlight how, although Oaxaca has many advantages in natural resources, it has the largest disturbed area in the country; approximately 50 percent of the state’s territory is experiencing some degree of disturbance, resulting in the loss of large tracts of forests and jungles.
In Oaxaca, the aforementioned specialists emphasize, there are 1.9 million disturbed hectares, and 20 to 25,000 hectares of forests and jungles are destroyed each year. To put it another alarming way: 20 to 25 million trees have been lost. The Mixteca region is the most degraded and eroded region in Mexico: approximately 600,000 hectares with very severe erosion.
Given this bleak outlook, it is important to highlight the efforts made at certain times by the federal and state government, the foundation founded during the lifetime of painter and patron Rodolfo Morales, and the Alfredo Harp Helú Foundation. Likewise, other organizations interested in the conservation of the flora and fauna of Oaxaca have also made these efforts. For all of them, governance and community organization have been fundamental. And they highlight the participation of women.
These efforts have been supported at various stages by international organizations, such as the Swedish government, Oxfam, and the United Nations Development Program. This is the case of the Forestry Technology Transfer project, which produced trees to support state and federal reforestation programs. These include soil restoration, watershed and micro-watershed reforestation, and the development of forests and forests. Production of native species for productive and artisanal activities; urban reforestation; rubber plantations; the women artisan and peasant project; rescue of wild agave species; forest restoration and rainwater harvesting; and strengthening the coffee value chain.
One thing that stands out when reading the supplement: indigenous communities and social groups are irreplaceable elements in reversing the damage to biodiversity in Oaxaca. This is the most urgent issue, yet the least taken into account.
Source: dialogosoaxaca
