Federico Reyes Heroles
There they are again. Those white columns that rise to the sky and pierce it. They are the opposite of those also white, beautiful, and sheep-shaped giants -cumulonimbus- whose immeasurable interior forces ascend and descend and can destroy the largest bird created by humankind. The gray that betrays their function in this world can appear in them: accumulating humidity and transporting it. And so, they travel and grow until, finally, they implode. They spread life in the form of drops, hail, and lightning. Everything is reviving after the prolonged drought.
The columns we see today in the landscape are the antipode, sad signs of death, monuments to our contempt for life. Beneath them are the flames that devour forests, jungles, pastures, whatever comes their way. They reappear yearly; we have incorporated them into our lives, and they are part of the Mexican landscape! Reports appear, perhaps a photo on the front page: hundreds of live fires every day, dozens of affected entities, thousands of hectares lost. Also, there are images of brigadistas with more courage than equipment fighting dragons.
Don Carlos Bosch -a great historian of Catalan origin- wrote a book as beautiful as it is heartbreaking: Mexico in front of the sea. His thesis is noticeably clear: Mexico has thousands of kilometers of wasted coastline, both for fishing and for the merchant marine. Mexico turns its back on this wealth. The same could be said of our attitude towards forests and jungles. Only Brazil and Peru have a more significant extension in Latin America with a forestry vocation. Brazil’s territorial extension is more than four times that of Mexico. However, Peru has more than 700 square kilometers less than us. Our forestry production is growing, but our forest area has decreased -about 7% since 1990- (Statista Research Department). More production means less surface area, and something doesn’t add up. The same agency reports a loss of forest area of 170,000 hectares in 2023. Between January and November of that year, 7,493 fires were recorded. The most dramatic, sad, and shameful thing is that 35% were caused by arson. Our government speaks of 99%.
There are 17 megadiverse countries responsible for about 70% of the world’s diversity. Mexico is fifth on the list, but we are responsible for 10% of the total number of species registered worldwide: fifth in plant species, fourth in amphibians, second in mammals, and first in reptiles, with 864 species registered. Conabio’s functions were conceived precisely to monitor this wealth independently. Conabio is in the process of being devoured by centralism. Another destruction by decree, the seal of the 4T.
Graph: on Statista.com
But did Conafor or Fonden also contemplate these situations? On March 20, Conafor reported 30 fires in 10 entities, 610 hectares affected, and 14 in natural protected areas. The last straw. There were 848 combatants. March 26: 95 fires in 18 entities, destroying 3 thousand hectares. Fighters, 4 thousand. In six days, an increase of 216%. In contrast, Conafor’s budget has been reduced by 40% in five years. In total, we are talking about 2,700 million. The cost overrun of Dos Bocas -whose initial budget was 8 billion dollars- could reach 20 billion. In other words, around 230 billion pesos extra. The Mayan Train -the one that derails- the biggest ecocide ever seen in Mexico, will have a 228% cost overrun, including deviations to family and friends. It went from 150 billion pesos to 500 billion pesos. The Armed Forces spent 153 billion pesos more than budgeted in 202. They will operate more than 20% of the budget, 8.6 times more than in 2018. Mexico has 226 natural protected areas -187 terrestrial ones- with marine ones totaling 93 thousand hectares. However, we only have 646 park rangers, which is less than 0.3 rangers per area. Priority: to devastate Mexico. Profound disregard for life.
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