Like the Pre-Hispanic peoples who settled this part of Mexico’s Veracruz state thousands of years ago, the inhabitants of Mano Perdida, a rural community located in the wetlands of the Alvarado lagoon system, are ruled by the water calendar. In it, the two seasons show a way of life that is connected to the cycles of nature. The rainy season usually arrives at the end of September, bringing greenish turbulence and flooding the roads connecting the municipalities. The dry season starts in April or May, the months when we consume the most water and derive the most profits from fishing,” says Felipe Ramírez, 72 years old. The old man’s cowboy hat protects him from the sun, and his eyes are fixed on a circular map spread out on the table of the fishing cooperative he heads.
In the center of the map, different pictures depict the community’s knowledge each month. A red thermometer representing the hottest day. Blue drops when the water is clear. The black one warns that the water coming out of the faucet is dirty. The well silhouette is a reminder that community water tanks should be cleaned with chlorine every three months. Information that a group of researchers who make up the Water Reserve Monitoring Network (RedMORA) are converting into socio-environmental data. The goal of this scientific project is to use technical and precise methods to measure the conditions of the ecosystem inhabited by the inhabitants of Bajo Papaloapan, the plains where the Olmec people and other Gulf of Mexico cultures settled more than a century ago. That’s it. This is where the later Veracruz Jalocha tradition developed, explaining that “a series of sociocultural characteristics resulting from the coexistence of indigenous societies with Spanish society, African roots, and other immigrant influences were found in the tropics of Veracruz. ”, explains Xochitl del A. León Estrada, an anthropologist and archaeologist born in the state.
This basin originates between the tropical jungles and temperate forests of Oaxaca and drains into the south-central region of Veracruz state, making it the second most important basin in Mexico. “Although this area has been less explored than other areas, several archaeological finds have been discovered, including pre-Hispanic traces under undergrowth and obsidian tools for scaling fish. “The ancient inhabitants of the mangroves already survived thanks to the region’s aquatic resources.” Leon Estrada, a member of a group of experts analyzing the effects of pollution on river fisheries, explains:
This activity is the main source of livelihood for Mano Perdida, a small estate with a population of just over 200 people. The land holdings are mostly communal lands and are accessed by an asphalt road connected to a highway that winds along the Papaloapan River (the “River”). “Butterfly” in Nahuatl. The quality of water flowing through the ecosystem is affected by pollution caused by sugarcane plantations surrounding local communities. This plantation is a million-dollar operation that eats up more of the natural landscape every day.
Patricia Moreno-Casasola, a researcher at the Institute of Ecology (Inecol), said the industry encroaches on fishing habitat and puts people’s health at risk. “Runoff from herbicides and other chemicals used in sugarcane cultivation is carried from the Acura River to the Alvarado lagoon and filters not only into surface water but also into groundwater, causing severe damage to the ecosystem. ” says an environmental activist. In addition to the alcohol products made from sugarcane cultivation, sugarcane is mainly planted to export millions of tons of fructose. The US is the main buyer.
To control pests like screwworms, sugarcane producers use furadan, the most toxic insecticide available. In some water samples, “atrazine, a very dangerous chemical for the environment and aquatic life, was also detected,” he stressed the RedMORA scientist. A calendar created by residents and scientists marks the months when the impact is most severe. “The harvest season starts in December, but it’s not until October that the factories are cleaned and the water becomes dirty due to rain and tides,” said the fisherman, a member of a fisheries cooperative who learned fishing from his father at the time. Beatriz Zamudio says: she was 6 years old.
“Ever since I was little, he used to take me on boat rides,” the woman says. She now has two daughters and a granddaughter, and she supports her entire family with the money she earns every day on her small boat. “That’s what I’ve always done,” she continues. “My father taught me from a young age the importance of being independent and that you don’t need a man to survive. That’s what he used to tell me, and I always admired his I followed the advice. I invest in materials and just make my own traps,” she explains, pointing to the fishing nets hanging at the entrance to her house.
Zamudio’s house sits on land along a canal that intertwines the lagoon like tongues of water. A small house visited daily by herons, pelicans, and cranes. Biodiversity surrounding waterside enclosures. There, the fishermen keep breeding animals, including chickens, ducks, and two pigs. “With the sale of my first pig, I was able to buy uniforms for my daughters and pay their school registration fees. “I didn’t go to school, so I knew that education was very important. I am investing in their education so that they can study and not have to work as hard as I do,” says Zamudio proudly as he steers his boat. Through the mangrove forest.
While many parts of Mexico are experiencing severe drought, here water is plentiful and the potential risk of flooding looms over communities during storm season. “Actually, the water is not clean, so we have to buy it in jugs,” laments the fisherman. The only well built in Mano Perdida is dry and, like other communities settled around wetlands, people do not have access to clean water in far-flung cities. You need to buy water from a container. “We use a lot of water for drinking and cooking, and sometimes we go without water for several days in a row because it takes a long time for the jug to arrive. We only use the water in the tank for bathing and washing. But it’s very dirty,” she explains.
In addition to pollution caused by the overuse of fertilizers and herbicides on sugarcane and other crops, other problems are also disrupting the daily lives of the people of Bajo Papaloapan, such as those stemming from the rapid changes in land use that can be observed. Masu. In a landscape that is a mosaic of mangrove lagoons, tulles, zapotes, small ponds and meadows, and areas of native vegetation that have been altered by unchecked livestock exploitation. This region of Veracruz is one of the areas with the most severe deforestation rates among all the pilot sites of the National Commission for the Knowledge and Utilization of Biodiversity (Conabio). Like many other places in Latin America, the Alvarado wetlands are converted into flooded pastures for cattle grazing. This activity began in his 1970s. “And a lot of chemicals are used, like acaricides,” Moreno-Casasola said. Deforestation doesn’t just happen near lagoons. “One of the problems that worries us most is siltation,” says the environmental activist, referring to the deposits caused by erosion of the soil that has removed the forest layer.
Throughout the year, the tributaries that flow into this lagoon complex flow from the upper part of the basin, the mountains of Oaxaca, drawing in their path pollutants that accumulate on the coast of Veracruz. However, the scientists explained, “With the arrival of cold air, rain and northerly winds in November, seawater becomes rough and black due to siltation, and this phenomenon reduces the catch of shrimp, crabs and tilapia.”
The people of Mano Perdida live on these fish products all year round. “Some are seasonal, for example June to August is bass spawning season, and the Nacala harvest has just finished,” Ramirez explains. Harvesting this unique fish, which is harvested for its eggs, tells the story of how different cultural groups, from the Gulf Coast to Mexico, used the river’s currents to trade in fish products. It is a custom that, along with other traditions, dates back to pre-Hispanic times,” says Leon Estrada, “in the Central Highlands region.”
Bajo Papaloapan’s unique biocultural ecosystem, its biodiversity and balance, has been affected by deforestation, rapid land use change, overuse of fertilizers and herbicides used in sugar cane cultivation, unchecked livestock exploitation, and health risks. increasingly affected by disastrous water quality that puts them at risk. Residents of Mano Perdida. Communities are now fighting to restore the sound of flowing water and the symbiotic relationship between humans and nature that was created on this plain so long ago.
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