National Commission Unveils Comprehensive Plan to Protect Mexico's Wetlands EFE
go to original February 7, 2014

Cancun itself is evidence of the threats facing our planet. A growing tourism industry in the city is killing off mangroves, natural fighters of climate change. Al Jazeera Mariana Sanchez reports. (AlJazeeraEnglish)

CAMPECHE - The National Protected Natural Areas Commission, or Conanp, has released a plan to protect the 139 wetlands in Mexico, the country with the second-largest number of protected wetlands in the world.

"The national wetlands policy comes from a recognition that these ecosystems are extremely vulnerable to climate change," Conanp director Luis Fueyo said during the plan's presentation Tuesday in the Igh-Haa Lol Xaan region of the southeastern state of Campeche.

Wetlands are vital to the well-being of Mexico's people, "making their loss extremely costly from an economic, social and environmental standpoint," Fueyo said.

The plan's goals are to ensure the rational and sustainable use of wetlands, as well as to prevent and mitigate threats to wetlands, the Conanp director said.

Mexico ranks No. 2 on the list of protected wetlands areas under the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty on the conservation and sustainable use of these ecosystems.

Read the rest at La Prensa

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