ENVIRONMENT:
Latin America Has Turned
Its Back on the Sea
By Marcela Valente
BARILOCHE, Argentina,
(Tierramérica) - Latin
America and the
Caribbean have as much
land territory as marine
area. But while more
than 10 percent of the
land is protected, not
even one percent of the
sea is.
"If Latin America wants
to be a world leader in
protected areas, it has
one pending debt: the
sea," Imčne Meliane, of
the global marine
programme of the World
Conservation Union (IUCN),
told Tierramérica.
"The region has the
world's most productive
seas, but has its back
turned to them. If you
say 'Latin America' you
think of mountains and
jungle much more than
the sea, the whales or
sharks," said the expert
from Tunisia who lives
in Costa Rica.
Meliane spoke with
Tierramérica following a
workshop on protected
marine areas at the 2nd
Latin American Congress
on National Parks and
Other Protected Areas,
held last week in
Bariloche, a mountain
resort city 1,600 km
southwest of Buenos
Aires.
According to a
commitment made by the
international community
in 2002 at the
Sustainable Development
Summit in Johannesburg,
by 2012 the protected
marine areas should be
connected in networks to
allow for more effective
conservation of natural
resources.
Furthermore, the World
Parks Congress held in
2003 in the South
African city of Durban
recommended protection
for at least 10 percent
of the oceans -- also
with a deadline of 2012.
"In Latin America, we
don't reach even one
percent of marine areas
protected, and if we
don't count the
conservation area around
the Galápagos
archipelago (Ecuador),
the largest in the
region, we're left with
almost nothing," said
Meliane.
That stands in sharp
contrast to the total
protected land area,
which has doubled in the
past decade to 10
percent. "There are some
300 protected marine
areas, mostly in the
Caribbean, against 4,000
protected land areas,"
she noted.
"Brazil has a good
number, but Argentina is
just creating its first"
in the southern province
of Chubut. Of South
America's protected
marine areas, Meliane
cited Chile, where there
are about 20 areas under
shared management by
different sectors.
"Fishers tend to have a
short-term mentality,
which is why a
pioneering approach by
the Chilean government
is interesting, because
it involves them,
granting them joint
management of areas
where fishing is
regulated," she said.
Georgina Bustamante, a
Cuban scientist with the
Network and Forum of
Wider Caribbean Marine
Protected Marine Areas,
explained to
Tierramérica that many
species require vast
areas for their
reproduction.
"We must coordinate
management efforts among
countries," she said.
The network links
scientists and directors
of protected marine
areas, but has no
governmental
representation.
The Marine Conservation
Corridor of the Pacific
was presented during the
Bariloche congress. The
corridor is an
initiative of the
governments of Colombia,
Costa Rica, Ecuador and
Panama, and includes the
Galápagos, Costa Rica's
Isla de Coco, and other
archipelagos.
The aim is to establish
a joint management
system for the
conservation and
sustainable use of the
protected marine areas
in those countries.
But even in these cases,
which are in "the
vanguard" of setting up
conservation networks,
there are numerous
obstacles, says
Bustamante.
For example, the lack of
political will among
governments, pressures
from the tourism and
fishing industries, and
the lack of education
about the importance of
protecting natural
resources beyond
national borders.
Marco Araya, director of
protected areas at Costa
Rica's environment
ministry, told
Tierramérica that in his
country the lack of
resources threatens the
conservation of Isla de
Coco.
"Many ask why there are
more protected land
areas than marine areas.
For us, protecting Isla
de Coco costs 10 times
more than a protected
land area," he said.
Costa Rica is the only
country in the region
that does not have a
military marine corps,
which could provide
logistical support for
preserving the seas of
this Pacific island,
located 500 km west of
the continent.
"Sometimes we have to
leave our boats docked
due to lack of parts for
repairs. We have to turn
to non-governmental
organisations for
repairs or use private
boats for our park
rangers to reach the
island," said Araya.
Isla de Coco, which
attracts 3,500 to 4,000
tourists annually, is
unique for its natural
diversity, the number of
autochthonous species
and its isolation.
Despite the many shared
difficulties, Argentine
biologist Claudio
Campagna, of the
Wildlife Conservation
Society, proposed
preserving the southwest
Atlantic beyond the
exclusive economic zone.
"We want to create a
'protected ocean area'
at high seas, in the
basin where there is a
great diversity of
resources," he said,
announcing that
scientists from many
conservation
institutions are working
on that proposal.
(*Originally published
by Latin American
newspapers that are part
of the Tierramérica
network. Tierramérica is
a specialised news
service produced by IPS
with the backing of the
United Nations
Development Programme
and the United Nations
Environment Programme.)
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