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Bob H
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajahowodd
From the NRDC report:
"The resolution passed last week authorized several main components of Hansa Urbana’s proposal, including:
Housing, hotel and commercial development
A marina for 490 boats
Two 18-hole golf courses
A 10.5 mile-long aqueduct
324 acres of roads and highways
Two key items missing from that list are the desalination and water treatment plants. However, the clear necessity of having both at a luxury resort
complex for hygienic reasons means that it is very likely they will be approved in the future."
Seems to kinda gloss over that issue. However it just might be a non-issue. Consider the number of desal plants in and around Medano Beach, and the
fact that there is a semi-enclosed bay. Cabo Pulmo is fundamentally open. |
The old days are goin' away... Times are chang'n.
Capt. Mike.... your take on this project! It is stuff that is just going to happen. It's called Progress!
The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
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wilderone
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"It's called Progress!"
Some may call it progress, but it is devastation, annihilation and destruction. The very qualities that make such sites attractive will be destroyed
by human pollution of all types. The silence needed to quiet the soul - gone. The local flora and fauna deserving of their place on earth - gone.
The bay, which is necessary for marine creatures to flouish - polluted and raped. Mankind's greed is an atrocious thing. Exploitation of earth's
natural world will cause more harm than good. Been going on too long - have we learned nothing? Total ignorance.
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grizzlyfsh95
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| Quote: | Originally posted by wilderone
"It's called Progress!"
Some may call it progress, but it is devastation, annihilation and destruction. The very qualities that make such sites attractive will be destroyed
by human pollution of all types. The silence needed to quiet the soul - gone. The local flora and fauna deserving of their place on earth - gone.
The bay, which is necessary for marine creatures to flouish - polluted and raped. Mankind's greed is an atrocious thing. Exploitation of earth's
natural world will cause more harm than good. Been going on too long - have we learned nothing? Total ignorance. |
Wow..you need to take amother hit and mello. Lets see: no silence...humm...someone removing all of the plants and animals..doubtful; the only bay
raping there at Pulmo is being done by the turtle and tree huggers. What you see as greed, many in the world see as providing a living. Not everyone
inherits, or demands a living from someone else. I think that your final thought of total ignorance pretty much describes your post. Get a grip.
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monoloco
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| Quote: | Originally posted by wilderone
"It's called Progress!"
Some may call it progress, but it is devastation, annihilation and destruction. The very qualities that make such sites attractive will be destroyed
by human pollution of all types. The silence needed to quiet the soul - gone. The local flora and fauna deserving of their place on earth - gone.
The bay, which is necessary for marine creatures to flouish - polluted and raped. Mankind's greed is an atrocious thing. Exploitation of earth's
natural world will cause more harm than good. Been going on too long - have we learned nothing? Total ignorance. |
If anyone thinks that this development won't seriously degrade the environment of Cabo Pulmo they are deluded.
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wiltonh
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Cabo Pulmo Development
I visited last year and it was obvious something was going on. Here is an article about it.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/21/the-threat-to...
[Edited on 4-21-2011 by wiltonh]
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bajajazz
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Golf is a dying sport in the USA, perhaps worldwide. The inclusion of two 18 hole golf courses in this development is particularly ludicrous.
Too much of the development in BCS is neither market-driven nor market-researched, it is based more on the primitive 'philosophy' of monkey-see,
monkey-do, just like the ridiculous over-building of OXXO stores.
Greed is a form of lunacy for which there is no pharmaceutical cure.
I suppose the gold mine is going to destroy the quality of life in the lower part of BCS anyway, so perhaps the whole question is moot. Very soon,
our 'progress' will be measured by the amount of cyanide in the aquifer.
Whoopee . . . can't hardly wait.
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windgrrl
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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/21/the-threat-to...
The threat to Baja’s underwater ‘rain forest’
By Robert F. Kennedy Jr. & Homero Aridjis
Thursday, April 21, 2011 at midnight
Coral reefs, often called rain forests of the sea, shelter a quarter of all marine fish. In February, the most detailed scientific assessment ever
undertaken of these spectacular ecosystems revealed that fully 75 percent are under threat – the most immediate being local pressures for coastal
development.
Cabo Pulmo Bay in Baja California – home to one of these underwater “rain forests” – is facing one of those threats. Among only three living coral
reefs in North America, it lies 40 miles north of San Jose del Cabo, on the eastern cape of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. John Steinbeck
described this 20,000-year-old reef as filled with “teeming fauna” displaying “electric” colors. When decades of overfishing threatened the reef’s
existence, the local community convinced the Mexican government in 1995 to protect it by declaring the area a 17,560-acre National Marine Park. In
2005, the reef became a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Fishing was banned inside the park, and today Cabo Pulmo Reef’s recovery is considered a prime example of marine conservation in the Americas. It
provides refuge for 225 of the 875 fish species found in the Sea of Cortez, including marlin, manta rays, giant squid and several kinds of sharks.
Whales, dolphins, sea lions and five of the world’s seven species of endangered sea turtles frequent its waters. Indeed, the coral reef hosts the
highest concentration of ocean life within this 700-mile long arm of the Pacific Ocean that separates Baja California from the Mexican mainland.
Ecotourism (diving, snorkeling, whale watching) is thriving among the 150 residents of the coastal town surrounding this spectacular marine park.
But now Hansa Baja Investments, a Mexican subsidiary of the Spain-based real estate development firm Hansa Urbana, plans to build a massive resort
complex directly north of the National Marine Park. The developer has proposed what amounts to a sprawling new city on the scale of Cancún: 10,000
acres including 30,000 hotel rooms and residential housing units, at least two golf courses, 2 million square feet of office and retail space, a
490-boat marina and a private jet port.
The construction of the Cabo Cortés project would bring in close to 40,000 workers and their families. This fragile region of desert, dirt roads and
traditional small communities would be overwhelmed. Cabo Pulmo Reef would die, killed by saline effluents from the planned desalination plant,
chemical fertilizers whose runoff causes eutrophication, and the city’s pollution flowing south on ocean coastal currents straight toward the reef.
In early March, Mexico’s secretariat of the environment and natural resources gave the go-ahead for much of Hansa Urbana’s proposal: not only the
marina and land developments, but also a 10.5-mile-long aqueduct and 324 acres of roads and highways. The energy-intensive desalination plant – which
would discharge 500 liters per second of salt water – and a sewage treatment plant to deal with an expected 39,000 tons a day of solid waste once Cabo
Cortés is going full tilt are not yet authorized, but it is considered only a matter of time, as is permission for the pending jetties and
breakwaters.
The government’s approval came despite the company’s woefully inadequate environmental impact statement, which claimed that pollution from the
development wouldn’t affect the reef because ocean currents flow only from south to north, away from the reef. Recent studies show the area’s currents
move in multiple directions, largely depending upon the season.
In a region of water scarcity, Hansa has been granted a concession of 4.5 million cubic meters per year, meaning it will suck dry the Santiago
aquifer, depriving the local population of resources it has depended on for hundreds of years.
In authorizing the deal, the government is violating its own laws, disregarding the rules governing environmental impact assessments in Mexico and
ignoring its zoning plan for the entire region of Los Cabos.
It is up to the Mexican government to stand by its 1995 decision to protect this flourishing and irreplaceable marine nursery. The government must
cancel its authorization of the Cabo Cortés development. Only then can the Cabo Pulmo coral reef remain a stellar example of ocean conservation and
sustainable ecotourism. For Cabo Pulmo and its people, it is wreck or rectify. How does Mexican President Felipe Calderón want to be remembered?
Kennedy is a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council and president of the Waterkeeper Alliance. Aridjis, a poet and novelist, is the
former Mexican ambassador to UNESCO and founder of the Grupo de los Cien environmental organization.
When the way comes to an end, then change. Having changed, you pass through.
~ I-Ching
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BajaNews
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Greenpeace Goes After Mexican Officials Who OK’d Spanish Project
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=397338&Categor...
MEXICO CITY – Two Environment Secretariat officials who allegedly approved Spanish developer Hansa Urbana’s huge Cabo Cortes tourism complex in
Mexico’s Baja California Sur state are the subject of an administrative complaint filed by Greenpeace.
Mauricio Limon Aguirre, deputy secretary for environmental protection management, and Eduardo Enrique Gonzalez, director of environmental impact and
risk management, were named in the complaint filed by the environmental group on Wednesday.
The complaint was submitted to the secretariat’s internal affairs office, Greenpeace said in a statement.
The resort, which is being developed by Hansa Urbana unit Hansa Baja Investments, covers 3,800 hectares (9,382 acres), of which 2,500 hectares (6,172
acres) will be protected natural areas and 1,300 hectares (3,210 acres) will be developed, company officials said last month.
The project will be developed in five phases, with final build-out expected in 30 or 40 years.
Cabo Cortes would cover an area similar to that of Cancun, Mexico’s main tourism destination.
Environmental groups began alleging in mid-2010 that Hansa’s project, which calls for a total investment of some $2 billion, would affect the
20,000-year-old Cabo Pulmo reef, one of the oldest in Mexico’s Pacific region and located just 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) from the tourism complex.
Cabo Pulmo is home to 226 of the 875 species of fish that live in northwest Mexico’s Gulf of California, government reports say.
The Mexican government declared Cabo Pulmo a protected area in 1995 and it is now a national park sprawling over 7,111 hectares (17,558 acres), with
about 99 percent of the park made up of protected marine areas.
The two environmental officials “engaged in actions contrary” to the General Law on Environmental Balance, the Natural Protected Areas Law and the Los
Cabos Environmental Management Plan, Greenpeace said.
“This is why we are asking the OIC (internal affairs office) to open proceedings against these officials for violating the law and approving a
predatory tourism project like Cabo Cortes,” Greenpeace oceans and coasts coordinator Alejandro Olvera said in a statement.
Development plans call for building about 8,000 condominium units, 15 hotels, a marina with 490 slips and two 18-hole golf courses at Cabo Cortes,
developers said last month.
The project will create about 19,000 jobs, including 8,000 direct jobs and 11,000 indirect positions.
“There is no doubt that the secretariat is violating environmental legislation,” Olvera said, adding that officials were trying to “draw attention
away from the matter by attacking Greenpeace.”
Hansa Urbana, for its part, denies that the project will affect Cabo Pulmo.
Cabo Cortes “is not going to appear from one day to the next,” project director Jesus Guilabert said last month, adding that the complex would “grow
in an orderly manner.”
Guilabert said Greenpeace, Wildcoast/Costa Salvaje, Niparaja, Pro Natura Noroeste, Comunidad y Diversidad, Amigos de Cabo Pulmo and other
environmental groups were “trying to disinform and confuse public opinion.”
Cabo Cortes is not going to be “a new Cancun,” Guilabert said, referring to Mexico’s premier Caribbean resort city.
The Environment Secretariat approved Cabo Cortes’s environmental impact statement in September 2008.
The project was later temporarily halted when a resident filed a request for a review of the project.
Environmental officials gave the go-ahead to the project for the second time in March, but they set certain conditions.
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Lobsterman
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God if you guys had your way you'd keep all mexicans in a mud shack with no jobs and a sombrero for sleeping under a cactus. It's their country not
yours or Green Peace's. Let Mexico fix their problems or create their own economic opportunities, their way.
Why not try & fix something in your country that's probably all screwed up, i.e. dams, pollution, gas guzzlers, etc. and leave the mexicans alone.
You guys will meddle into anyones else business anywhere, any time and not feel out of place.
Each to their own.
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capt. mike
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right on!! well said Lobsterman!!
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
www.facebook.com/michael.l.goering |
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wessongroup
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Mood: Suicide Hot line ... please hold
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How has "progress" worked out thus far.... seems to me a lot of folks haven't seen a pay check from the "government" in a while... as for those
jobs...
When I see men ... sitting on a curbs .... with a thousand yard stare... and they ain't been in combat... tells me... there is something wrong...
having a 50 year old man ask if he could sleep in the bed of an abandoned pickup... as he had NOTHING ... example are current, within the past 12
months along with many others... but, then I was staying with the locals.... it does make a difference...
Like they have NO LIFE .... No hope.... NOTHING.... and progress is something someone else gets not these individuals...
And lobsterman, I have..... in both locations.. that would be the United States, and the International Community... along with Baja in specific...
This is NOT long term PROGRESS for the people... rather for a very few...
Want some progress, down south a bit... how about an assembly plant for Toyota... a John Deer Tractor assembly plant et al... .rather than another
"resort".... the water used in maintaining a golf course in a desert could be used for far more productive things. . IMHO
As for impacts on the environment... a case study:
Case studies on environmental impact of seawater desalination
Purchase
$ 37.95
J. Jaime Sadhwania, , , Jose M. Vezaa and Carmelo Santanab
aUniversity of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Department of Process Engineering, Campus de Tafira Baja, E-35017, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
bConsejo Insular de Aguas de Gran Canaria Juan XXIII, no 7, E-35004, Las palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Received 25 January 2005; accepted 21 February 2005. Available online 24 November 2005.
Abstract
Water desalination processes have contributed to a better standard of living in a number of countries during the second half of the 20th century,
following an increase in water demand for drinking purposes as well as industrial and agricultural uses. However, the technologies used in water
desalination are also accompanied by adverse environmental effects. There are several effects to be considered in desalination plants, such as the use
of the land, the groundwater, the marine environment, noise pollution and the use of energy, amongst others. To protect and preserve the environment,
most countries turned to assess the environment impacts produced by desalination plants. Seawater desalination plants are located by the shoreline, to
supply desalted water to the population of the main cities and other uses. The construction of both the desalination plants and all the required
infrastructure in coastal areas affects the local environment. The impact on groundwater is due to the seawater pipes leaks which could contaminate
the aquifers. The high salt concentration in the brine and several chemical products used in the desalination process are returned to the sea. Most
impacts on the marine environment arise as a consequence of the brine discharge and their effects could be worse in the Mediterranean sea than in
other areas. With respect to the noise pollution produced by the desalination plants, there is always an impact on the plant operators and also on the
towns and villages nearby. One of the major indirect environmental impacts is the use of the energy required by desalination plants, particularly when
electricity is produced by burning of oil, which in turn boosts the process of global warming. In this paper, we analyse the environmental problems of
seawater reverse osmosis desalination plants, focusing on some case studies located in Canary Islands, and describing the major impacts identified.
Environmental monitoring is done by the water and environmental authorities, based on regional regulations which turn out to be more restrictive than
national legislation.
[Edited on 6-12-2011 by wessongroup]
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jeremias
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This is all pretty sad. I stayed in Cabo Pulmo and did some diving this april, and really liked how layed back, pristine, and teeming with
wildlife-really spectacular stuff. The town reminded me of what Tamarindo, Costa Rica looked like before the development onslaught ruined it. I doubt
anything like that would happen, but sucks it will end up changing one way or the other. Isn't there a lyric to some song that goes "call it paradise,
kiss it goodbye"?.........
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Bajahowodd
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Or maybe, pave paradise?
I'm thinking that any degrading that may occur will be years away, given the current world economy. Just maybe, after sufficient time has passed,
there will be solutions that will allow this development to move forward without any major negative consequences to the environment.
Pollyanna? Quizas.
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Cardon Man
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Lobsterman
God if you guys had your way you'd keep all mexicans in a mud shack with no jobs and a sombrero for sleeping under a cactus. It's their country not
yours or Green Peace's. Let Mexico fix their problems or create their own economic opportunities, their way.
Why not try & fix something in your country that's probably all screwed up, i.e. dams, pollution, gas guzzlers, etc. and leave the mexicans alone.
You guys will meddle into anyones else business anywhere, any time and not feel out of place.
Each to their own. |
You are assuming that the local Mexican nationals are unilaterally in favor of this development. Based on my observations and conversations with
friends I would say such is not the case the case.
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wilderone
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"God if you guys had your way you'd keep all mexicans in a mud shack with no jobs and a sombrero for sleeping under a cactus. It's their country not
yours or Green Peace's. Let Mexico fix their problems or create their own economic opportunities, their way.
Why not try & fix something in your country that's probably all screwed up, i.e. dams, pollution, gas guzzlers, etc. and leave the mexicans alone.
You guys will meddle into anyones else business anywhere, any time and not feel out of place.
Each to their own. "
So wrong on so many levels. Mexico may have its borders, but that doesn't give them the right to pollute and destroy sensitive habitat and despoil
marine park coastal regions for their personal financial gain. This is why Mexicans have formed SEMARNAT and other environmental entitites. The
days of raping an ecosystem - the likes of Cancun and Cabo - must stop. "Let Mexico fix their problems? - what a joke. Do you know who saved the
Espiritu Islands? Do you know who prevented Exportadera de Sal from despoiling Bahia San Ignacio? Do you know who presented the information to the
Mexican president who made the decision to stop development at Sta Rosalillita? How many Norteamericanos live in Baja CA and support its economy - do
they not have a voice? You need to fast-forward your stereotypes - time to evaluate two generations of pollution and destruction all over the world.
The status of fish stocks worldwide alone will astoud you - or should astoud you. When does it stop? And we do try to fix things in our country -
and there are many, many successes - which are to the benefit of everyone on earth.
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BajaNews
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In Mexico's Baja, worry that a 'new Cancun' may harm reef
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/14/v-fullstory/2406974/in...
BY TIM JOHNSON
Sep 14, 2011
CABO PULMO, Mexico — What's happened at the Cabo Pulmo marine reserve off the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula is fishy — in a good way.
Once severely depleted of fish, the reef system off Cabo Pulmo now teems with marine life, thanks to fishing restrictions imposed more than 10 years
ago.
But environmentalists are worried that that ecological advance will be lost if the Mexican government allows a $2 billion development plan to go ahead
that would place a "new Cancun" less than three miles north of the Cabo Pulmo marine sanctuary.
Mexico's Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources has given Spanish developer Hansa Urbana all but final approval for the project, which would
turn desert scrubland into a bustling development of hotels, condos, golf courses and a large marina.
The government says such a resort would have no impact on the marine reserve.
That makes environmentalists seethe. They say the secretariat's speedy approvals are questionable and without scientific merit.
"This development is completely unjustifiable, especially since it's right next to the marine reserve," said Alejandro Olivera of the Mexico office of
Greenpeace, the international activist group on conservation issues.
Olivera called the revival of Cabo Pulmo, the northernmost reef system along the Pacific coast of the Americas, "one of the best examples of marine
conservation in Mexico. These fishermen realized that the waters were being overfished. So they changed from being fishermen to becoming providers of
eco-services," he said.
Their action to halt commercial fishing brought about such a dramatic transformation of the reef system that oceanographers say it's an example not
only for Mexico but also for other parts of the world.
The Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, one of the world's premier proponents of ocean health, described Cabo Pulmo as "the world's most
robust marine reserve."
Scientists at Scripps reported in a scientific journal last month that the number of fish in the 27-square-mile marine reserve had soared 460 percent
during a recent 10-year period.
"It's a totally, totally different reef," said Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, the lead oceanographer for the study. "It's the most dramatic thing."
"You go down and you see huge animals: tuna, jacks, sea bass, groupers," said Brad Erisman, a marine ecologist who was a co-author of the study.
Framed by a backdrop of stunning mountains, Cabo Pulmo sits on the eastern cape of Baja California about 60 miles northeast of Los Cabos, a tourism
magnet.
Its 200 or so villagers are descendants of Jesus Castro-Fiol, a legendary diver for mother-of-pearl along the coral reefs on the parallel fingers of
basalt that lie partly exposed underwater.
By the early 1990s, as they lobbied the government to declare the reef system a marine reserve, some members of the extended Castro clan began
offering kayak expeditions, snorkeling trips and reef dive adventures to visitors. Today, the village has a half-dozen dive and snorkel shops.
The move toward sustainability didn't stop there. The village declined to hook into the national electrical grid, choosing to rely on solar panels for
power.
A smattering of Americans have bought lots and built homes in Cabo Pulmo, supporting a handful of restaurants, and a steady trickle of tourists
arrives along the gravel road that connects to the outside world.
While villagers chose new livelihoods, the fish population boomed, and big predators such as tiger and bull sharks, marlin, tuna, wahoo, snapper,
grouper and sailfish also thrived. The predators caused smaller species to reproduce more quickly, strengthening the entire marine ecosystem.
The Cabo Pulmo reefs hold 11 of the 14 species of coral found in the Sea of Cortez, which also is known as the Gulf of California. Its regular
inhabitants or visitors include five of the world's seven endangered species of sea turtles.
Oceanographers report amazement at what they see. Aburto-Oropeza said he flew in an ultra-light aircraft earlier this year and spotted a congregation
of sharks in the reserve.
"There were up to 200 sharks in a small part of the reef. It was unbelievable. In my 20 years of diving in the gulf, I hadn't seen anything like
that," he said.
On a recent dive, he said, he witnessed "a group of about 20 large fish, groupers and snappers, eating a bunch of grunts that were between 50 and 70
centimeters," a foot and a half to more than 2 feet long. "It was an incredible spectacle."
The marine park, which was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005, was clearly one of the reasons that Hansa Urbana, a development company based
in Alicante, Spain, chose in 2007 to plan a major tourism development in Baja California.
Cyclone fencing surrounds much of its 15.4-square-mile site, and no ground has yet been broken. The firm's website and statements by company officers
pledge three golf courses, a 490-slip marina, a jetport, 15 hotels and numerous condos, equivalent to 30,692 hotel rooms or 10,230 three-bedroom
condos or houses. Construction would extend over three or four decades. For comparison, Cancun, Mexico's vast tourist development on the Caribbean,
has more than 32,000 hotel rooms.
"Cabo Cortes will provide select visitors with the ultimate vacation experience of Mexico, and, for a fortunate few, second homes equal to anything
the world can offer," the website says.
Residents in the nearby port of La Ribera, population 3,000, generally support the Cabo Cortes project, enticed by promises that it will create 19,000
direct and indirect jobs.
"Imagine how the merchandise will fly off the shelves around here," said Jose Leal, a fisherman. "You have to be in favor of development as long as it
pulls you along, too."
Leal said local fishermen had been promised berths in the marina for their fishing boats, and that he'd receive a concession to provide ice for
boaters.
Among leading marine scientists, the mood is far less cheery. National Geographic explorer-in-residence Sylvia Earle and 21 other U.S., Canadian,
Mexican and Costa Rican scientists wrote to UNESCO headquarters in Paris in May to say the Cabo Cortes project "could cause irreversible harm to this
unique and vulnerable reef" with its "overwhelming pollution."
Echoing that opinion, residents in Cabo Pulmo say the region's aquifer can't sustain such a large project, golf courses will expel chemicals into the
sea and the building of the marina (where no natural bay exists) will send sediment southward.
"The dredging for the marina will create turbidity and hurt the reef. Fish will flee," said Judith Castro, one of the community's most vocal
activists.
Scientists say currents in the Sea of Cortez vary from season to season but that in the winter they often come southward along Baja's eastern coast.
This is just "It's very clear that there will be impacts, and they won't be positive," said Grantly R. Galland, a Scripps marine ecologist.
A top environmental regulator from the federal secretariat, Mauricio Limon Aguirre, told television journalists in June that Cabo Cortes wouldn't
endanger the national marine park. He didn't respond to recent requests for an interview.
"As of today, no project has been authorized that will disturb the sea. Because of this, we know that the reefs will not be affected," Limon Aguirre
said.
In the end, global economic turmoil may do as much to halt Cabo Cortes as environmental activism. In June, the Banco de Espana was forced to step in
to save an ailing Spanish savings bank that owns a quarter of Hansa Urbana, the developer.
That gives the Spanish government — sensitive to charges that the project is speculative and harmful to the environment — a voice in the development.
"Many Spaniards are deeply committed to conservation," said Mario Castro, a dive shop owner who attended a workshop in Spain earlier this year. "I am
hopeful that they will withdraw from this project."
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Osprey
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What Judith Castro can see, that no ocean science person has yet to discover is this: if you walk on the beach from Cabo Riviera, southeast of their
new marina project (the marina is not yet open to the sea) you will find that the beach for several miles is now mud where it was sand for millions of
years. The Cabo Cortez marina dig will eventually kill all the coral.
The Gringo Gazette reports that CAM, the finance source for Cabo Cortez, has gone belly up and cannot now come forth with the 3 billion dollars needed
to begin the next phase.
While the deep reef at Pulmo is thriving, the shallow, inshore coral is bleaching out and nothing can stop that. Dead coral lines the beaches
everywhere there is shallow coral -- in such places like Los Arbolitos, Frailes, Las Lisas algae has taken over and invited huge numbers of plant
eating fish to those underwater deserts. The perimeters of the preserve hold some fish but they are taken by poachers with nets and hooks at every
opportunity presented to them such as dark nights or times they know preserve police are not in their boats.
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Paula
Super Nomad
Posts: 2219
Registered: 1-5-2006
Location: Loreto
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Osprey, I didn't read all of this thread, but I think your last words on it tell me that this is a sad situation 
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Paula
Super Nomad
Posts: 2219
Registered: 1-5-2006
Location: Loreto
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Lobsterman
God if you guys had your way you'd keep all mexicans in a mud shack with no jobs and a sombrero for sleeping under a cactus. It's their country not
yours or Green Peace's. Let Mexico fix their problems or create their own economic opportunities, their way.
Why not try & fix something in your country that's probably all screwed up, i.e. dams, pollution, gas guzzlers, etc. and leave the mexicans alone.
You guys will meddle into anyones else business anywhere, any time and not feel out of place.
Each to their own. |
It is unlikely that large scale resort development will free any Mexicans from their low income lives, even if they do get jobs. The work won't pay
well, the cost of living will go up, quality of life will not improve.
Many of us have learned in "our country that's all screwed up" that big development does not solve problems, but deepens them. And so we hope that
sweet Mexico might learn from our sad experiences.
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ecomujeres
Nomad
Posts: 299
Registered: 9-10-2006
Location: Mulege, BCS & Oakland, CA
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For those who think that Mexicans aren't concerned about destructive development projects and that "we" should stay out of their business, I suggest
you check out this news bulletin that is written primarily by young environmentalists about their concerns for their local communities around the Gulf
of California: www.meloncoyote.org. All issues are available in English and Spanish.
Bottom of the page at this link: http://www.meloncoyote.org/issue_v2_n1/page16.html
will take you to an ad by Friends of Cabo Pulmo who are locals fighting this development.
Mexico is changing, communities are becoming wise to the broken promises and misery of so-called development and are fighting back.
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