{"id":291799,"date":"2021-07-06T10:58:03","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T07:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/fears-for-future-of-mexico-citys-green-lung\/"},"modified":"2021-07-06T10:58:03","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T07:58:03","slug":"fears-for-future-of-mexico-citys-green-lung","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/fears-for-future-of-mexico-citys-green-lung\/","title":{"rendered":"#Fears for future of Mexico City’s ‘green lung’"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Fears for future of Mexico City’s ‘green lung’<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\"Activists
\n Activists fear a bridge being built over Mexico City’s wetlands will cause irreparable damage to the ecosystem.
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A major construction project in wetlands seen as one of the “green lungs” of smog-choked Mexico City has raised concerns for the future of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.<\/p>\n


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A more than 1.7-kilometer (one mile) long reinforced concrete bridge is being built on a freshwater lake system that helps to regulate the temperature and prevent flooding in the city of nine million people.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of trees have been cut down in the Xochimilco reserve, which is home to endemic species including the critically endangered axolotl, a salamander-like amphibian.<\/p>\n

Residents and experts worry that the project is just the first step in an accelerated development of the area, which is listed as a Wetlands of International Importance under an intergovernmental conservation treaty.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to keep fighting, because we fear that they will want to continue to develop and fill the lakes here to make a commercial plaza,” said Maria Alvarado, 60, a member of a group campaigning against the project.<\/p>\n

Xochimilco is a magnet for tourists who ride colorful gondolas through its maze of canals and artificial islands created centuries ago by the area’s indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n

The splash of green in a vast urban sprawl has already been divided by one of the main highways skirting the city.<\/p>\n

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\"Campaigners
\n Campaigners filed several legal challenges against the bridge, but its construction is almost complete.
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Activists filed several legal challenges and held demonstrations against the new bridge, which is being built at a cost of about $40 million and is almost completed.<\/p>\n

“It’s not just Xochimilco that loses\u2014the whole city loses,” said Elia Solares, 65, a member of the campaign group.<\/p>\n

‘Enormous damage’<\/b><\/p>\n

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum has defended the project, saying it will help traffic to flow more smoothly.<\/p>\n

“It will be very important for the area … both for public and private transport,” she said last month, assuring residents that there was no ecological damage.<\/p>\n

Her government has committed to restoring the wetland by planting endemic vegetation and connecting it with other lake areas.<\/p>\n

“The wetland in this area of Xochimilco is going to be very important,” she said.<\/p>\n

But Luis Zambrano, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), fears the bridge will wreak destruction in a vital ecosystem.<\/p>\n

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\"Xochimilco
\n Xochimilco is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that draws tourists for trip<\/a>s on colorful gondolas.
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“They’re doing enormous damage,” he said, warning that the project set a dangerous precedent.<\/p>\n

“They’re opening the door to the destruction of any ecosystem, no matter how protected it may be,” he said.<\/p>\n

Alvarado and her fellow campaigners plan to keep up their struggle to stop the bridge ever being used.<\/p>\n

“We will not give up our fight,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Even if this bridge is already working, we will keep fighting against it being used.”<\/p>\n\n

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Mexico City fishermen fight to save Aztec floating gardens\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Fears for future of Mexico City’s ‘green lung’ (2021, July 6)
\n retrieved 6 July 2021
\n from https:\/\/phys.org\/news<\/a>\/2021-07-future-mexico-city-green-lung.html<\/p>\n

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\n part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n