<
https://www.fairplanet.org/story/how-a-guatemalan-river-clean-up-could-help-save-the-oceans/>
"The Motagua River basin, the largest in Guatemala, covers an area of nearly
17,000 square kilometres in a 486 kilometres path along 96 municipalities. This
enormous and vital watercourse, which empties into the Caribbean Sea,
transports at least 8,500 tonnes of waste annually. This influx of debris
directly threatens the Mesoamerican reef, the largest barrier reef in the
Western Hemisphere, which stretches nearly 700 miles between Mexico and
Honduras, and is a biodiversity hotspot.
The 60 types of hard corals found there are home to over 500 fish species, five
species of marine turtles and one of the world’s largest gatherings of whale
sharks, according to WWF.
"It is one of the ten largest landfills in Latin America and six million people
throw waste into that landfill. This river alone is responsible for the
emission of 2% of plastic into the ocean. We are dumping waste very badly,"
said Jeanne Samayoa, a sustainable urbanism specialist and president of
Haciendo Eco, a Guatemalan civil movement advocating for waste reduction.
Efforts to clean this body of water have been the aim of multiple initiatives
so far, but the challenge persists: the more trash that is removed from the
river, the more seems to be disposed into it."
Via
Fix the News:
<
https://fixthenews.com/good-news-marriage-equality-thailand-conservation-romania-reforestation-mediterranean/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
