Save Cabo Pulmo

Sot it turns out that some weeks ago I received an e-mail from Avaaz encouraging me to start a campaign in their site, and after thinking for a while it turns out that there was something I could campaign for: the preservation of Cabo Pulmo.

Cabo Pulmo is a somewhat remote marine reserve located in the Mexican state of Baja California, and enjoys such an incredible biodiversity that it's considered the most robust marine reserve in the world; until recently it was only visited by a few scuba-diving enthusiasts that sought to find a pristine environment far away from five-starred hotels and noisy Spring-breakers; but later I found out through the radio and the Internet that this ecological treasure is threatened to be destroyed by a Spanish real state company planning to build a giant tourist resort and a marina dock.

You see, every President in Mexico has the unwritten mandate to promote a new tourist resort during their term. Years ago it was Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, then came the time for Puerto Vallarta, Cancún and so on. The idea is to attract as many dollar-spending tourists as possible, at the cost of the local population and the natural ecosystem. F*#ck the coral reefs and the natural balance and bring in the yachts and the golf courses! "Hey mister, you wanna go take a ride in the parachute?"

The end result is that over time the tourist resorts get eventually depleted of their natural beauty, and then turn into ecological wastelands that need to be maintained at the expense of other less-popular regions, like the beaches of Cancun that need periodic replenishments of sand from nearby areas (Cozumel) because the mangrove that protected them from the seasonal storms and hurricanes were wiped out with the construction of all those fancy all-inclusive resorts. But eventually the tourists get bored and the real-state investors move on to the next virgin site to be exploited --with so many coastal areas in the Republic, there's plenty of places to pick from, right?

And now it seems to be the turn of Cabo Pulmo. But I say there has to be another way in which the locals can sustainibly exploit the vast natural resources of the region and attract tourists in a responsible manner, while preserving the beauty and incredible biodiversity of the site for future generations to enjoy.

If you think this doesn't sound like an all-too unreasonable idea, you might want to add your signature tot he campaign, and click here :)

PS: Many thanks to Rick, who seems to have been the culprit for my little campaign's early success. I admit that I kind of forgot about it but now I have more than 100 signatures! Let's see if we can collect a few more.

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[UPDATE May 18th]: Orale!! Almost 1200 signatures by now.

Faith in humanity, fully restored :3