Photo: Patricia Ramírez
- For the third consecutive year, Causa Natura Media highlighted the work of 10 people in favor of Mexico's oceans through a magazine and a gala evening.
- The magazine is an effort that involves an open call for applications, as well as the definition of the people selected by a committee of journalists who cover the sea.
- Three keynote presentations highlighted the importance of conserving marine ecosystems to event attendees.
Ten notable people for their work in favor of the seas were presented at the event “Faces of the Environment, Oceans 2024”, organized by the media outlet Causa Natura Media, on February 27.
“Tonight is a reminder that although sometimes the task seems monumental, each of us has the power to make a difference, the 10 Faces that were selected for the year 2024, in collaboration with the journalists of Causa Natura Media and allied journalists and organizations that nominated them, teach us that individual action, combined with collective action, has the power to transform,” said Eduardo Rolón, general director of the civil association Causa Natura.
The testimonies of these people were captured in a magazine of the same name, which is distributed to different parts of the country.
From Baja California Sur, the diver Elba López, the driver Arturo “Comandante” Hernández, and the businessman Rubén Guzmán were recognized for their work in 2024. From Sinaloa, activist Berenice Lizárraga, defender Marlene Gutiérrez and ambassador of the 2030 agenda Vanesa Valenzuela.
“Very excited to represent my community, not only am I the Face, I am the Face of all the community teachers in the country,” said López, who leads the Sirenas de México project, which has promoted participation in women's underwater and oceanographic biological monitoring.
For his part, Hernández stressed that one of the main problems in the country is citizen apathy, so we must communicate with the population so that they get involved in issues that concern all of us.
“Sometimes they ask me, 'Aren't you afraid to do what you do? ' , when I started with the Supercivic Project, and I answer them, 'well yes, but I'm much more afraid to do nothing, that's what terrifies me'. This is how the Metiches by Nature project was born,” said Hernández, who has been involved in actions to preserve ecosystems off the coast of La Paz.
Among the people recognized were also the director of Colima Sostenible A.C., Arabel Ali Mendoza, and the posthumous recognition of the Baja California fishing entrepreneur Minerva Pérez. From the south of the country, the Tabasco leader of “El Bosque” Guadalupe Cobos and the vigilante diver Juan Ramírez of the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve were recognized.
“Thank you all very much for making us come here, I confess that today and tomorrow was our last day of fishing. The (lobster) season is coming to an end but I decided to come here because it's a great opportunity,” said Ramírez, who works at the Vigía Chico Fisheries Production Cooperative.
Talks
The event included three keynote talks that addressed various challenges such as climate change, wildlife conservation and garbage that reaches the sea.
These were offered respectively by Acapulco diver Juan Barnard; the ABC Fisheries Science Coordinator, Georgina Castro; and Mayra Gutiérrez, director of the non-governmental organization Ponguinguiola.
“Unfortunately, in Acapulco there are no local conservation strategies, and that's where we Faces are the ones who are generating these strategies with our work,” said Juan Barnard, who was recognized as a Face in the previous edition of 2023.
In his speech, Barnard emphasized that while the government has a responsibility, there is also a part of the well-being of ecosystems that corresponds to each citizen.
Georgina Castro commented on mitigation actions for the conservation of California sea lions, whose population has decreased by 63% in the last three decades in the Gulf of California. The organization Pesca ABC carries out monitoring, unpacking and dissemination actions in favor of this species.
“Sea lions are sentinels of the environment, they are going to be reflecting to us what is happening in the environment... At the end of March we are going to carry out our second unpacking campaign, we hope to have several wolves,” Castro said.
In his turn, Gutiérrez outlined the threat posed to the seas by the accumulations of garbage that people generate. “In Mexico, what we are generating from plastic waste is between 5 and 7 million tons. Where do you think those plastics end up? At sea,” Gutierrez said.
The Ponguinguiola civil association has recorded how the floating tourist population that quadruples the state population generates an overload for landfills. Through a multisectoral Alliance, the organization has promoted reforms and actions to deplasticize garbage.
Regarding the effort to host this event, its talks and recognition of outstanding people, the director of Causa Natura, Eduardo Rolón, emphasized the interest in transcending local stories to generate a positive impact on society.
“(The Faces) invite us not to be mere spectators, but fundamental actors in the change we want to see. Today we celebrate not only the honorees, but all those who in their daily lives fight for a cleaner, fairer, more sustainable world, because we can all be part of this cause,” said Rolón.
*Causa Natura Media is a media outlet of the Causa Natura Civil Association. It differs in its actions and functioning from Causa Natura Center, a think Tank for public policies related to the seas and sustainable fishing of the same civil association.
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