ACTIVITIES OF PEMEX THREATS THE BIOSPHERE RESERVE OF THE WETLANDS OF CENTLA
Tabsco 5 April 1997
Greenpeace claim that the activities of PEMEX directly threaten the Biosphere Reserve of the Wetlands of Centla in Mexico and their operations endanger the Reserve, this in turn has serious impacts on the fishing communities of this region.
The Biosphere Reserve of the Wetlands of Centla (BRWC)covers an area of 744,657 acres, it is located in the Northern part of the state of Tabasco and stretches over the municipalities of Centla, Jonuta and Macuspana. It was established in 1992 and was later included on the International list of Wetlands of the RAMSAR Convention. Although the management plan should have been published a year after the decree, this did not happen, instead the reserve station has been abandoned and as a result there is no control over the operations of PEMEX even within what are known as the 'Nucleus Zones' areas of particalar ecological importance, that are being impacted by the dredging and waste dumping.
During the tour of the BRWC, the GREENPEACE expedition documented the environmental impacts of the dredging carried out by PEMEX in a Nucleus Zone, these include the silting of the Chichicastle Lagoon, the presence of repair boats which were suspected of carrying chemicals and the uncontrolled dumping of wastes into the wetlands at the site of one of the wells (Usumacinta Well No. 11). Greenpeace were accompanied by people from the Chichicastle community and members of Santo Tomas and OilWatch both Non Governmental Organizations.
Greenpeace activists painted "TOXICS OUT OF CENTLA" on PEMEX huts. At the PEMEX platform they unfolded a banner with the demand "NO MORE ACTIVITIES INTO THE RESERVE". Alejandro Calvillo Greenpeace spokesperson, reminded the workers, on the installation, that they were in the Nucleus Zone No.1 of the Biosphere Reserve and that they were violating the *law by dumping hazardous waste into the wetlands.
*Article 49 of the Mexican Law for the Protection of the Environment establishes that it is precisely forbidden in the Nucleus Zones of Protected Areas to " Dump pollutants into the soil, underground and into any type of water body, aquifer or river and to carry on any polluting activity.
