Mexico, a Bio diverse and wonderful country

Now, when we hear sad and negative news about Mexico, it's worth to pause and think about the great diversity of natural beauties that we still have in our country and remember how our conquerors and ancestors felt wondered by such beauty and diversity of animal and plant species.

When refering to the creation of the world, The Popol Vuh ( a book that puts together mayan leyends of the southern part of Mexico) and talks about the extraordinary and sacred relationship that existed between the ancient cultures and their natural habitat, who gave them them an important meaning as deities to rain, sun, the jaguar and the quetzal. Hernan Cortes, conqueror of the Aztec Empire, underlines in his "Narrative Letters" the unequal beauty of the rivers and praires he had found in our country.

Biological Megadiversity
This word defines the exceptional diversity of forms of life that exist in our country. Of all the plant, animal and microorganism species known in the world, nearly 12% live in Mexico, many of which live exclusively in our country. We are one of the three most diverse countries in the world, the first place in reptile species and the second in mammal species. Mexico is home to 50% of the 900 cactaceae known in the world and every day, new species are discovered and others are found that grow exclusively in Central America. All that is due to the geographic location, since they constitute a link between the Neartic region (to the North) and the Neotropical region (to the south)

Besides all the land animals, the 10 thousand kilometers of coastal boarders showered with the waters of the Caribbean, the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California add an matchless amount of sea life, from the tiniest invertebrate that forms the zoo plankton, to the biggest animal of the world, the blue whale. This whale, the largest representative of the cetaceous, is one of the forty nine species that live in mexico, which represent 40% of the total of the world species of cetaceous (dolphins and whales).

Megadiverse, but, for how much longer?
A few years ago, we started to use the word "biodiversity". When Spanish settlers arrived, they thought that our resources were endless, that is why they introduced exotic species that began to directly compete with native species, this was the beginning of the degradation of the ecosystems that still continues today.

Today, Mexico just has 10% of the jungles and tropical forests it used to have and 32 species of invertebrates extinguished during the XX century, including the largest wood pecker in the world and the Mexican grizzly bear. The over exploitation of the seas has caused the collapse of many wild species that were abundant, like the shark, shrimp and sardine. With the rapid growth of human population, some of the ecosystems that were considered as "mosquito nests" (humid lands and swamps) are intentionally dried and refilled to be replaced by cities, touristic developments or to avoid the annoying mosquitoes, without caring that these environments are one of the most productive biological systems and reproduction places of countlessanimal species of high ecological and commercial value.

A Foreigner's Legacy
In Mexico there are outstanding researchers that have dedicated their lives to the knowledge of nature; they have all looked up a classic book called "Mexico's Wild Animals". It is amazing that since 1959 there has only been one book that wildly talks about the subject of wild life in Mexico and that it was written by a foreigner Proffesor Starker Leopold. It is more amazing to know that he was a hunter, that in a self taught way carried out deep scientific observations of animals and the environments where they lived, getting to interpret their lives in such a way, his way, he respected and loved nature. He was able to visualize and foresee nature's difficult future, if the "less sustainable" techniques continued to be used, that since then, existed, he also suggested environment education methods, and the conservation of the land, ecosystems, and of the plants and animals that lived in them.

53 years ago, Leopold quoted that all of the citizens cooperation was needed to face the difficult problem of conserving Mexico's nature, as well as the laws better reinforcement, calling it "The Crusade to Conservation". And I ask myself why we, today's Mexicans, authentic users of the territory, can't organize ourselves and fight to preserve natural wealth. I then ask you; have you started the crusade for the conservation of nature? Consuming only what is necessary, repecting nature and having a responsible life we would have a sustainale and bio diverse Mexico. It's really not that difficult, all we need is WILL.