Edition 33, June 2005 We are pleased to announce that our CEA Electronic Communications are now being done in English and Spanish. Para leer este boletín en español, favor de pulsar aquí. Keeping Watch on the Beach by Ivan Caballero With the goal of integrating all the people who work on the beach into our sea turtle protection activities, the first beach management workshop of the turtle season was held on May 26 and 27, with the participation of beach security guards from three different agencies. CEA’s objective is to engage the community in our sea turtle protection activities. Among the issues covered were sea turtle biology and the State Committee’s Sea Turtle Protection guidelines for proper beach management and record-keeping during the 2005 season. The season has so far been very successful, as measured by the number of nests present on the four beaches included on our SEMARNAT license. To date, there are 86 nests—more than all of last season. We remind all visitors to turn off lights that face the beach during the season, helping us ensure that mother turtles can peacefully make their way to the beach to nest and that hatchlings can then make it safely to the sea. We would like to especially thank the security personnel and residents of Akumal for helping us on the beaches at night. Click here to see photos of some of the work in our program. Please check the site often for updates throughout turtle season. CEA, Area Hotels and Condos Unite to Educate Tourists We recently joined forces with local hotels, condos and villas to educate tourists on how to care for the sea turtles and coral reef that make this destination so special to us all. By producing an informational insert to be included in guest-information books, we hope to provide visitors with the guidance they need to enjoy the beauty and biodiversity of the area without contributing to its degradation. So far the following hotels, condos and rental agencies have agreed to collaborate on this project: Club Akumal Caribe, Las Villas Akumal, Akumal Villas, Riviera Maya Villas, Las Casitas Akumal, Green Eyes Management, and Que Onda. We wish to thank them all for their support, and would also like to encourage property managers who have not yet signed up for this project to contact us. To see what this page looks like, click here. World Environment Day vs. Earth Day? by David Nuñez So Earth Day is in April and June has World Environment Day. Even for someone who works for an environmental organization the distinction can seem a bit hazy. But does it really matter? To celebrate our parents, we have Mother's Day and Father's Day, so why not have two days to celebrate nature? And just like we should ideally honor our mom and dad every day of our life (or at least theirs) and not just once a year, shouldn’t we also continuously strive to be respectful and grateful for the natural world and our place in it? Furthermore, by the time this newsletter goes out, World Environment Day will have passed. So rather than focusing on how to celebrate this one particular day, I’d like to offer some suggestions of small things we can do every day (or at least any day) to lessen our impact on the planet and to enrich our relationship with our natural surroundings. Click here to read the entire article. Open-air Classroom in Akumal by Paul Sánchez-Navarro CEA was happy to host two early summer university courses: Washington and Lee University and the Marine Science Institute from The University of Texas at Port Aransas. Professor James Casey of Washington and Lee brought a small group of economics majors to Akumal to do a course on the Environmental Quality and the Economy in the Mexican Caribbean. The students surveyed visitors in the Akumal area to measure willingness to pay for protecting the reef and surrounding environment, especially if it were a protected area. We hope to have the conclusions of the surveys and study available online next month. Ken Dunton of The University of Texas looked at the health of seagrasses and mangroves in the Akumal area, measuring nutrient contents, among other things. Information from the course will be available next month. Serving as a field station to universities and research institutes is one of the main functions of CEA, helping to facilitate greater understanding and appreciation of our biodiversity and ecosystems and our place as the human species among these. Please contact us if you would like to offer a course in Akumal. Wishlist: CEA Needs Software! For those of our supporters who prefer to make in-kind donations, the following is a list of urgently needed software items: Corporate Antivirus Package: Outdated antivirus software has left us vulnerable to infections that have recently disabled several of our computers. Subscription to Foundation Center’s Database: We need help finding those grant opportunities and donor agencies to keep our programs operational. Subscription to LexisNexis Environmental Database: This will be an invaluable research tool for all our programs. GIS Software: A package such as ArcView would be very helpful in our efforts to map the threats to the integrity of our reefs, the quality of our waters, and the health and safety of our sea turtles. If you wish to donate any of these products, please contact David Nuñez. World Turtle Day by Mauricio Bautista In celebration of World Turtle Day this past May 23, our environmental education program visited the Francisco Sarabia elementary school to raise awareness, among third grade schoolchildren, about the protection and conservation of these endangered species. A scale model of a sea turtle was used so that the children could appreciate what these animals look like, and how big they can get. Other topics touched upon were those of habitat, predators and why it is that they are endangered. Ecological Calendar: June 2005 World Environment Day – June 5, 2005 World Environment Day was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 and is hosted every year by a different city presenting an international exposition throughout the week of June 5. The UN uses World Environment Day to “stimulate awareness of the environment and enhance political attention and public action.” For the first time in history the majority of the world’s inhabitants now live in urban areas. With this in mind, the focus for 2005 was on urban environmental issues and “Green Cities”. For more information about World Environment Day, click here. World Oceans Day – June 8, 2005 World Oceans Day was first recognized during the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, its purpose being to raise public awareness concerning the role that the oceans play in all our lives. Over 60% of the world’s population live within 100 kilometers of a coastline. Local recognition and celebration of World Oceans Day is critical at this time with our oceans in serious danger. Most of the world’s 17 major ocean fisheries are in decline, important coastal habitats are disappearing at an alarming rate, and coral ecosystems are experiencing unprecedented deterioration. For more information regarding World Oceans Day, click here. Congratulations all of you who have adopted a mother turtle, nest or baby! We have started posting some of your adoption photos on the CEA site. Be sure to take a look. You can still participate by adopting online or in person at the CEA Center. It is a great way to help support our Marine Turtle Program. Please continue to tell your friends about CEA! Many CEA Members join after being referred to CEA by people like you. If you have questions about how you can become more involved, please contact us. The Yucatan Environmental Foundation is the U.S. 501(c)(3) fiscal agent for CEA. All donations made through YEF for CEA are tax-deductible in the U.S. If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, or simply need to contact CEA, please click here.