11/10/03 There were two meetings; one Charles and I attended was in Cancún. Amigos de Sian Ka’an ran the meeting and it was very enlightening and informative about preserving water quality in the peninsula and its biodiversity. Being about water quality, which is our area of attention and expertise, we just had to be there. These kinds of meetings have been taking place regularly and the direct players of the water quality issue from government, for instance, as well as universities and NGOs are participating in the same way, too. The urgent need to stop the exponential advance of groundwater contamination and the consequent impact on coastal areas and the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef is detonating changes in people’s minds about new and alternative ways to treat waste and wastewater. I can see this transformation coming soon; we, CEA, are part of it all.

The second meeting took place here at CEA’s headquarters, and it was a second meeting with, and this is the cool part of it, only residents and workers from Akumal. It was made to elect the Committee of Environmental Guards. The attendance was important; about 30 people came and all this happened as a result of the jet skis issue, recently resolved. Personnel from PROFEPA (the executive branch of the Secretaria del Medio Ambiente –SEMARNAT-) were here at the first meeting we told you about before. They arranged for us to meet by ourselves and make these elections. They will be back to formally install this committee on November 21.

The meeting shows that not only CEA’s personnel are interested in environmental preservation, but the residents and workers have taken forward steps by digesting our informative efforts, too. A president, secretary, and the whole office including the Guardias (guards) were elected and CEA has the honor of having the presidency of this committee (ME! I was elected, I can’t believe it!).

President: Emilio Talancón
Secretary: Nadia Mora
Information: Ivan Caballero
Organization: Pablo Díaz
Environmental Education: Leticia Cordova
Development and Dissemination of info: Maria Laurent
Guards: Carlos Danub, Vidal Borges, Samuel Escobar, Pablo Marrufo, Miguel Moreno, Alfredo Tuz

We hope to contribute in a more proactive way in denouncing environmental misconducts, both on coastlands and sea. Everyone here is more than satisfied about everyone else’s participation. I’ll keep you posted on these advances, as they will be happening. Congratulations people of Akumal―the future horizon has widened!