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The Malpaso Dam 12 years ago.
Photo: Alejandro Linares Garcia via wikimedia
CC BY-SA 3.0
(San Cristobal de las Casas, June 15, 2023, educationaxaca).- The Malpaso dam is the third largest water reservoir in Mexico after the La Angostura and Chicoasén I dams. Due to the persistent heat and severe drought in Chiapas, the water level of the dams has dropped to record levels. The Netzahualcoyotl Dam, better known as Malpaso, has now uncovered the ruins of a 16th-century Dominican church that had been submerged by the construction of the dam at Quechula. Many tourists are enthusiastic, but local residents are concerned. The fact that the water level can sink so much due to climate influences reveals the vulnerability of thousands of villagers who make a living from animal husbandry or fishing. Now there is no more grazing land, no income can be hoped for from fishing; instead, people with crushing Many Latin American countries have large debts to the World Bank called external debt. The International Monetary Fund stipulates government austerity measures to pay off the debt, which lead to the dismantling of public infrastructure. Such a debt spiral also occurs with private debt. Many households go into debt to purchase goods and increasingly to ensure survival (food, rent, health, education). In particular, women are considered very creditworthy and are often heavily indebted. Argentine theorist Veronika Gago speaks of "financial extractivism" and disciplining women who are a "pledge of obedience" into the future and take on even more precarious jobs to pay off the debt.
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Die vier extremsten Dürre-Stufen sind angeblich noch nicht erreicht
Über 120 Fischzüchter*innen der Region von Quechula haben alles verloren, ihre Käfige und ihre Fische, und sitzen nun auf einem Schuldenberg in Höhe von 500.000 Pesos pro Person [weit über 25,000 Euro]. In her opinion, the fault for the misery is not only the drought but also the poor water management of the Federal Commission for Electricity (CFE). “The flooding of the region has left us with nothing, we have no land, we depend 100 percent on water and now we have this pile of debt. What should we do?” The state drought monitor MAM explains that the entire Chiapas region is currently suffering from an “extraordinarily dry” climate, but that the four most intense stages of the drought have not yet been reached. The climatic situation is also causing difficulties for agriculture in other regions of Chiapas. Journalist Isaín Mandujano reports on his Twitter account: “A friend of mine, a farmer who knows the country, said to me: If it doesn’t rain in the central valleys region of Chiapas in the next few days, we have to go with it disastrous effects on livestock and agriculture. He told me that the cows are starving because there is nothing left to eat. And the few farmers who have money are starting to buy the pasture land that has at least something growing on it to save their herds.”
In light of the nationwide heat wave, the importance of sustainable agricultural practices that also help adapt to global warming. Climate change refers to the human-caused (or anthropogenic) warming of the earth. The current change in the global climate is mainly caused by the so-called greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor. Climate-active carbon dioxide is primarily emitted through the burning of fossil fuels (methane), including through agriculture, animal husbandry and landfills. Deforestation increases global warming, while afforestation can mitigate it. The consequences of climate change are melting glaciers and rising sea levels, and depending on the region, increasingly severe storms, heat waves and droughts.
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Chiapas drought hits fisheries and agriculture by News Pool Latin America is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 international.