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Editorials | Environmental | June 2005
Situation Grim for Ecology Guillermina Guillén - El Universal
On World Environment Day, the federal government's evaluation of the nation is grim: landfills are overflowing, most of the countryside is eroded due to over-logging and delicate eco-systems are threatened by industrial waste.
According to the Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat (Semarnat), in 50 years Mexico will have lost half of its remaining forests, and, along with it, much of the nation's biodiversity. This biodiversity has yet to be completely catalogued Semarnat says new species of fungus, bacteria, invertebrates and microscopic organisms could be found.
Mexico's water supply is another critical area. Aquifers are sinking and fresh water is becoming increasingly scarce, the department warns. In 15 years, the nation could face a water crisis.
Air quality is also on the decline. According to Mario Molina, who won a Nobel Prize in 1995 for his research on air pollution and is heading a 10-year project to improve the capital's atmosphere, local governments don't have the political willpower to enact important changes.
One of the most pressing needs is to remove sulfur from the nation's gasoline which would cost US2 billion dollars.
Molina said mortality rates related to respiratory rates would continue to rise until action is taken. |
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