Chiapas: aerial photos reveal tragic deforestation in the Lacandon jungle

On the picture made by Santiago Arau You can see both sides of the Lacantún River in Chiapas. In one, the Lacandon Jungle it raises leafy trees, ceibas centenarians who are refuge saraguatos scandalous monkeys and give shade to the flight of macaws, parrots or toucans. On the other hand, the land is fragmented and deforestation is evident.

The forest ecosystem, according to data from the Natura Mexicana Association, originally occupied about one million 800,000 hectares, which were reduced to less than one-third. At the present time, the causes are the transformation of the pens for livestock and agricultural crops for self-consumption.

Although the Mexican state has decreed the territory as a protected natural area since 1978, there are other occupation-related problems there and thousands of these hectares are now abandoned because of their unproductiveness and infertilitywhich means that its population continues to become poorer.

The green part of the picture corresponds to the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, which is where the largest number of species are kept in Mexico. It is home to the last healthy populations of many species, many of which are endangered, such as tapir, jaguar, white-tailed boar and scarlet macaw.

The deforested area visible in the photo is part of the municipality of Marqués de Comillas. According to UZ Iztapalapa's biological and health scientists, the government has fomented the occupation of this territory since the 1970s after the resettlement of thousands of peasants from different states of the country.

Due to its weak relationship with the environment, subjects who arrived in the area did not know the use of tropical ecosystems, which explains the specialists, "caused that, with the support of the governmental agricultural policies, the new inhabitants deforestaran accelerated their new lands covered with forest. In addition,
vegetation includes riparian vegetation, which determines significant changes in the channels and in aquatic wildlife populations"

However, deforestation is not the only problem facing the inhabitants of Marqués de Comillas. According to the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval), the living condition of this population is considered very poor. In fact, only two ejidos in the municipality are considered moderately poor and
is the place where the economic activities related to the services are carried out.

Acting on the government's environmental concerns, Julia Carabias and Enrique Provencio have written for Este País magazine that, from 2015 to date, the budget allocated to the environment has decreased by 61%. Semarnat, 60% for Conagua and 70% for the National Forestry Commission.

In the field of conservation of protected natural areas, specialists perceive a critical situation since since 2016, the budget allocated to the National Commission for Protected Natural Areas (Conanp) has decreased considerably. In 2017, the reduction was 24% and this year almost 28%.

It is essential that specialists increase the budget allocated to protected natural areas because they contribute to "conservation of biodiversity and its sustainable use, promotes local social well-being and maintains traditional knowledge".