Team:Tec-Monterrey/Human Practices
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Human Practices
Introduction
Action Plan
Journey
Integrated
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Introduction
The principles of universality and indivisibility under which human rights are grounded, establish that protection and fundamental rights must be guaranteed for all human beings regardless of ethnicity, age, gender, or income. Today the rights to life and health of agricultural communities, children, farmworkers, animals, and many other vulnerable groups are abused by our excessive reliance on pesticides. There is overwhelming evidence that the use of pesticides in agricultural production and industrial waste have major impact on water quality due to its runoff towards canals, streams, rivers, and lakes. Protection from the exposure to dangerous substances is neither a privilege, nor charity, this is why we emphasize transition to safer and healthier models of agricultural production and waste treatment. This requires adequate approaching to the problem.
Monitoring data from pesticides and heavy metals can represent a big problem especially in developing countries, due to the cost of analysis and the need to sample at important times of the year. People often have difficulty carrying out analysis due to impure reagents, inappropriate facilities and financial barriers. It is imperative to find new techniques to reduce costs and increase reliability of the procedures. We’ll briefly describe the activities, meetings, and experiences that built the foundation of our Human Practices.
Developing the Action Plan
Chiapas and Tabasco are homes to the largest indigenous populations in Mexico. These communities have economies primarily based on the cultivation of corn, coffee, mangos, and beans. A member of our team had been reading Chiapas’ local newspaper for a while and told us something which concerned us all. Hydrological pollution has been present in Southern Mexico due to the incorrect management of urban, industrial, and agrochemical waste. These carelessness for the environment has led to the death of fish, birds and manatees, all within a very short period of time. Furthermore, at least 200 people have been reported to have lacerations and wounds on their skin due to exposure of lead and cadmium.
After discussing and pondering the effects of the environmental problematic, we decided to approach stakeholders and the communities affected. A member of our team, Sofía, lived in Chiapas for a very long period of time. She had the first contact with governmental and non-governmental organizations, she travelled to Chiapas with one purpose; to develop the action plan to assess the severity of the problem.
Meeting with the Citizen Council of Tuxtla Gutiérrez
Sofía attended a meeting with people from Cecropia, an organization that takes care of global problems at a local scale, Concretos Modernos del Sur, a cement factory and the Environmental and Public Spaces Commission. After discussing the severity of the problem, Cecropia gladly agreed provide coordinates of locations reported to have dangerous concentrations of hazardous compounds such as heavy metals, nitrates, and phosphates.
Figure 1: Sofía at Café de Chiapas with Juan Carlos Franco and Nancy (CECROPIA), Fernando Ochoa Guillén (Concretos Modernos del Sur), and a representant of the Environmental and Public Spaces Commission.
Counseling and logistics planning with National Commission of Protected Natural Areas
Sofía spoke with Adrián Méndez Barrera, the Regional Director of Southern Frontier, Istmo and South Pacific, and José Velázquez Martínez, Director of the Risk Management unit. They got organized about the sample gathering and the logistics of the journey. After two weeks, they finished planning the trip. It was going to take place on the last week of july.
Figure 2: Sofía with Adrián Mendez Barrera, Regional Director of CONANP.
Sofía and José Velázquez Martínez were in contact for two months, gathering information about the coordinates that were going to be analyzed and the best way to make the trip. They set the dates, times and roads for the journey to be as efficient and productive as possible. We must say that without the priceless help of CONANP, this journey would have been possible. Everyone was willing to help and they were happy we had the initiative to assess the environmental problem the community was facing.
Figure 3: Sofía with José Velázquez, Director of the Risk Management unit.
Final Action Plan
Based on the news we have read and the conversations we had, our team decided a small part of it would travel to Chiapas and Tabasco to gather samples from locations provided by people from Cecropia. Not only did we identify the problem, but we decided to get a closer approach and get directly involved.
The Journey
From now on we'll start talking to you as Human Practices team, conformed by Samantha, Alan, Nora, Nufo and Sofía. We started our journey on the last week of July, travelling around 1,736 km to get there. It was a big challenge for us; everyday we would drive at least 7 hours by car to get to the samples locations, but we were never alone. From the moment we touched the ground at Tabasco until we took our plane back to Monterrey, partners, workers, family, and friends were supporting us. Hadn't we had the help from Martín Hernández and Félix Gómez, our sample gathering simply wouldn't have taken place.
Figure 4: Human Practices team with Martín Hernández and Félix Gómez. Valuable friends and unforgettable partners.
First day, July the 24rd
Our first stop was at Reserva Natural de la Biósfera, Pantanos de Centla, where the natives have found bodies of manatees. Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers converge and the joint area is about 117,000 millions of squared meters of water. We used a motor boat to get to the center of the enormous water body.
We took the water samples very carefully while on the boat. The whole team was taking care of something, gathering the bottles, putting nitric acid, gloves, measuring pH and actual temperature. The sample gathering was done based on the Mexican norm NOM-230-SSA1-2002, Salud ambiental. Agua para uso y consumo humano, requisitos sanitarios que se deben cumplir en los sistemas de abastecimiento públicos y privados durante el manejo del agua. Procedimientos sanitarios para el muestreo.
Figure 5: Samantha retrieving a water sample from Pantanos de Centla.
We spoke with the habitants of that zone. They expressed their worries with us concerning the chemical pollution of the rivers. "We hope we have the chance to avoid the death of more manatees, we have to speak with the responsible of the safety of this Natural Reserve".
Figure 6: Human Practices team before the sample gathering at Pantanos de Centla.
Second day, July the 25th
We traveled to two locations that day, the town of Pomposo Castellanos and Villa de Acala. Luis Enrique Escobar Cruz, the person in charge of Protection and Restoration of Selva el Ocote Natural Reserve, came with us to the sample gathering at Pomposo Castellanos. Then, we drove for 7 hours to get to Villa de Acala accompanied by Martin Hernandez Martinez. Thanks to them, we had an appropriate approach to the zone and the people.
The samples were taken from the surface of the water body and treated afterwards with nitric acid and kept on ice during the whole trip. The pH was measured and it was 7, appropriate and safe according to the norm.
Figure 7: Alan taking water sample at Pomposo Castellanos.
We spoke with Luis Enrique on our way to Villa de Acala. He has been working for at least 10 years with Ambio Cooperative on the water sample gathering area of Grijalva River. He told us about the well-done agricultural practices they do in Pomposo Castellanos, however, his team has found unsafe discharges of urban waste, corpses and plastic on some locations of the river.
Figure 8: Luis Enrique explaining Nora and Samantha the severity of the environmental issue.
After taking the samples at Pomposo Castellanos, we got in the car and continued our journey. The next point was located in the town of Villa de Acala, where there is more unregulated agricultural activity and a greater incidence of hazardous pesticide use. On our way to the Grijalva river, we found two children taking a bath in the water. We told them who we were and what we were doing and they came with us to the sample gathering.
We were told there has been raining a lot recently, this is why we couldn't use a boat to get to the center of the river. We decided to take the sample at the shore. Samantha measured the pH of the water and we found a pH of 8, indicating high levels of alkalinity and contamination.
Figure 9: Alan taking a water sample of Grijalva river at Villa de Acala.
We asked a man that lived in Villa de Acala about the activities done. He told us his people spent their lives dedicated to the primary sector of economy, fishing, agriculture and farming. Villa de Acala is also called Place of canoes.
Figure 10: Nora and Sofía asking about the main activities done in the village.
Third and last day, July the 26th
On our last day, we went under the bridge of San Cristóbal de las Casas highway, where a part of river Grijalva flows. We also travelled to Lagos de Montebello Natural Reserve, located near La Trinitaria town. We have been told that the color of the lakes of Lagos de Montebello Reserve have been changing for a while now, they are known for having a bright deep blue, one lake is even called Bosque Azul.
The team took the water samples from Rio Grijalva river under the bridge. It was a bit dangerous because we had to climb and go through a rough road. The pH of this location was 7.
Figure 11: Human Practices team taking water samples under the bridge.
Climbing all the way back to the top was difficult for us. We had to be extra careful because we were carrying the water samples inside a cooler. Martín Hernández was of great help because he had experience on those roads and he never took us out of his sight.
Figure 12: Samantha, Nufo, and Alan climbing to get to the top of the world.
After taking the samples under the brigde of San Cristóbal de las Casas highway, we got inside the car and went to the village of La Trinitaria, where the Natural Reserve Lagos de Montebello can be found. We spoke with the natives and they told us they didn't use any motor boats, because they wanted to keep the lakes as clean as possible. This is why we used a canoe to get to the sample location.
We took the samples carefully while we were on the canoe. Children and workers from the Reserve came with us and we told them about the project and how we were measuring pH. We told them about the importance of the chemical pollution and they told us about the activities they did.
Figure 13: Martin and Human Practices team taking the sample at Laguna Encantada.
On the Reserve, they spend their time on tourism activities. Because of the beautiful colours of the lakes, many people from all over the world visit the Reserve. However, for the past few years they realised the color of the lake went from deep blue, to green. They were really worried because they knew that would affect the amount of people that would come to the Reserve.
Figure 14: Martin and the Human Practices team returning to the top of the mountain.
"I've lived here for 58 years and I have seen how the color of the lakes has changed, now the lakes look muddy rather that the beautiful blue color it had before". The villagers have the hypothesis that it might be due to the use of agrochemicals in nearby crops or the urban waste coming from the village Comitán de Domínguez, located a few kilometers away.
Figure 15: Comparison between Laguna Encantada and Bosque Azul.
Integrated Human Practices
When we came back to Monterrey, the samples were analysed in our laboratories with chromatographic and spectrophotometric methods. We were surprised with the results, it turns out the concentrations of nitrates, phosphates, cadmium, and lead was surprisingly within the limits of the Mexican norm. This concerned the whole team, even though we knew the pollution problem was real, alarming and happening at Southern Mexico, our results showed us something completely different. We decided to speak again with Cecropia.
Conversation with Cecropia about the obtained results
They were as surprised as us, but we got to the realisation that the samples were taken at the surface of every body of water and not at a deeper depth, and that might have been the reason why the concentrations turned out to be like that.
Figure 16: Gabriel Franco from Cecropia with Human Practices team.
Conversation with Concretos Modernos del Sur
We shared our results with the cement factory. They told us monitoring compounds from pesticides can be really difficult due to the analysis needed and the treatment of the samples. They emphasised that it was imperative to find a new way to detect the presence of these compounds, in order to act upon the problem. Fernando Ochoa and Alejandro Escanero showed us a geomembrane that they use in their constructions, this can be used to delimit the zones that can be potentially polluted by the runoff of pollutants.
Figure 17: Human Practices team with Concretos Modernos del Sur.
Final thoughts
The Journey gave us a real approach to the issue. We got to talk to villagers, experts, workers, and children about this issue. We identified the need to transition to more sustainable models that will be consistent with human rights, in order to ensure a future where agricultural production does not threaten our social, cultural and physical well-being. This requires an innovative way of tracking. With the implementation of our system, E. coding, we could have reached deeper depths and more extreme conditions, in order to obtain reliable results.
We attempt to use E. coding in a environmental application, but E. coding can be so much more than that. An important shift is underway, not only in how we can detect compounds but how we store this information.
Water Samples From The World
We want to thank the teams who shared with us the concentrations of different pollutants in their homes. Our main purpose is to create awareness of the unsafe use of pesticides and exposure to pollutants, in order to build a future where our economic activities do not threaten human rights and the health of vulnerable groups.
Chiapas
Estonia
Israel
Marseille
Munich
