Team:Tec-Monterrey/Human Practices
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Human Practices
Introduction
Monterrey
Chiapas
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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 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. Developing countries 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 the 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 that concerned us all. Hydrological pollution has been present in Southern Mexico due to the incorrect management of urban, industrial, and agrochemical waste. These problematics have been announced with the death of fish, birds and manatees in 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. Discussing the severity of the problem, they agreed Cecropia would gladly 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 had planned the trip 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 efficient and as productive as possible. We must say that without the priceless help of CONANP, nothing 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 rives converge and the flue 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 mortality of 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 went 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 at the town of Villa de Acala, where there is more unregulated agricultural activity and a big concentration 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.
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 mortality of manatees, we have to speak with the responsible of the safety of this Natural Reserve".
Figure 12: Samantha, Nufo, and Alan climbing to get to the top of the world, I mean road.
After taking the samples at Pomposo Castellanos, we got in the car and continued our Journey. The next point was located at the town of Villa de Acala, where there is more unregulated agricultural activity and a big concentration 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.
Figure 1: Normal Table with values
Integrated Human Practices
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Figure 1: Normal Table with values
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Figure 1: Normal Table with values
Water Samples From The World
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Prototype
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nisi ac sapien vehicula lobortis. Suspendisse quis libero at turpis venenatis bibendum sit amet at purus. Aliquam
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ligula id purus convallis euismod. Vestibulum dignissim ante id tortor dapibus feugiat non eget ligula. Sed sit amet
nisi ac sapien vehicula lobortis. Suspendisse quis libero at turpis venenatis bibendum sit amet at purus. Aliquam
interdum puru non mollis molestie. Mauris quis felis vitae neque ornare commodo at id sapien. Vestibulum mattis id
libero at suscipit.
Figure 1: Normal Table with values
Content Continues
erat. Phasellus et lorem mauris. Integer sit amet elit sed risus fermentum mollis eu eu mi. Praesent vestibulum
ligula id purus convallis euismod. Vestibulum dignissim ante id tortor dapibus feugiat non eget ligula. Sed sit amet
nisi ac sapien vehicula lobortis. Suspendisse quis libero at turpis venenatis bibendum sit amet at purus. Aliquam
interdum puru non mollis molestie. Mauris quis felis vitae neque ornare commodo at id sapien. Vestibulum mattis id
libero at suscipit.
References
[1] Autor. (Year). Paper title. Magazine, volume(magazine number), pages. DOI or WEBPAGE
[1] Johnes G.M., Bails J. (2009). The Paper of Biology. McBookity Papers, 78(3), 215-200. DOI: 919kjaij19san.