Foundation for the Environmental Conservation,
the Human Health, the Social Development of Maya Communities
in Poverty of Yucatan Peninsule, Mexico
The Mayan communities live in an environment of poverty and with high degrees of contamination in the water of their cenotes and underground aquifer, with organochlorine pesticides (DDT, heptachlor, lindane, endosulfan, aldrin, endrin, dieldrin) which are carcinogenic and cause malformations congenital, also heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Hg, As) and high levels of pathogenic bacteria. Pollutants are above the maximum residue limits allowed by official regulations.
The support of international organizations is required to implement multidisciplinary projects for sustainable human development, in conditions of globalization, inequality, segregation and climate change.
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Combat against poverty
The Mayan communities of the state of Yucatan, Mexico, have the following social characteristics: 25% of the population have incomplete primary education, 10% are illiterate, 13% have no drainage or bath, 43% live in overcrowding, more 50% of the employed population survives with 1 or 2 dollars a day. Lack of employment, education, health, temporary agriculture of monoculture corn in poor soils, drowned in climate change, are factors that predispose the conditions of extreme poverty, access to food.
Sustainable participatory community projects are required, based on the empowerment of new forms of sustainable agricultural activities with the environment and human groups.
Food
The Mayan communities are going through a critical period due to socio-environmental conditions. In the state there is high child malnutrition. It is necessary to implement sustainable agriculture projects, combining environmental elements so that biological interactions allow obtaining food in a sustainable way, with high protein content, based on agroecological foundations, agroforestry systems and integral pest management.
There are viable alternatives for the diversification of maize monoculture, such as agrosilvopastoral systems, aquaculture projects, the use of local forest species.
WATER
The Maya area of Yucatán is an area of extreme vulnerability to groundwater contamination and disease proliferation. Among the main problems is deforestation, karst or stony soils that allow easy filtration of all types of contaminants into groundwater through productive activities.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352801X18300055
Water is contaminated with high levels of carcinogenic pesticides such as DDT, lindane, heptachlor.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/wej.12080
Likewise, socio-environmental studies are carried out by use and management of the carcinogenic glyphosate herbicide.
https://medcraveonline.com/MOJBB/MOJBB-05-00115
Bioaccumulation studies reveal high levels of pesticides in the blood of Mayan women with cancer and in breast milk.
There is no infrastructure for sanitation or for the production of drinking water with quality for human consumption.
Water and Climate Change
The Mayan area is the area of the country that has the highest volume of groundwater. However, recent studies have shown that its chemical quality is not appropriate, it is found in various areas contaminated with organochlorine pesticides, which are persistent organic pollutants (POPs), heavy metals, organic matter, nitrates. The sustainable management and conservation of water, of this important resource for life, must have an important weight for the preservation of the water resource and regional development of the Mayan communities, as well as of the urban areas of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Scenarios of climate change and erosion on the Mayan coasts of the Yucatan Peninsula are a reality today. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/wej.12080/abstract
Territorial Development
In the state of Yucatán there are more than 2 thousand locations in 106 municipalities. This territorial dispersion produces a segregation or isolation of many Mayan communities, surviving away from health services, education, employment.
Community territorial planning for the use of local resources will be important for these Mayan communities in extreme poverty.
The application of GIS (Geographic Information System) technologies allows development based on the territory's skills.
Health Education
Lack of education prevents the development of countries in transition. In the Mayan area 25% of its population have incomplete primary. The use of participatory research tools such as community workshops will be important to mitigate this problem, using multimedia tools for the generation and shared assimilation of knowledge.
The state of Yucatán currently suffers from various health problems, such as fetal and infant death, congenital malformations, various cancers, being above the national average. Research on health and the environment is currently being carried out, specifically with endocrine disruptors, such as organochlorine pesticides.