Islas Marietas, new biosphere reserve El Universal | Translation by Eduardo Rincón-Gallardo
Photos by Amilcar Levi Cupul Magaña - March 2008
The Marietas Islands, located in the western coast of Mexico, were declared a reserve of the biosphere by UNESCO. The reserve has been included in the list after UNESCO’s International Coordination Council for the program Man and Biosphere (MAB) analyzed the information on them.
Together with the Marietas Islands, the MAB Council, meeting since February in Madrid, also included the reserve of Rostovsky, located southeast of Russia’s Rostov region, in the list of Biosphere’s Reserves. With these two inclusions, the list of reserves now contains 531 reserves spread in 105 countries.
The Marietas Islands, Mexico now holds 36 of UNESCO’s reserves and the fifth position in the world for the number of protected spaces after the United States, Russia, Spain and China.
The organization emphasized the wealth of this small archipelago, formed by two islands and two islets that imply a “converging zone between the marine spaces of the center and south Mexican Pacific”.
It is an important place for scientific investigation as it shelters numerous species of corals and is characterized by having several tunnels and caves. Including 4 mammals’ species, 94 birds’ species and 115 species of fish, the reserve constitutes a space of “critical importance” for the reproduction of endangered species, such as the humpback whale.
Although they are not hosts to human life, these Mexican littoral communities represent a great fishing tradition of the zone which in the latest years has developed a vocation for eco-tourism, mainly underwater, as its source of income.
As far as Rostovsky’s reserve is concerned, UNESCO highlighted its great diversity of species, 460 plants, over 30 mammals and 219 birds, located on a traditional zone of migration between west Siberia, Russia’s European zone, the north of Africa and the Middle East. Email to a friend
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The Marietas Islands, located in the western coast of Mexico, were declared a reserve of the biosphere by UNESCO. The reserve has been included in the list after UNESCO’s International Coordination Council for the program Man and Biosphere (MAB) analyzed the information on them.
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