“The area of vegetation affected by the fire in the Biosphere Reserve of “Los Petenes” will take at least five years to recover”, said César Uriel Romero Herrera, director of this Reserve that is managed by the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Conanp), stressing that the damage could’ve been greater if the mangroves were burned.
The biologist explained that the recovery of the mangrove would be a slower process since it would take decades for this type of natural resource to be fully recovered, and added, “it is fundamental to understand the importance of our ecosystems and know that within the Biosphere ‘Los Petenes’ there is a diversity of living beings, that depend on each other and make up a system and all of them have a specific task for the preservation of life”.
He stated that fortunately, due to the coordination of the different institutions that exist in the state, it was possible to stop this big magnitude fire in “Los Petenes” before it could reach the mangrove, and even when some plants and animals were lost, there were no human casualties.
“These fires close to the population in other parts of the world usually leave loss of human lives. However, here in Campeche the situation was different, because thanks to the good job of the local authorities, there were no human casualties, intoxications by smoke inhaling or anything like that, despite the proximity of the fire with the urban area,” Romero Herrera concluded.
TYT Newsroom with information from Conanp