Petition to Save the Micro Atolls of Cozumel - Please Read & Sign

[deborahdelamar]

More information on the atolls and development is reported here: Cozumel 2013 – News Watch

 

[cvchief]

Oh and I signed.

 

[Mike]

Why doesn't the government of Cozumel / Mexican government simply start buying land they want to protect? Buy it and turn it into a conservation easement forever. How many decades did they have to buy the land from the Barbachano family?

Add a $1.00 to the airport departure tax or $1.00 to the marine park fees, or add $1.00 to the cruise ship passenger docking fee, or add a small tax to restaurant bills, and create a conservation fund and start buying up what they want to conserve. In Colorado the state lottery ticket sales fund buying of land to create forever wild conservation easements, it's not really that hard to figure this stuff out, they just need some foresight to do it. Or they can keep doing what they are doing and let the island slip away from what they want it to be. They need to become stewards of their own land or face the consequences.

I'd rather see free market solutions then protests. Somebody has some land they bought and now want to sell it and the only buyer is a developer, I think the government should step up and pay the land owner and then keep it as a conservation park. It's my understanding the huge swath of jungle behind this development is 100 times larger and is all a conservation area already, how did this part end up this way?

 

[WSOPFAN]

Funny last I saw this island was about 99% jungle so how exactly is this little development going to disrupt so much of the wildlife? They can always move somewhere else in the jungle so that claim is totally ridiculous. They still have yet to explain how an inland development is going to even remotely effect those atolls in any way. BTW if those precious little atolls can survive a few serious hurricane hits like have happened in the last few years I am sure they will be fine following a land development. You would think after the millions and millions and millions of dollars pumped into that island from the cruiseship industry the last 10 years the LEAST they could do is pick up the damm trash laying around. Instead they spend the money on specially engraved swallow designs for the main drag street. I am all for preserving reefs and wildlife but I fail to see any proof that such destruction will take place.

 

[Mike]

Funny last I saw this island was about 99% jungle so how exactly is this little development going to disrupt so much of the wildlife? They can always move somewhere else in the jungle so that claim is totally ridiculous. They still have yet to explain how an inland development is going to even remotely effect those atolls in any way. BTW if those precious little atolls can survive a few serious hurricane hits like have happened in the last few years I am sure they will be fine following a land development. You would think after the millions and millions and millions of dollars pumped into that island from the cruiseship industry the last 10 years the LEAST they could do is pick up the damm trash laying around. Instead they spend the money on specially engraved swallow designs for the main drag street. I am all for preserving reefs and wildlife but I fail to see any proof that such destruction will take place.

I think you're a bit naive to the development process, and also the ecological ramifications of mangrove destruction.

 

[DandyDon]

I think you're a bit naive to the development process, and also the ecological ramifications of mangrove destruction.

I agree with that, but I think you expect too much for the government to protect it too.

 

[Mike]

If you say so.

Mexico is in charge of it's own development and ecological management. If not themselves, then who should be?

 

[deborahdelamar]

Some misc. stuff based on your thoughts:

Mexican beachfront, to 20 meters inland of the water at high tide, is Federal property and may be used by private parties via a concession from the Federal government. The concession is temporary and may be revoked at any time. The Federal government charges a fee for the concession each year and the amount varies depending on the specific use of the property and/or the amount and type of construction put on it.

Cozumel doesn't collect a head tax on cruise passengers -- every proposal to establish this has been rejected. Docking fees are paid to the pier owners: Carnival, SSA, and Aviomar.

The Cozumel airport is owned and operated by a publicly-traded corporation, ASUR (Aeropuertos del Sureste) which charges users dearly. Mexican tourist taxes are Federal income.

The Parque Marino is a Federal agency.

Cozumel receives income primarily through business and property taxes, its concessions on the mainland (Xel Ha, Xcaret, Calica), and income sharing.

I don't think the Barbachano family is selling.

 

[annlaur]

[...]
Cozumel receives income primarily through property taxes, its concessions on the mainland (Xel Ha, Xcaret, Calica), and income sharing.

Does this mean Cozumel owns Xel Ha and Xcaret ? If so, how come ? Just curious.

 

[Augustus]

Recent artilce in National Geographic New Watch on the Micro Atoles.
Cozumel 2013 – News Watch