The climate crisis affecting the Baja California peninsula is causing the disappearance of kelp forests. Civil organizations report that in the last 10 years, more than 70 percent of these important ecosystems have been lost. These forests are crucial for producing the oxygen we breathe on the planet. They also serve as nurseries for marine species, which depend on these forests to reproduce.
“These ecosystems are very important for the existence of all species, such as abalone and lobster. They all have great value in nature. If we don’t have healthy forests, we don’t have these species; it creates a vicious cycle, and we are becoming depleted of everything,” María Ecléctica, founder and president of Mujeres por el Mar (Women for the Sea), a group dedicated to the research and preservation of marine species in Baja California, told La Jornada.
The degradation of these forests is due to pollution, climate change, the sea urchin plague, and warming waters, among other factors. “I started diving on October 12, 2020. I’ve explored the kelp forests of the Baja California peninsula and the United States and have witnessed their decline year after year. I monitor the kelp for the Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education in Ensenada, and I’ve seen firsthand how it’s degrading. We need a national plan that brings together all sectors: academia, fishing, the media—everyone.”
The founder of Mujeres por el Mar (Women for the Sea) pointed out that various studies have been conducted in the Pacific Ocean; however, there is no funding to continue, and she called for investment with committed scientists to protect the kelp forests. “Once these resources are lost, no one has been able to repopulate them, not even nature. Repopulation is much more expensive than conservation.
It’s a national catastrophe that we should all be talking about, and I don’t know why we aren’t,” she stated. Mujeres por el Mar was founded in 2022, organizing beach cleanups, collecting mostly household waste. Maria concludes: “This loss of kelp forests is multifactorial. We can’t just blame corporate pollution or the government; it involves all of us.”
Source: jornada
