Climate change and viaducts threaten canyon forests

Once considered a place of adventure and play for many generations, the canyon and its slopes are now considered a bastion of environmental balance, but they are at risk of losing their relevance in modern urban life. Climate change and even construction companies are at the top of the list of threats.

Experts in urban and environmental issues ensure that it is important to understand that these spaces represent alternatives for connection with nature and recreation, as well as being an important source of ecological benefits for cities.

As urban sprawl and dramatic climate change seem to devour every available space, electromagnetic fields become an essential element of sustainable development. Scholars argue that promoting their protection and proper use is not only a wise environmental strategy, but also a way to preserve urban character and quality of life.

(frasepzp1)

Marco Cerezo, founder and director of Fundaeco, explained that the strip is not only an environmental proposal, but actually one to make the city “climate-adapted”.

“In the context of climate change, metropolitan areas will face huge planning challenges; that is why this zone is worrying because the temptation to build viaducts in practically all the canyons will be huge, and that is where the only recharge space for urban aquifers is. If we waterproof the canyons and cut down forests, we will accelerate water stress in cities and the loss of metropolitan aquifers,” he warned.

(embedded in pzp1)

Environmental Services

Trees are the main natural conduits of water in different ecosystems. Gully forests cover 42% of the city and play an important role in directing resources to wells.

Gabriel Valle, director of the metropolitan chapter of Fundaeco, points out that one of the most important environmental services of these forests is water. «The forest is like a sponge, it absorbs rainwater and drains it away slowly, slowly reaching the surface; although there is always normal water runoff, it is this penetration into the subsoil that is the most significant, and this is the water recharge that will feed these caves.

The landscape is also an environmental service that the canyon provides to citizens and tourism. The flora and fauna (about 130 species) that inhabit these ecosystems create a green panorama between the various areas of the region. “Tourists marvel at the incredible landscapes and the volcanoes that decorate us,” comments Valle. The one of Agua and the one of Acatenango portray the city and the surrounding forest in great beauty.

Since the CEM covers the entire city, these landscapes can form accessible ecological parks. In this regard, Cerezo stressed: “The vision of this belt, when creating this concept, is to provide the metropolitan area with a system of natural areas protected by various conservation and management plans, guaranteeing the sustainable production of environmental services, “part of improving the quality of life and becoming a core feature of the city’s identity and appearance.”

“Imagine a hundred eco-parks in a ravine, and it makes sense in this city; if we could all have a ravine 300 meters from our house, that would be great because there would be one everywhere,” he said.
In other words, recreation is a third environmental service provided by these forests.

(embedded in pzp2)

Last but not least is the air. The more trees there are, the better the air quality. So, Valle remembers, the air you breathe in a place with more trees is completely different from the city center where there are not many trees.

Construction and Risk

While the green landscape of the canyon adorns the surroundings, you can also see the facades of hundreds of houses built on the slopes. This risk has become a tragedy, especially during the rainy season.

In this sense, since the creation of the Guatemala City Territorial Plan (POT) in 2008, the city has been divided into zones according to their use. POT zones G0 and G1 cover gullies and gully slopes. Since then, the use of this territory has been regulated due to environmental risks and impacts. However, new construction is increasingly occurring in these areas.

(frasepzp2)

“The POT prohibits any development related to human habitability, as well as any infrastructure that does not contribute to the preservation of the ecosystem,” said architect and city councillor Ninotchka Matute.

So why are new buildings still being approved? Matute recalled that when he questioned the situation in the mayor’s office before he joined the city council, the permits were allegedly authorized before 2008.

“Even if it is, because so much time has passed for any project, the permit expires and they have to get another permit that requires an environmental permit that prohibits construction in the area. In addition, these areas are also at high risk of landslides and floods. So, like everything in Guatemala, the legislation exists but it is not enforced,” he lamented.

(embedded in pzp3)

environmental impact

The attraction of the canyon also lies in the ease of moving from one place to another. Therefore, the construction of houses and even roads is planned, such as the project called Corredor Verde SA, which aims to connect Mixco to Guatemala City through a toll road.

But is this really beneficial and effective?

Without protecting these sectors, citizens may not be able to enjoy the environmental services they already provide.

First, the soil is water-repellent, which makes recharging water a risk. Matute explains: “If the paddy fields (trees) that return water to the earth are cut down, our groundwater will be depleted and 99% of our surface water rivers are already polluted. Without water, we will have to start hunting further afield.”

Cerezo also pointed out some of the repercussions of such proposals. “The most serious thing is the precedent, which could be an existential threat to the future of the CEM, because if every private owner and every developer wants to build a private viaduct, we will lose all the canyons. Our position is not absolutely against viaducts, but we do ask that they be planned with a metropolitan vision and that only those bridges be built that are necessary and that really contribute to sustainable mobility.

Fundaeco’s director of territorial planning, Karen Aguilar, added that it’s not just about waterproofing, but how to change the runoff and drainage, because that will ultimately lead to disasters elsewhere.

Michelle Tercero and Jorge Aragón, researchers at the Rafael Landivar University’s Institute of Natural Sciences and Technology (Iarna), are authors of the following paper A recent articlecalls for a rethinking of these concessions to non-urbanized lands, especially since the environmental costs to metropolises outweigh the benefits of reduced roads.

Road selection range

Traffic is becoming increasingly congested and solutions are needed. CEM has attracted many people to free up vehicle traffic, but experts have proposed some options that may be more effective.

Manfredo Corado, president of the Urban Architects and Urban Planners Association, explained that before considering projects such as green corridors, it is necessary to think about how to channel heavy traffic; then multimodal alternatives, that is, to provide people with different modes of transportation, such as bicycles, buses, etc.

It also suggests creating sub-centres. “Construction can be targeted at sub-centres, suburban cities where there is housing, health services, leisure and work,” he explained.

Matute and Cerezo agree that it is possible to take advantage of the canyons and their shortened distances to create bicycle-pedestrian paths. “We know that the city has a problem of viability and mobility, but this mobility must be gentle: bicycle-pedestrian bridges between the canyons. Such a bridge would allow us to leave District 7, cross the Eric Barrondo Park, pass the General Cemetery and reach District 1, for example,” Cerezo says.

“If the canyon becomes a bridge that connects us, it will be an efficient, healthy and sustainable alternative for mobility,” Matute concluded.

In some ecological parks, such as Salayá in Mixco or Sakerti in Region 7, you can see paths between trees that follow the canyons to the river, thus connecting the area around the basin.

Conservation of the CEM is positioned as a green bet for the city because of the environmental services and transport options it provides, all without resorting to construction projects that change its nature.