Sullana,
Peru-based small businessman Mario Sarango is worried because the deforestation
and the climate change are risking his business – apiculture. The news is not
new but it is crucial from the sustainability point of view of its
entrepreneurship as well as our whole life. And when I talk about our life, I’m
talking about our life on the Earth.
But
before we go to the very global, let’s try to understand the Sarango’s
preoccupation in a most local sphere, and the best way is remembering our
high-school first grade little classes, or less, when we learned about
ecosystems and food chains.
One
of the most remarkable species in Piura Coast is our kind of carob tree, the Prosopis pallida, that is something like
our national tree. Native of South-American
Central-Western edge, it’s not only is a source of food, fertility, and life,
but its complex system of roots allows to fix the soil and capture the
underwater that sustains the so-called Equatorial Dry Forest while no rain drop
falls from the sky.
And
when the sky hugely loads, the carob trees, in alliance with other tree
species, prevent erosion and keep the fertility levels, plus being the shelter
of a hundred species living among their trunks and branches. Yes, like the waltz sings it.
One
of those species are the bees, those within other things don’t only help to
pollinate everything, then propitiating the growth of our food, but they also
make the whole list of products in their ives, which the honey is just the top
of the iceberg. And that list is the sustain of hundreds of people in our community
who gain their life by caring the environment and giving jobs to other people
and sustaining one of many value chains where even the people who never knew an
ive in their lifetime end to benefit.
Let’s
get back to the pollination issue, the action through the bee, working to
extract the nectar of the flowers for giving to eat its wwwhole community, gets its little paws sticked
with pollen, that tiny mostly yellow dust that once carried to other flower of
the same kind, fals down inside it and allows the fertilization. So, the
formation of a fruit, and that fruit turns in our food… unless the bee enjoys
to eat corn.
If we
take the bee out or eliminate it of the picture, the natural process of
pollination will not be possible, then the formation of fruits either. The
human being can artificially intervene pretending to be a bee (and I’m not
talking about costuming such as a bee), but if there is already a species that
manages this issue efficiently, then there’s no reason why the human being, as
it uses to do, break down that balance.
The
protection of bees doesn’t only mean not killing the bee, although more than a
guy falls in panic because the bite, while others have a justified fear because
an overreacting consequence of the body if that accident came to happen – the
so-called anaphylactic shock.
The
protection of the bees goes through also protecting the spaces it uses like a
house and the spaces where it flows through looking for its food not damaging
anybody, rather the whole opposite.
Here
is where the carob tree plays its part because many bees, due to some good reason,
like to form their ives or their ives to be installed next to the carob trees.
Even, the existence of carob fruits, which starts other value chain that the algarrobina is another iceberg top, highly
depend on pollination that our buddies know to do excellent.
How
are we responsing them in practical terms? We are cutting off the carob trees
for diverse purposes, but the recurrent ones are the expansion of agricultural
surfaces, the horizontal growth of the cities, or the making of coal that it’s
usually consumed by the restaurants offering broaster chicken or the BBQ’s
through many people are looking for extra money.
Our
replacement or reforestation policies of individuals we have cut off are
inexistent in practical terms in spite of many people say to have it written,
or sstill the worst, when it is reforestated, early or fast-growth species aare
used, those are not native of our ecosystem, then what we have is short-term
trees but not integrating to the chain set with the carob tree. If the chain
cuts off, everything cuts off, especially the natural production of food for
human consumption.
And
if that is a bit, in times of climate change, the carob trees cut-off also
seems to be weakening other carob trees. When they don’t find conducive
fertility conditions to blossom their flowers, it’s impossible the individuals
replace each another ones in a natural way, like the carob tree itself were
letting to die. Bad news for the bees because without flowers, they won’t have
pollen to carry. And without pollen, there won’t be fruits neither, so they are
also bad news for the humans.
Here
is the Mario Sarango’s preoccupation: to protect the carob trees and the bees
not much because his business gets protected so, that is a valid purpose since
his business is benefitting the whole community, but the protection of bees and
carob trees suppose the protection of humankind.
As
Sarango has told me, what he has got as an answer are from indifferent attitude
to arrogant attitude at any local or regional government office he has
presented to expose his arguments. And, look, Mario is not any rookie on the
spot because he has experience in funding, authomation, aand where you see him,
he has traveled twice to Australia for having internships those allowed him to
perfectionate in apicultural management. He is also an enthusiastic advocate of
the activity next to other partners
across Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, and Canada, he uses to participate in
advocacy and training activities with all them, and he’s a lover of Sullana’s
traditional tales and our folklore too. Yes, he doesn’t fit quite in the
profile of the average businessman or entrepreneur, as we have in the local
market. And that’s good!
The
problem with Mario, as I said him many times, is this campaign to protect the
carob tree and the beess has not to entirely lay over his shoulders, despite he
has stated on his Facebook posts that he is addressing part of his gains to
reforestate (and somebody should deduct it from taxes in case of success), but
he should be, at least, a province-wide campaign. Forget if the municipality
passes a resolution ruling about because it uses to be useless, although if it
does it is useless either. It should be a commitment of our whole community.
Now
the school is up to begin, for example, a pretty school project could be to
reforestate and sponsor a carob tree. I don’t know, and I wonder, for example,
and look at me releasing a name because
I meet him, former Bellavista’s Councellor and teacher Hary Piedra whose (yes,
he’s going to kill me for uncovering private chatting) I certify the ecologic
issue fascinates him and he has tried to hold campaigns about, during his
administration in that metro district. I think Mario has an excellent ally
there, as he link other district adding to his.
Yes,
I know it’s bad education to point out, but, people, keep the shyness for other
moment and lift up to the adventure of making alliances, damn it. Let’s
continue.
As I
said it in other op-ed, behind his house lives a follower of mine and also
lover of local folklore called Luis Enrique Curay, who is entrepreneur and
athlete too. We also have Sullana Museum’s Carmen Cruz, who Mario knows very
well and supports a lot. We have there two more allies. Here, the whole El
Regional de Piura and FACTORTIERRA.NET newsrooms, if my senior publisher doesn’t
pull my ears, also can join that campaign by publishing and educating, I think.
And
so and so, you, you, you, you, and you can also join, and when we have the less
awareness, all Sullana is part of the change, and a change able to measure,
see, and reply. It’s no other additional promise that never becomes real.
Do
you realize? The thing is as simple as understanding the problem and joining.
Will the little bees and the carob trees thank it to us? Yes, of course. They
will do it. How? By preservating us as a species. A more practical action like
that is imposible and is crucial for us to continue living. Of course, we have
to link that to a policy of water, energy, and resources saving. Anyway,
changing our mind and and that mind that comes us back to the simple life,
provides us prosperity.
Rather,
and only for satisfying the bureaucracy in Piura and Sullana, Mario and who
join that campaign actually should quantify how much we have lost, how much we
need, what the loses will be in every sense and every term. You know, the
typical bureaucrat, if you don’t overflow with statistic, will feel you are
teaching the cathecism – pure good will, zero commitment.
Thus,
we already know what our upcoming work is for now: to prevent that the
deforestation of more carob and native tree species surface follows up, and we
have effective alert systems that allow to preserve out there when we can’t put
the eye because they are too far away, like the rural zone. Obviously, the
authorities have top lay their part, but we, who are the majority, also have to
play the ours. Let’s start.
