Between Mexico and nature there is a very unique life pact. In each of the corners of the country, an environmental cycle is established so diverse that it becomes impossible to ignore it. However, the consequences of abusing your magnificence often throws off your balance. This is the case of the Bacalar lagoon, the paradise of the seven colors that little by little loses its turquoise rainbow.
Located in the south of the state of Quintana Roo, the magical lagoon of Bacalar is found as a sanctuary in which natural heritage and tranquility come together. The population of Mayan origin that lies next to it is directly connected with its seven colors and its natural stability and, like this paradise, they are suffering the consequences of an embracing tourism.
Bacalar Lagoon loses its seven colors due to excessive tourism
Bacalar’s natural splendor is overwhelmed by pollution, tourist activities, and agricultural waste. The lagoon of the seven colors, according to Luisa Falcón Álvarez of the Institute of Ecology of the UNAM, «is a treasure of the planet that we have not known how to take care of.»
The main cause of the loss of the seven colors of the Bacalar lagoon is the lack of wastewater treatment. The lagoon’s bacterial reef is dying, which means that its white sand and the different depth gradients that give it its diverse hue are changing color.
UNAM
Since the arrival of the sargassum at Mexican Caribbean coasts, Bacalar became the new “eco-chic” tourist destination. Improvised hotels with «sustainable» rooms and inadequate services that ended up promoting unregulated tourism.
Why is it so important to protect the balance of Bacalar?
In addition to being the largest freshwater body in the Yucatan Peninsula, this lagoon is home to the largest bacterial reef in the world. There is nothing like it on the entire planet that is like this site.
The lagoon is made up of a reef of bacteria that has lived there for more than nine thousand years and in less than two decades it has gradually died out.
Heriberto Paredes
“The Pirate Channel had microbialite reefs and mangroves, now it is just a sediment bar; the boats that arrive and the movement of people have finished with this site by causing its erosion”, points out Falcón Álvarez.
In a nutshell, the Bacalar lagoon and its seven colors are lost because the environment is sick. Its seven-toned rainbow turquoise will return when the mangroves re-establish and when the vegetation and bacterial ecology can live unhindered.
“The task is not easy: we have to make the authorities understand that this region in the south of Quintana Roo is very beautiful, but also very fragile, and that we must think carefully about both agricultural and tourism development models to ensure that these ecosystems and biodiversity reservoirs are maintained”, concluded Falcón Álvarez.
Keep reading: Mexicans request to convert Bacalar into a World Heritage Site by UNESCO
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