Bridge threatens Mexico City’s floating gardens

A hummingbird forages on a reed flower; another bird stalks insects through aquatic plants. Calm seems to reign in the floating gardens of southern Mexico, called chinampas.

The ecological park of Xochimilco, crisscrossed with countless canals, was designed by the Aztecs, in the XIV^e century. Listed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco, the site is also recognized by the UN as a “Important world agricultural heritage system” : 12,000 people cultivate more than 180 varieties of plants there every day, without harming wildlife.

Since February, however, around fifty workers have been building the future 2 km bridge which will cut this state protected area in two. “It will improve access to the most isolated part of the city, to the east”, considers the mayor of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum. A gesture in favor of disadvantaged neighborhoods, but also a policy of “all cars”, while the megalopolis of 24 million inhabitants spits a gray cloud permanently.

“Legacy of the Aztec World”

Maria Alvarado and her comrades of the Coordination of the villages of Xochimilco meet every week, at the Cuemanco plant market, against “This project which does not respect the procedure of the declaration of environmental impact”. Last week, the demonstration was planted in front of the Secretariat of the Environment. “This park has ecological importance, since it allows Mexico City to breathe, and also anthropological, since the chinampas are a heritage of the Aztec world”.

Luis Zambrano, biologist at the National University of Mexico, confirms: “There aren’t many places in the world where man has been able to combine economic and ecological development, like here. “ In this water reserve, essential for temperature regulation, live 200 species of birds and “The axolotl, an endemic salamander, in danger of extinction, which will appear on the new 50 peso note”.

A judge has just suspended construction, but the excavators continue to dig and a ramp is already rising towards the gardens. If the bridge is erected, it will isolate the smaller north swamp from the rest of the park. “This will reduce biodiversity and promote urbanization in this isolated section”, fears the biologist.

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