The Clean Wave Foundation, together with the SalveMonos Association and the Tamarindo Integral Development Association, launched a call for attention to stop the destruction of trees in an area surrounding the estuary of Playa Tamarindo, in Santa Cruz, Guanacaste, because the damage environmental affected the flora and fauna in the Maritime Terrestrial Zone; In addition, a functional connectivity project in the habitat of the howler monkey.
These organizations detected a few days ago that in the site adjacent to the estuary, 12 trees were subjected to a technique known as “girding”, which consists of making a cut that covers the entire circumference of the bark to affect the phloem.
The function of the phloem is to allow the transfer of nutrients produced in the crown of the tree so that they reach the root. Its main job is to transport and distribute the sap for management, absorption and storage. Phloem, also called bast or sieve tissue, is made up of plant cells without a nucleus capable of forming walls through which nutrients can be transported.
Drying out the trees by girdling
According to Andrés Bermúdez, President of The Clean Wave, girdling is carried out with the intention that the trees dry out little by little and die in a short time.“This environmental damage was done intentionally, silently and secretly to contaminate the trees with extremely harmful chemicals. “This is what was detected in a dozen trees in order to annihilate, destroy and kill a patch of forest that is essential for wildlife and that was the food of many animals, in addition, a safe area for many of them,” lamented Bermúdez.
Serious damage
The Playa Tamarindo estuary encompasses the largest mangrove estuary in Latin America, which is protected by the Convention on Wetlands, known as the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental environmental treaty established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO, acronym in English).
The Field Director of SalveMonos, MS.C Inés Azofeifa, in an official note sent to the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) on October 26, requested legal action against those responsible for the ringing of the trees “with appropriate penalties.” to the magnitude of the damage” based on articles 58 and 61 of the Forestry Law.”
“If the conduct of poisoning or ringing did not cause such elimination (of the tree), article 63.b LF will apply, as it is considered a crime of specific danger, regardless of the number of poisoned or ringed trees, since the criminal type indicates “one or several.” Other forms of elimination, such as undermining the roots, drilling to remove the sap or poisoning the soil instead of the tree, whenever its death occurs, will be prosecuted for the crimes of forestry exploitation,” states Azofeifa’s complaint.
Generating greater erosion
For her part, Martina Trimarchi, Founder of SalveMonos, commented that the destruction of the trees “will generate greater erosion because the water from the sea and a river that flows into the mangrove will pull away all the sediment in the area.”
“We are seeking support for the Association’s efforts to maintain wildlife connectivity and ensure that the Maritime Terrestrial Zone remains clean and healthy,” said Trimarchi.
In addition, environmental damage, the destruction of trees severely harms a project developed by the Foundation and the Association to build wildlife passages in Playa Tamarindo, hanging structures that serve as a means of transportation for species such as the howler monkey, primates that they frequently suffer electrocutions when using power lines to move around.
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