The forest fires that devastated thousands of hectares of the Henri Pittier National Park, especially during Holy Week (Semana Mayor), and both citizens and experts in the field held a meeting to take effective measures in the face of these events.
By Correspondent lapatilla.com
In the participatory forum called “And what can I do?” (“¿Y yo qué puedo hacer?”), attendees raised their concerns which were answered by the panel of professionals that was made up of environmentalists, rescuers, wildlife photographers, medical specialists, forest firefighters and firefighters from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV).
During his intervention, the environmentalist and founder of NGO ‘Sembramos Todos’ (We All Plant), Enrique García, highlighted the increase in forest fires recorded between January and March 2024, compared to the same period in 2020.
He pointed out that of the ten thousand trees reforested by the different groups and organizations in this vegetal reservoir, currently only around 80 remain.
Despite this alarming figure, he pointed out that it is not the time to reforest, because it is ‘summer’ (dry season) and these efforts would be in vain.
Likewise, Otman Monasterios, forest firefighter, took the opportunity to invite the community to raise awareness of the work of the firefighters who often spend up to 72 hours up in the mountain fighting fires.
“Starting from ‘And what can I do?’, if you have a soda container at home, pour half of it with water and put it in the freezer. When it is frozen, then finish filling the bottle with water and take it to where the combatants are. “With what seems like little, you will be helping us a lot,” he commented while acknowledging the effort made by his team of forest firefighters who risk their lives in each fire.
This conversation was also conducive to clarifying to the people of Maracay that forest fires are not generated by cigarette butts, dry season, heat wave or the magnifying glass effect.
Given this, experts agreed that these events are generated, whether provoked or not, by human beings.