Professors Carlos Ramos-Scharrón, Eugenio Arima, Edgardo Latrubesse, and Kenneth Young recently visited Puerto Rico as part of current efforts to develop a new research project with local partners from the University of Puerto Rico’s Río Piedras and Mayaguez campuses and the US Forest Service’s International Institute of Tropical Forestry. Project partners met for a one-day gathering at the Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation of the UPR-Río Piedras, while also taking time to visit portions of the planned study area in Northeastern Puerto Rico. Site visits included trekking through rainforest at El Yunque National Forest, snorkeling coral reef ecosystems at the Arrecifes de la Cordillera Natural Reserve, and visiting seagrass and coastal mangrove communities located within the now closed Roosevelt Roads US NAVY base.

This visit was made possible through LLILAS’ Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies Faculty-Led Initiative. The initiative proposes the development of collaborative transdisciplinary research studies that help bridge the communication gaps that have historically existed between environmentally- and socially-inclined fields of study. This is particularly imperative nowadays when human impacts on the natural environment are being scientifically documented at the local scale, but are also widely accepted as being of global and socioeconomic significance.

Northeastern Puerto Rico represents a unique landscape to study the two-way interactions between humans with both terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Sugar cane production throughout the 19th and the first half of the 20thcenturies resulted in the decimation of forest resources throughout the region. In combination with more recent land use patterns related to tourism and urbanization, land use has resulted in further natural resource degradation, particularly by deteriorating water quality and marine ecosystems. The study intends to uncover the history of the region from the standpoint of archival evidence. However, the study intends to challenge the traditional approach of conducting such research by consulting not only human-conceived means to record history, but also more organic alternatives such as oral histories and the use of chemical proxies found in sediment deposits and within coral reef tissue. Completion of these goals will require numerous disciplines including geography, anthropology, hydrology, ecology, history, and economics, among many others. The results of this research are meant also to improve land and marine conservation activities. Efforts are currently underway to solicit long-term sources of funding for this study.

For more information regarding related and other research, please visit the faculty profiles of Drs. Carlos Ramos-Scharrón, Eugenio Arima, Edgardo Latrubesse, and Kenneth Young. Please also checkout features on Drs. Carlos Ramos-Scharrón and Kenneth Young in LLILAS' Portal Magazine.

Sources: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/geography/news/8430

Por Lissette Rolón Collazo  

Puerto Rico no es una isla; es un archipiélago. Esta aseveración parece sencilla, pero está lejos de serlo. Héctor Sánchez, el turistólogo, ya la había declarado y había alegado argumentos geográficos significativos para sustentarla. Pero reconoce la rareza de su postura.

¿Por qué esta idea de nosotrxs no es parte de nuestro sentido común colectivo? Sospecho que la lógica de lo único, de lo individual y de lo aislado se nos impone, impidiéndonos atisbar lo fructífero que pudiera ser pensarnos y actuar como un junte de islas a pequeña escala. Ya Marta Aponte Alsina y otrxs magníficxs escritorxs de nuestro gran Caribe han apostado por dicha mirada y su consecuente poética. Vamos a convertirla en política.

Como me ha dicho Beatriz, si actuáramos como archipiélago, tendríamos uno de los mejores sistemas de transporte marítimo: diverso, accesible, frecuente, puntual. Si actuáramos como archipiélago, la clase de natación sería número uno en la oferta de educación física en el sistema de educación pública. Si actuáramos como archipiélago dejaríamos de relacionarnos con nuestras llamadas islas-municipios con la caridad o el turismo por delante –que, a veces, vienen a ser lo mismo– y ensayaríamos una política solidaria inspirada en las mejores prácticas al uso.

Si nos concibiéramos como archipiélago, la lógica colectiva, solidaria y participativa podría ser parte de nuestra cotidianidad. Conoceríamos la historia de Culebra, Vieques, Mona, Monito, Desecheo y Caja de Muerto, por no mencionar la historia de nuestros cayos. El mar sería nuestro espacio del encuentro con esa historia que nos une.

Puerto Rico es muchas islas. Puerto Rico es un archipiélago. Vamos a atrevernos a serlo.

Recurso: http://www.80grados.net/puerto-rico-no-es-una-isla/