Cleaning Day at Nejapa Lagoon
ViaNica.com | Apr 21, 2010
Waste materials such as plastic, metal and glass scattered along the edge of Nejapa Lagoon, Southeast Managua, will be collected by more than one thousand volunteers on April 25, during a cleaning day in which anyone who is interested can participate.
Nejapa is a little known natural reserve which occupies the bottom of a volcanic crater. In recent years, it has faced problems due to environmental neglect in activities such as tropical dry forest fires, deforestation and income of a considerable layer of sediment. Another major problem is the pollution of waste material carried by a channel from urban areas of Managua.
According to organizers, this kind of cleaning day has been organized because of the necessity of cleaning the lagoon, to speak up for its conservation and sensitization of people - specially youth - about the state of it.
The event is being organized by Fondo Natura along with entities like the National Agrarian University (UNA), the Nicaraguan Army, the Club of Young Environmentalists, Nicaraguan Scouts, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA) and the Latin American School.
Dynamic:
On Sunday, April 25, all registered volunteers and those who are interested in participating must go, at 8:00 am, to La Liga Center, located in the Km 8.5 of Carretera Sur. At 8:30 am trucks from the Nicaraguan army will start taking the volunteers to the bottom of the lagoon, according to indications given by Peltier Barahona, from Fondo Natura.
The recommendation for all volunteers is to wear jeans and hat, boots or sneakers, strong gloves and take at least one liter of water- also a rake if its possible. Organizers will provide garbage bags and will carry water tanks for those who want to refill their bottles.
Volunteers will be divided in two work groups and will cover two lineal kilometers of the lagoon shore, in addition to the open channel area that attracts the most part of solid waste and sediment. The activity will end at 1:00 pm. That moment will be when volunteers will be taking to the starting point.
Any person can join the cause: adults, teens and kids over seven years old. To get in touch with the organizers call Fondo Natura (505) 2276 2556. "We want to show people that is easier to not throw garbage than organizing activities in which money has to be spent for logistics", said Peltier Barahona. He also stated that the institution hopes to get the attention from the mayorship of Managua and MARENA through the national media and the knowledge of Nicaraguans.
In 2008, there was a first cleaning day at this lagoon, in which 200 volunteers participated. This experience can be seen by clicking this link: Jornada de Limpieza de Nejapa por RNE.