Sian Ka'an
Sian Ka'an *
* This name is listed on the World Heritage List. ª The region is classified by UNESCO.
Sian Ka'an is a national park in Mexico. It is located on the east side of the Yucatan Peninsula in the state of Quintana Roo. Its area in 1986 was designated as a National Park, and was appointed in 1987 as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The name Sian Ka'an comes from the Mayan language and means literally place where the sky was born.
The national park covers a total area of 5,280 km ², consisting of Tropical rain forest, wetlands, coastal and marine ecosystems. Another approximately 1,000 km ² in 1994 were placed under protection south of the reserve. The local area is called zone for flora and fauna, Uaymil counts, however, although directly adjacent to, not as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.
There are five official and controlled entrances to the reserve. You are in Pulticub, Santa Teresa, Chumphon, Chac Mool and Chunyaxché. Access control and management (including park rangers, entrance fees ) is responsible for the Federal Office for the Environment and Natural Resources ( SEMARNAT ).
Geography
Sian Ka'an is in the area of the two municipios Tulum and Felipe Carrillo Puerto between 19 ° 05 ' to 20 ° 06 ' north latitude and 87 ° 30 ' to 87 ° 58 ' west longitude. The mainland part of the national park is flat with no surveys; he rises from sea level, starting at a height of up to 10 m.
The biosphere reserve is located in part on the limestone plateau of the Yucatán Peninsula and includes parts of the vast reef system of the Caribbean coast with a. In the limestone underground there are many cave-ins ( cenotes ) which are filled with fresh water. Parts of the world's longest known underwater cave system Sistema Ox Bel Ha lie on the northern edge of Sian Ka'an.
The climate is tropical hot. The Caribbean coast is a main gateway for hurricanes.
Habitats, animals and plants
According to UNESCO report here find medium-high tropical dry forests, medium and low tropical deciduous forests, moist savanna with palm trees, freshwater and saltwater marshes with outstanding tree islands (English Hummocks ), mangroves and dunes.
A total of up to 1999 (as the UNESCO report) 4,000 plant species and 28 mammal species, including five species of cats, Jaguar, Puma, Central American tapir and Caribbean manatee were found. In the wide variety of aquatic habitats, there are a variety of seabirds and waders. Strength in numerous lagoons, canals, bays and coral reefs, home to a rich marine life. It is expected that more animal and plant species are found in the context of scientific research projects.
Approx. 2800 km ² of the reserve area are designated as core zones of the protected area. The so-called buffer zones comprise the remaining nearly 2,500 km ²; they provide a transition to the surrounding non-protected areas.
Residents and use
The biosphere reserve is largely closed to the human settlement. According to UNESCO, there are 800 inhabitants (1999 ), mainly Maya. They live in the reserve and operate here subsistence farming and fishing. The largest settlement, Punta Allen, a former fishing village, is now a resort for eco-tourism.
The non-governmental Orgnanisation Cesiak maintains the north of the conservation area since 1998, an information center with an attached hotel, offers guided tours through the reserve and organizes lectures and training to ecosystems and species protection. Projects for environmental education aimed primarily at the elementary school students of the nearby Tulum; the education program is funded from the tourism revenue of the information center.
The increasing development of the Mexican Caribbean coast for tourism, emanating from the opposite northern tourist resorts Cancun and Playa del Carmen, exerted a high pressure on the protected area, as the biosphere reserve limits the tourist area of expansion to the south. Trips in the reserve are included as a high quality leisure activities in tourism strategies.
In addition, parts of the Boca Paila peninsula are provided for the high-priced sales to private individuals or investors or already released, which means an enormous additional anthropogenic pollution of the biosphere reserve in the future.
Archaeological Sites
In the national park there are about 20 previously discovered archaeological sites. It involves Maya sites dating from the 13th to 16th century. The most famous of which is Muyil ( Chunyaxché ). The ruins of Muyil located about 20 km southeast of Tulum. The highway Highway 307 Cancun - Chetumal is built through this archaeological site.
Muyil was in the Maya Classic (250 to 900) already populated, but the structures originate mainly from the post-classical period ( 900 to 1500 ). Similar to the Tulum Zeremonialbezirk was probably surrounded by a wall. The city was probably inhabited up to the extensive conquest of the Caribbean coast by the Spaniards in 1550.
About 5 km south-east is the small temple near the Xlahpak Süßwasserauslasses the Chunyaxché Lagoon. Other sites are located on the peninsula of Boca Paila, a long narrow peninsula, the protectorate in the north- east to the Caribbean Sea in defining. It is interrupted at half the length of a 20-m wide tidal channel. At its southern end is Punta Allen. The name Boca Paila means shallow mouth.
More
With the establishment of the national park in 1986, the Association of Amigos de Sian Ka'an formed ( Friends of Sian Ka'an ), in the interest of regional development of the substantially dependent on tourism state of Quintana Roo modern concepts of conservation and management of the biosphere reserve Sian Ka ' working out at and other protected areas on the Caribbean coast, and promoted politically and socially. She works closely with the relevant state authorities, regional and local administrations and the companies included in the tourism industry of Costa Maya.