1168 | 904 | The crisis in the coasts of Puerto Rico: the case of the Coastal Map, a digital tool for the autonomy of the people in the defense of the coastal territory. | Gabriela Vélez Agosto
This paper explores how the priority in the struggle for environmental justice and the search for politicization strategies led the organization Amigxs del M.A.R. (Movimiento Ambiental Revolucionario) to create a digital mapping platform called Mapa de Costas 2023 (Coastal Map 2023). Its objective is to offer the Puerto Rican people a mechanism to denounce sales, constructions, abandoned structures, closure of access to beaches or the sea, among other socio-environmental problems on the coasts. The Coastal Map 2023 wants to give autonomy and power to the people, in order to make a collective struggle where no one is left behind. In this sense, with a critical geography approach, community and participatory mapping is used to create the map. _x000D_
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The crisis on the coasts is the name given by Amigxs del M.A.R., to the environmental problems occurring on the coasts and beaches of Puerto Rico. The crisis is due to the colonial situation of the island that has propelled a tax haven and a millionaire public debt that seeks to use nature to pay for it. Added to this, the geographical position of the island is vulnerable to climate change. All this is expressed in a continuous threat of displacement, privatization of the coasts and a greater increase in the vulnerability of historically marginalized communities._x000D_
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A mixed qualitative and active participation methodology was used, with the use of geographic information systems, specifically the Survey 123 application of the Esri company, with the reports entered by the people, the collective cartography was created. As part of the results, it was identified that the information entered into the map showed a sense of urgency to denounce other environmental crimes, a need for people to express their right to transparency, information, and distributive justice of space and housing in Puerto Rico. _x000D_
Gabriela Vélez Agosto
Amigxs del M.A.R. (Movimiento Ambiental Revolucionario)
ID Abstract: 904