Water shortage kills thousands of plants

Caracas’ dying botanical garden highlights Venezuela’s decay as the once-wealthy country falls into economic crisis

Dead palm trees and a dried-up lagoon are what you see when you enter Caracas’s botanical garden. A UNESCO World Heritage site and once one of the city’s most important tourist spots, its directors are trying to rescue it from abandonment. While Caracas neighborhoods go weeks without water due to government mismanagement, the gardens have been dry since March and its famed collection of thousands of plantspecies is wilting away, according to curators. The gardens were once an idyllic spot in Caracas’s chaotic center where students from the nearby Central University of Venezuela would meet to study and office workers would relax. The United Nations cultural agency in 2000 called it a „masterpiece of modern city planning“.

As the once-wealthy country spirals into economic chaos under President Nicolas Maduro, workers are cutting down the dead debris of once lushgrovesof towering moriche palms. Over a third of its palm tree species have died in the last few years. „Even the cactuses need water though people don’t believe it,“ Jan Tillett, who has looked after the gardens’ nurseries for 15 years, said, standing by the dried-up lagoon. Crumbling infrastructure and lack of investments have hit Venezuela’s water supply for years but dwindling rains in recent months have exacerbated the situation. In Caracas, locals queue for hours to fill up bottles and hospital patients have to bring their own water.

The gardens have a miniscule annual budget of 200 million bolivars, just $66 at the black market exchange rate, staff said, adding they have petitioned the government for more resources. The gardens’ largest lake, built in the shape of Venezuela and covered in giant flowering water lilies, is half empty. One of the lake’s prized species has died out: the 2-meter wide Santa Cruz water lily, so buoyant it can support a child’s weight. Although the gardens have received donations of water tanks and volunteer help, Tillett said it was harder every day to maintain the park.

Last year, looters stripped the gardens of their electric cables, computers and irrigation pipes, making it impossible to maintain the rare aquatic plants groundskeepers were growing in a specially-designed greenhouse, staff said. They even stole the walls and roofs from guard houses.

The gardens also include Venezuela’s national herbarium. This contains samples of 450,000 plant species across the country, which now cannot be adequately stored given the lack of electricity, said its curator, Naida Avendano. „There’s no money,“ he said. „But we still haven’t stopped working, so that the garden doesn’t die.“

ANDREINA APONTE

Text pochází z agentury Reuters  Zdroj LN

SLOVÍČKA

highlight poukázat, upozornit

decay rozklad, úpadek

heritage dědictví

abandonment opuštění

mismanagement špatné vedení

famed proslulý, věhlasný

species druh

wilt zvadnout, uschnout

spiral prudce klesat

debris pozůstatky, odpad

lush bujný, svěží

grove háj

moriche palm mauricie převislá

nursery školka, zahradnictví

crumbling rozpadat se

lack nedostatek

dwindling slábnout

exacerbate zhoršit, ztížit

miniscule nepatrný

resource zdroje, prostředky

giant obří

water lily leknín

buoyant nadnášející

looter rabující, lupič

strip of zbavit čeho

irrigation zavlažování

greenhouse skleník

NAUČTE SE GRAMATIKU PODLE TEXTU

Dnes se zaměříme na výraz uvozující účelovou větu. Objevila se v souvětí „But we still haven’t stopped working, so that the garden doesn’t die.“ („Ale ještě jsme nepřestali pracovat, aby zahrada neuhynula.“). Výrazy so that nebo in order that uvozujeme účelovou větu, která má jiný podmět než věta hlavní, tak jako je tomu i v naší větě.

Pro uvození věty se stejným podmětem použijeme infinitiv, jako například ve větě: We got up early to arrive in time. (Vstali jsme brzy, abychom přijeli včas.)

VYBERTE VHODNÝ VÝRAZ:

I made dinner early so that the children could go to bed / the children to go to bed. She studies hard so that she passes the exam / to pass the exam. Here is my number so that you can call me / you to call me.