By signing a double agreement, the first one between Xcaret and Flora, Fauna y Cultura de México A.C. (FFMAC) and the second one between FFMAC and the National Forest Commission (CONAFOR) the long-waited dream of Miguel Quintana Pali, director of Xcaret Park, came true. He happily explained "I'm very pleased, honored and proud to be able to see how these dreams come true, the dream of many people has been achieved."

Architect Quintana explained the mechanism that the three institutions will use to maintain Quintana Roo green: "Xcaret will loan five hectares of the park to Flora, Fauna y Cultura, lead by Guadalupe Quintana, to set up the first forest nursery in the area, at the same time, Flora, Fauna y Cultura will sign an agreement with CONAFOR, who will loan the equipment to build a 850 square meters nursery to produce 150 thousand plants in two rounds a year. This is a dream that I've personally cherised for many years, and so have the owners and collaborators of Xcaret; for the first time CONAFOR sets up a nursery in this area. This is the beginning of a new age in which the Riviera Maya and Cancun are painted green with trees."

As well, Guadalupe Quintana explained how this dream was accomplished. "Daniel Cruz, one of our Flora and Fauna magicians and manager of green areas in the park, told us that the CONAFOR was offering some nurseries it had with the Army (SEDENA -Spanish acronym) which were not used at the moment, so we went to chek them and just fell in love with the idea."

The other angel of the project, as Guadalupe Quintana described him, is the engineer Santiago Pinzón Lizárraga, regional manager of CONAFOR in the Yucatan Peninsula. "It is quite easy to put on the wings of angel when you are called for a project of great importance like this where you can colaborate in doing this kind of processes" and said about the importance of doing this kind of efforts "in Mexico we have a green areas deficit, it is no longer one million hectares lost during the 70's, culture has changed, but we are around 264 thousand hectares lost every year." Lizárraga added that Quintana Roo used to have a forest vocation that was abandoned when it became a tourist destination, however it is being recovered with this type of efforts for the well-being of the environment and of the inhabitants of Quintana Roo.

The witness of honor, biologist Gustavo Maldonado, director or environmental and urban distribution of the city council of Solidaridad, attended in representation of the municipal president of Solidaridad, Carlos Joaquín González, who said "Some years ago, we used to inaugurate parks on concrete plates because we wanted to show a little urbanism while surrounded by green areas, the situation today is quite different and this growth has put out those green areas and now we all must work together to maintain a balance and start recovering that nature. FFCMAC as a non governmental association in favor of environmental, cultural and social issues, and the labor of Xcaret as a business group are the best exmples of what can be done in sustainable development for the Riviera Maya, our state and our country. You have translated speeches into facts, and I congratulate you for that."

For further information and images please visit: www.xcaret.com/news/xcaret-conafor.php

DTS, S.C.

DTS, S.C.

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