| | |  Editorials | Environmental | September 2008 
Mexico Already One of the World's Leading Reforesters: President Calderón
 Presidencia de la República
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| "Truly sustainable human development can only be understood by respecting the environment."
- President Calderón | | |
Zapopán, Jalisco - President Felipe Calderón announced that Mexico is already one of the world's greatest reforesters, after 253 million trees were planted in 2007, while the goal for this year is to plant another 280 million trees.
He declared that 170 million trees have already been planted in 2008, despite the fact that it has not yet rained in the southeast of the country, which will enable forestry plantations to advance more quickly in the region, particularly in the Yucatán Peninsula.
During his inauguration of the 6th Mexico Expo Forestry Fair 21st Century 2008, the President recalled that as part of the strategy for protecting and conserving the forestry layer, so far this year, 670,000 hectares have already been incorporated into the Environmental Services Payment System, which, combined with those in 2007, total 1,300,000 ha under this system.
"One of the things I can categorically state is that Federal Government is totally committed to woods and forests and making a great effort to reverse the enormous deterioration of Mexico's forest area, which, unfortunately, has taken place for years if not decades," he declared.
He reported that last year, for the first time ever, the area planted with new trees was larger than the area Mexico had lost from fires, clear felling and farming practices that lead to deforestation.
President Calderón declared that thanks to the Pro-Tree Program, so far nearly 7 million farm workers, ejido and common land owners and smallholders earn an income from protecting their forests and woods and as payment for the environmental services they provide for all Mexicans.
Within this context, the President announced that a $350 million peso investment will be used to launch the construction of the National Center of Genetic Resources in Jalisco, which will preserve germ plasm and much of the country's natural heritage.
"We are going to store seeds there, together with the plants, tissue and genetic information of species from Mexico, such as maize, avocado, cotton and tomato, but we will also preserve the genetic information from the seeds and plants of all the forest species from Mexico," he explained. |
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