GREEN ROOF EFFECT - ProMéxico
GREEN ROOF EFFECT - ProMéxico
GREEN ROOF EFFECT - ProMéxico
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Destination La Chuparrosa Enamorada<br />
Green<br />
Mexico<br />
Green<br />
roof<br />
effect<br />
=<br />
An Endless<br />
Urban Mosaic<br />
vi - 2009<br />
investment<br />
Opportunities in<br />
Renewable Energy<br />
Organic Agriculture<br />
Ecologically Productive Worms<br />
Forests<br />
Productivity and Protection<br />
Under the Same Seal
2 Negocios<br />
Firms<br />
6<br />
Green Mexico<br />
Negocios Goes Green<br />
By Bruno Ferrari<br />
35<br />
Green<br />
Roof<br />
Effect<br />
An endless urban mosaic.<br />
Contents<br />
11 Briefs<br />
26 Report<br />
28 Mexico’s Partner<br />
40 Figures<br />
8 Business tips: opportunities in renewable energy<br />
22<br />
Organic<br />
Agriculture<br />
Ecologically Productive Worms<br />
20<br />
Coconut<br />
A Star in the<br />
Organic Food<br />
World<br />
Productivity<br />
and Protection<br />
of Forests<br />
Under the Same Seal<br />
32
offices abroad<br />
ProMéxico Headquarters<br />
+ 52 (55) 544 77070<br />
promexico@promexico.gob.mx<br />
www.promexico.gob.mx<br />
Singapore Regional Director<br />
salomon.sacal@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Offices: Mumbai, Singapore,<br />
Sydney, Taipei<br />
Mumbai<br />
aldo.ruiz@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Singapore<br />
francisco.bautista@promexico.gob.mx<br />
America<br />
Sao Paulo Regional Director<br />
pedro.pinson@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Offices: Buenos Aires, Bogota, Guatemala,<br />
Santiago, Sao Paulo<br />
Buenos Aires<br />
hector.zires@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Bogota<br />
carlos.edgar@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Guatemala<br />
ignacio.elias@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Santiago<br />
emilio.lopez@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Sao Paulo<br />
juan.pintoribeiro@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Houston Regional Director<br />
carlos.marron@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Offices: Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles,<br />
San Francisco, Vancouver<br />
Dallas<br />
diana.castaneda@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Houston<br />
luis.peralta@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Los Angeles<br />
mario.juarez@promexico.gob.mx<br />
San Francisco<br />
ricardo.vargas@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Vancouver<br />
carlos.cacho@promexico.gob.mx<br />
New York Regional Director<br />
gerardo.patino@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Offices: Chicago, Miami, Montreal,<br />
New York<br />
Chicago<br />
miguel.leaman@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Miami<br />
gabriel.perez@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Montreal<br />
alfonso.mojica@promexico.gob.mx<br />
New York<br />
edmundo.gonzalez@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Asia<br />
Shanghai Regional Director<br />
juan.cante@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Offices: Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai,<br />
Seoul, Tokyo<br />
Beijing<br />
ari.saks@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Hong Kong<br />
horacio.reyes@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Shanghai<br />
luis.vieyra@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Seoul<br />
jose.peral@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Tokyo<br />
esau.garza@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Sydney<br />
milko.rivera@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Taipei<br />
enrique.rosell@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Europe<br />
London Regional Director<br />
antonio.prida@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Offices: Brussels, London, Madrid,<br />
Milan, Paris<br />
Brussels<br />
alejandro.saldivar @promexico.gob.mx<br />
London<br />
alexandra.haas@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Madrid<br />
luis.ampudia@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Milan<br />
claudia.esteves@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Paris<br />
dolores.beistegui@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Frankfurt Regional Director<br />
francisco.gonzalez@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Offices: Dubai, Frankfurt, Moscow,<br />
Stockholm, Switzerland<br />
Dubai<br />
jose.neif@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Frankfurt<br />
cesar.fragozo@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Moscow<br />
leonor.pintado@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Stockholm<br />
nicole.felix@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Switzerland<br />
patricia.moreno@promexico.gob.mx
4 Negocios<br />
Feedback<br />
in favor<br />
of nature<br />
Pronatura watches over the conservation<br />
of Mexico’s true wealth<br />
Directory<br />
ProMéxico<br />
Bruno Ferrari<br />
CEO<br />
Ricardo Rojo<br />
Image and Communications<br />
Director<br />
Andrés Tamariz<br />
Sebastián Escalante<br />
Managing Coordinators<br />
Miguel Ángel Samayoa<br />
Advertising and Suscriptions<br />
negocios@promexico.gob.mx<br />
Copy Editing<br />
Gabriela Mejan Ganem<br />
60<br />
taller méxico<br />
Alejandro Serratos<br />
Publisher<br />
a.serratos@tallermexico.com<br />
Emmilú López Valtierra<br />
General Manager<br />
emmilu@tallermexico.com<br />
The lifestyle Contents<br />
Felipe Zúñiga<br />
Copy Editing<br />
felipe@tallermexico.com<br />
Jorge Silva<br />
Design Director<br />
jorge@tallermexico.com<br />
Report<br />
Mazunte<br />
From Turtles to Cosmetics<br />
56<br />
50 The Lifestyle Briefs<br />
42 Report<br />
the collector’s<br />
wardrobe<br />
Series of Thoughts<br />
Related to Art Acquisition<br />
46 Destination<br />
La Chuparrosa<br />
enamorada<br />
Tasty meets organic<br />
54 Communication<br />
pecha-kucha<br />
Sounds and Whispers<br />
Ma. Elena López<br />
Design<br />
m.lopez@tallermexico.com<br />
Juan Pablo R. Valadez<br />
Design<br />
juanpablo@tallermexico.com<br />
Piso de ediciones<br />
Vanesa Robles<br />
Senior Writer<br />
vanesarobles@gmail.com<br />
Karla Juárez<br />
Sandra Roblagui<br />
Lucila Valtierra<br />
Mauricio Zabalgoitia<br />
Staff Writers<br />
Proof Reading<br />
And Translation<br />
Lozano Translations<br />
contributors<br />
Jennifer Chan, Santino Escatel,<br />
Fidelia Fadel, Oldemar.<br />
ProMéxico is not responsible for inaccurate information or omissions that might exist in the information provided by the participant companies nor of<br />
their economic solvency. Title certificate of lawfulness 008404. Text certificate of lawfulness 5017. Number of Title Reserve 04-2005-11292235400-102.<br />
Postal Registry PP09-0044. Responsible editor: Sebastián Escalante. Printing: Cía Impresora El Universal, S.A. de C.V. Distribution: ProMéxico Camino a<br />
Sta Teresa 1679, México D.F., 01900. Phone: +52 (55) 5447 7000. Negocios is an open space where diverse opinions can be expressed. The institution<br />
might or might not agree with an author’s statements; therefore the responsibility of each text falls on the writers, not on the institution, except when it<br />
states otherwise. Although this magazine verifies all the information printed on its pages, it will not accept responsability derived from any omissions,<br />
inaccuracies or mistakes. June 2009.<br />
This is an editorial project for ProMéxico<br />
by Taller México & Piso de Ediciones.<br />
Download the PDF version of Negocios<br />
magazine in www.promexico.gob.mx<br />
and browse throught more information<br />
in the site negocios.promexico.gob.mx
An Amazing Country<br />
One out of every 10 cars sold in the<br />
United States is made in Mexico<br />
Mexico is one of the leading car<br />
manufacturers in the world, in 2008 alone<br />
this industry’s exports exceeded 55 billion dollars.<br />
Last year, Mexico exported 80 million mobile<br />
telephones and manufactured one out of every<br />
four televisions sold in the United States.<br />
In the same period, the country's Information<br />
Technology (IT) industry experienced 15% growth.<br />
It is quickly evolving into Business Procces<br />
Outsourcing (BPO). In Mexico, there are more<br />
than 2,000 companies and 500,000 professionals<br />
specialized in IT.<br />
With more than 190<br />
established companies,<br />
Mexico is the sixth largest<br />
aeroespace industry<br />
supplier to Europe and<br />
the ninth to the United States.<br />
Mexico is one of the world's top ten<br />
tourist destinations. Each year over 21 million<br />
visitors enjoy the 7,000 km of beaches, as well as the<br />
country’s colonial cities and archaeological sites.<br />
Currently there are important infrastructure projects<br />
underway that will help the tourism industry and will<br />
allow Mexico to be the ideal destination for retirees<br />
looking for a second residence or wishing<br />
to settle in the country.
6 Negocios<br />
From the CEO.<br />
Green Mexico<br />
Nearly forty years ago, June 5 was<br />
designated as World Environment Day<br />
to contribute to current and future<br />
actions that guarantee the conservation<br />
of the Earth’s natural resources.<br />
Negocios joins this celebration and goes green with this issue.<br />
Mexico, one of the countries privileged for its megadiversity, is<br />
aware of how much it means for humanity to preserve all of its<br />
natural resources.<br />
The country identifies as one of its biggest commitments<br />
to significantly reduce its carbon gas emissions to help<br />
counteract the effects of climate change. Governments, society<br />
and companies throughout Mexico are encouraging initiatives<br />
to promote the well-balanced and sustainable development of<br />
the economy.<br />
In the business world, this commitment translates into unique<br />
opportunities in such sectors as energy production and the<br />
improvement of eco-technologies.<br />
Our current issue presents some of the initiatives that<br />
demonstrate it’s possible to have profitable businesses that<br />
not only respect the environment but also promote the<br />
preservation of natural resources. In our country, there’s<br />
great potential to green businesses with good development<br />
prospects.<br />
Welcome to Mexico.<br />
Bruno Ferrari,<br />
ProMéxico CEO
8 Negocios<br />
illustration oldemar<br />
Clean Investment<br />
Investors seeking opportunities in renewable energy should definitely<br />
consider Mexico. The country has an abundance of renewable power<br />
resources and a keen consciousness of the environmental and social<br />
benefits of alternative energy development.<br />
Mexico’s energy sector is undergoing a profound<br />
transformation. The country’s consumption<br />
of energy is growing much more<br />
rapidly than in other countries and this has<br />
become an important challenge.<br />
In order to cover this growing demand,<br />
a substantial number of projects will need<br />
to be developed. Among them, generation<br />
of energy through renewable sources arises<br />
as a strong alternative to achieving the<br />
country’s energy goals. The Mexican government<br />
is planning to increase power generation<br />
through renewable energy sources<br />
over the next several years. According to<br />
the National Infrastructure Program, 25%<br />
of the country’s electricity should be generated<br />
through renewable energy by 2012.<br />
This means an unprecedented opportunity<br />
for investors.<br />
Given the country’s available renewable<br />
energy resources, domestic and international<br />
incentives regarding clean energy<br />
projects and a recently modified legal<br />
framework, investors seeking opportunities<br />
in this kind of energy should consider<br />
Mexico as an option.<br />
Incentives for Investment<br />
Mexico’s law encourages investment in re-<br />
newable energy projects in several ways.<br />
Federal tax laws allow for 100% depreciation<br />
in the first year for all renewable<br />
energy capital investment. There is also a<br />
fiscal credit of 30% for research and development<br />
of clean technologies.<br />
Mexico’s law encourages<br />
investment in renewable<br />
energy projects in<br />
several ways.<br />
Federal tax laws allow<br />
for 100% depreciation<br />
in the first year for all<br />
renewable energy<br />
capital investment.<br />
There is also a fiscal credit<br />
of 30% for research<br />
and development of<br />
clean technologies.<br />
Another source of incentives is the<br />
Kyoto Protocol, which took effect in 2005<br />
and aims to reduce carbon emissions and<br />
address the problem of global warming.<br />
Under the Kyoto Protocol, Mexico was<br />
designated as an Annex II Country, which<br />
means it is eligible for Clean Development<br />
Mechanism (CDM) projects. The objective<br />
of CDM is to displace future carbon emissions<br />
by rewarding investors who build<br />
power generation plants or other facilities<br />
using cleaner technology as opposed to hydrocarbons,<br />
coal or other fossil fuels that<br />
produce harmful carbon emissions.<br />
In Latin America, Mexico is second to<br />
Brazil in the creation of carbon credits. As<br />
of January 2008, the country accounted for<br />
100 of the nearly 900 CDM projects registered<br />
worldwide. About a third of Mexico’s<br />
CDM projects are in the energy sector and<br />
renewable energy projects in the country<br />
account for the largest number of credits<br />
awarded.<br />
Once the Mexican government certifies<br />
a project as a CDM, the United Nations<br />
Framework Convention on Climate<br />
Change has to approve it under the Kyoto<br />
Protocol. Based on the number of carbon<br />
emissions the project avoids by not using<br />
carbon-based fuel, the owner of a CDM<br />
project will earn carbon emission reduction<br />
credits. These credits have economic<br />
value that can be monetized and used as a<br />
source of capital for the construction of a<br />
renewable energy project. n
usiness tips
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buSineSS and lifeStyle<br />
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negocios@promexico.gob.mx<br />
+ 52 (55) 5447 70 70
services<br />
Leading<br />
provider of<br />
Information<br />
Technology<br />
briefs.<br />
By 2013, Mexico will be the second leading<br />
provider of IT outsourcing services to the<br />
United States, according to estimates by<br />
CompuCom Mexico.<br />
The capacity of Mexican engineers,<br />
their ability to learn English,<br />
its proximity to the US market, its<br />
customer service culture and peso to<br />
dollar exchange rate are all factors<br />
favoring Mexico.<br />
In an interview with the Mexican daily<br />
“El Financiero,” Luis Roberto Sánchez, general<br />
director of CompuCom Mexico, said<br />
that recent studies, like Gartner’s annual<br />
analysis of the 30 leading countries that provide<br />
information technology services, place<br />
Mexico among the three leading IT providers<br />
in the medium term.<br />
www.compucom.com<br />
Photo courtesy of gartner<br />
energy<br />
New Geothermal<br />
Electricity<br />
Photo courtesy of cfe<br />
The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE)<br />
has awarded a 58.4 million usd contract to<br />
Alstom Mexico, a subsidiary of the French<br />
group Alstom, for the construction of the<br />
Geothermal Electricity Central Los Humeros<br />
II. The facility, located in the state of<br />
Puebla, is guaranteed to generate a net capacity<br />
of 25 MW.<br />
Alstom Mexico, which previously constructed<br />
the Los Azufres Central in Michoacán,<br />
will finish building the new plant in<br />
October 2011.<br />
www.alstom.com
12 Negocios Photos courtesy of cfe/ge/blackberry<br />
economy<br />
Mexico, First<br />
Hispanic<br />
Economy<br />
Mexico’s buying power ranks it number one<br />
among Spanish speaking countries, including<br />
Spain, according to figures from the International<br />
Monetary Fund (IMF). Mexico is<br />
ranked first among Ibero-American economies<br />
and 11th worldwide based on calculations<br />
by the IMF. It is ranked higher than<br />
Spain even though that country’s gross domestic<br />
product by inhabitant is nearly double<br />
than that of Mexico. The IMF bases its numbers<br />
on buying power parity –a system used<br />
to determine the richness economies generate,<br />
without the distortions created by price<br />
differences in each country.<br />
hotels<br />
City<br />
Express<br />
Acquires<br />
Credit<br />
Mexican hotel chain City Express has obtained<br />
credit for the construction of six new<br />
hotels in the country. The group announced<br />
it has a financing program with International<br />
Finance Corporation, which is affiliated with<br />
the World Bank Group. The hotel chain expects<br />
to construct 720 new rooms by 2010. It<br />
currently has 4,252 rooms in more than 65<br />
hotels around the country.<br />
www.imf.org<br />
www.ifc.org<br />
Energy<br />
New Gas<br />
Pipeline in<br />
Manzanillo<br />
A 304 kilometer long gas pipeline that will<br />
supply 500 million cubic feet of natural gas<br />
for 25 years will be constructed in Manzanillo,<br />
located in southern Mexico along the<br />
Pacific Coast.<br />
The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE)<br />
awarded the company Transcanada a contract<br />
of more than 294 million usd for its construction.<br />
The company, through its Mexican<br />
subsidiary Energía Occidente de México, will<br />
also transport natural gas to CFE’s thermoelectric<br />
centers in Manzanillo and Guadalajara.<br />
This will be done through the natural gas<br />
terminal pipeline that goes from Manzanillo<br />
to Guadalajara.<br />
The pipeline, which will take around 22<br />
months to complete, is one of the electrical infrastructure<br />
projects that are currently being<br />
constructed in the country.<br />
www.transcanada.com
telephone<br />
Chinese Bank Gives<br />
Loan to America Móvil<br />
briefs.<br />
Telephone company America Móvil has received<br />
from the China Development Bank a<br />
1 billion usd loan for the purchase of cellular<br />
network equipment. This is the first loan a Chinese<br />
bank has given a Mexican company. The<br />
company, owned by Mexican tycoon Carlos<br />
Slim, is the biggest telephone operator in Latin<br />
America and with its presence in 16 countries is<br />
the fifth biggest in the world.<br />
www.americamovil.com<br />
engineering<br />
GE’s New House<br />
General Electric (GE) in the next few months is<br />
set to build a new Center of Advanced Engineering<br />
in Turbo Machines (CIAT). This space will<br />
help promote the development and creativity of<br />
the 1,200 engineers who work in the company.<br />
It will also permit the contracting of 300 more.<br />
The company is allocating 40 million usd<br />
for the center’s construction in Querétaro. GE<br />
is already studying viable land where it can<br />
complete its project, which will have offices,<br />
laboratories, green areas and playgrounds<br />
over an area of 14,000 square meters.<br />
The goal of this new facility is for company<br />
engineers to have a space that is similar to a<br />
university campus and where they will find<br />
the necessary conditions for the development<br />
of their work. This will be GE’s most important<br />
center for the design of airplane motors<br />
and the second most important for the design<br />
of energy industry products. In addition, it<br />
will develop software applications, thermodynamic<br />
calculations and components for lubrication<br />
systems, among other activities.<br />
www.ciat.com.mx<br />
industrial<br />
Mailhot<br />
Debuts<br />
New<br />
Plant<br />
Experience<br />
50 years of experience<br />
5 manufacturing plants in Quebec,<br />
Ontario and now in Mexico<br />
More than 50% of production is<br />
exported to the United States and<br />
countries in Central and South America<br />
Europe is its next objective<br />
Canadian company Mailhot Industries has<br />
begun operating in the Santa Fe Industrial<br />
Park, located in Puerto Interior at Silao, Guanajuato.<br />
Mailhot manufactures hydraulic,<br />
telescopic and industrial pistons and cylinders.<br />
The company invested more than 10<br />
million usd in its new plant, from where it supplies<br />
a diverse number of companies from the<br />
automotive and mining sectors and employs<br />
150 people.<br />
www.mailhotindustries.com
14 Negocios photo archive<br />
Long Life for Water<br />
For CBR Ingeniería, the only thing clearer than water<br />
is reducing contaminants poured down the drain.<br />
By Jennifer Chan<br />
They say water is life and CBR Ingeniería<br />
is betting on a clean rebirth. This novel<br />
100% Mexican firm was formed at the start<br />
of 2008, with the expectation of supplying<br />
solutions on the treatment of water for<br />
companies, hotels, restaurants and homes.<br />
Its base plant is located in Querétaro but it<br />
A Model Home<br />
• There are 4 to 5 people living in an average home.<br />
• Each person uses an average of 180 liters of water per day.<br />
• Just to water a garden, 5 liters per square meter are used.<br />
• 80% of water used at home can be treated and reused.<br />
• A plant that treats wastewater for domestic use has<br />
a daily capacity of 1,000 liters.<br />
• 100% of treated water can be reused for various purposes.<br />
has the capacity to offer its services in any<br />
part of the country. To date, it has completed<br />
more than 90 projects in such places as<br />
Cancún, Aguascalientes, Irapuato, Estado<br />
de México and Mexico City.<br />
CBR Ingeniería uses extended aeration<br />
technology to activate sludge and treat wastewater.<br />
It dates back to the 1970s but, just like<br />
good wine, it has become better with time.<br />
“Modernization permits us to offer a superior<br />
product to bad smelling, older plants that<br />
generate waste products which have to be<br />
disposed of,” said Rodrigo Bribiesca Rangel,<br />
sales director for the company.<br />
Today’s plants occupy a third of the<br />
space of their ancestors, don’t generate<br />
sludge or bothersome noise, can be located<br />
below ground and have reduced their costs<br />
and management requirements. They can<br />
be constructed from fiberglass, stainless<br />
or concrete steel, with fiberglass being the<br />
most popular option for smaller plants.<br />
“The treatment of dirty water is really<br />
the same treatment nature has always done<br />
in rivers, lakes and which has infiltrated the<br />
subsoil,” Bribiesca asserted. “What we do is<br />
the same process in less time.”<br />
In considerably less time. With capacities<br />
that go from .015 liters of water<br />
per second for a home plant to between<br />
300 and 600 liters of water per second<br />
for so-called large flow plants, all of CBR<br />
Ingeniería’s current projects treat more
article cbr ingeniería<br />
Clean water in five steps The five stages of water treatment<br />
• Conditioning Reactor Bacteria or organic matter is put in a latent state, fostering nourishment in better than normal conditions.<br />
• Second Reactor Bacteria is grown and strengthened so it can be reproduced.<br />
• Third Reactor Digestion begins. A balance is created where the organic bacteria isn’t fed and starts to eat itself. This is called “bacteria<br />
cannibalism.”<br />
• Disinfection Water is disinfected. This can be accomplished through ultraviolet light or a chlorination process similar to what is done<br />
with a swimming pool. The second option is more economical and uses commercial tablets. The first option requires an initial major<br />
investment in costly equipment but has the advantage of an autonomous plant that can be monitored through the Internet.<br />
• Return The sludge or leftover flocculent material (undigested bacteria) is returned to the first reactor to repeat the process. This is called<br />
“sludge return” and it is what allows equilibrium between nourishment and organic load.<br />
than 150 million liters of dirty water each<br />
week. It turns the liquid into an optimal<br />
condition so it can be reused in the irrigation<br />
of green areas or car washes and<br />
restrooms.<br />
CBR’s plants are designed to comply<br />
with the Official Mexican Standard NOM-<br />
003-ECOL-1997, issued by the Ministry of<br />
the Environment and Natural Resources<br />
(SEMARNAT). It establishes the maximum<br />
pollutants permitted in wastewater<br />
treated for reuse in public services.<br />
The treatment process, regardless the<br />
size of the plant, lasts 18 hours and its average<br />
cost is less than 7.5 usd for each 100<br />
cubic meters of water.<br />
Zero Perfect<br />
Recently, the large flow plant installed<br />
by CBR Ingeniería in Cancún obtained<br />
DBO0 certification. This parameter,<br />
related to the biological demand for<br />
oxygen, measures the amount of material<br />
susceptible to being consumed or<br />
oxidized by biological means and is used<br />
for determining its degree of contamination.<br />
NOM-003 allows a maximum of 30<br />
milligrams of pollutants for each liter of<br />
water. Cancún’s plant obtained the DBO0<br />
parameter, signifying zero parts per million<br />
or zero milligrams of contaminants<br />
for each liter of water. “It’s the first plant<br />
with an attainment of zero,” Bribiesca<br />
informed. “This treated water could be<br />
drinkable, although, clearly, there exists<br />
the taboo that it comes from wastewater.”<br />
Coming Soon<br />
CBR Ingeniería’s future is taking aim<br />
equally at home maintenance and the exploration<br />
of new territories. The company<br />
is looking to strengthen its presence in<br />
the internal market by developing more<br />
manageable and profitable treatment<br />
plants. At the same time, it’s preparing to<br />
expand operations in Central and South<br />
America.<br />
To reduce costs and decrease the impact<br />
on the environment, the company<br />
is exploring renewable energy options.<br />
These include the use of biogas and solar<br />
energy to produce the electricity needed<br />
to operate the plants. Currently, CBR Ingeniería<br />
is allocating part of its revenues<br />
to the research and development of such<br />
technologies. But above everything, it is<br />
looking to increase consciousness on the<br />
importance and benefit of wastewater<br />
treatment. “Taking care of the environment<br />
is everyone’s concern. We have to<br />
assume a culture in which we take care<br />
of water and with aid of technology contribute<br />
to improve the environment condition,”<br />
Bribiesca said. n
16 Negocios infographic oldemar<br />
Environmentally<br />
Friendly Diapers<br />
To help conserve the environment, Grupo Productos Internacionales<br />
Mabe, a Mexican company dedicated to the manufacture of hygienic and<br />
disposable products, is using biodegradable materials to create its diaper<br />
brand “Biobaby.”<br />
By Karla Juárez<br />
A baby needs minutes, and sometimes less,<br />
to dirty a diaper that will take up to 500<br />
years to biodegrade. On average, a baby uses<br />
close to 7,500 diapers during its first three<br />
years of life. In Mexico, about 5 million disposable<br />
diapers are consumed each year.<br />
Concerned with the impact these figures<br />
can have on the environment, Grupo<br />
Productos Internacionales Mabe, has created<br />
the disposable diapers “Biobaby,” which<br />
have a high yield and are made of materials<br />
that biodegrade in about seven years.<br />
The secret of these diapers hides in the<br />
materials used to make them. Most of them<br />
are of natural origin: organic cotton, corn and<br />
potato starch and natural oils. They help in the<br />
diapers’ rapid disintegration.<br />
The company began operations in 1977<br />
in Puebla with the manufacture of sanitary<br />
towels. Five years later, it ventured into the<br />
production and sale of disposable diapers.<br />
Over several years the company focused on<br />
offering comfortable and practical underwear<br />
for the little ones. It was also a pioneer<br />
in launching into the market different sizes<br />
for the distinct stages of a baby’s growth. The<br />
company was also the first to offer training<br />
pants and it adapted a formula –PRO-<br />
DERM– to help prevent and control chafing.<br />
In 2007, after years of research and invest-<br />
While a disposable diaper is<br />
typically made with a maximum<br />
25% of biodegradable materials,<br />
Biobaby is made with 50%.<br />
ment, it launched Biobaby, a diaper with the<br />
largest number of biodegradable components<br />
in Mexico. This underwear revolutionized a<br />
market that traditionally used materials derived<br />
from oil to manufacture diapers. While<br />
a disposable diaper is typically made with<br />
a maximum 25% of biodegradable materials,<br />
Biobaby is made with 50%. This product<br />
was born in the company’s plants in Tijuana,<br />
Puebla and Brazil, where technicians and researchers<br />
did their homework to create the<br />
first planet-friendly diaper.<br />
A Compromise with the Environment<br />
In the last 10 years, Productos Internacionales<br />
Mabe has invested around 7.5 million usd<br />
in research, equipment, publicity and promotion<br />
for its Biobaby line.<br />
Since its start, Mabe has greatly increased its<br />
technological process facilities. The acquisition<br />
of laboratories and factories in distinct parts of<br />
the world, as well as the opening of sales offices<br />
in different countries, has given the company an<br />
important place in the international market for<br />
disposable and hygienic products. It is in addition<br />
among the Mexican companies that have<br />
the biggest commitment to the environment.<br />
With six production plants in Latin America,<br />
Mabe not only advances its product but also<br />
its labor and preoccupation with the environment.<br />
In its policies and processes, it integrates<br />
tools that help reduce the impact its products<br />
have on nature. In addition, the company has<br />
set up systems that allow to reduce its use of<br />
electricity, reuse part of the water it consumes<br />
through an irrigation system and lessen and<br />
control its management of waste. It also actively<br />
participates in reforestation programs in<br />
Mexico. For these and other actions, in 2002,<br />
the company was recognized by the country’s<br />
federal environmental protection office.<br />
In 2006, Grupo Productos Internacionales<br />
Mabe had revenues of 230 million usd in<br />
Mexico and more than 430 million in the<br />
rest of the world. With Biobaby, Mabe continues<br />
looking for the ideal diaper. n<br />
“Recipe”<br />
The materials used to make the diaper<br />
have various natural ingredients:<br />
Organic cotton<br />
A synthetic superabsorbent<br />
center and a natural polymer<br />
starch base<br />
Inner covering with natural fibers<br />
External covering made<br />
of a biodegradable polyethylene<br />
and natural cotton<br />
A skin formula that has<br />
chamomile, ylang-ylang, geranium,<br />
lavender and perfume<br />
The diaper bag is also made<br />
of biodegradable polyethylene<br />
Source: www.biobaby.com.mx
product biobaby<br />
Biobaby<br />
International<br />
Presence<br />
Mabe has six<br />
production<br />
plants<br />
sales offices in<br />
the Americas<br />
and Europe<br />
Tijuana<br />
United States<br />
of America<br />
Mexico<br />
Portugal<br />
Spain<br />
Puebla<br />
Colombia<br />
Peru<br />
Brazil<br />
Uruguay<br />
35<br />
countries<br />
where it has<br />
presence<br />
Chile<br />
20%<br />
of its sales<br />
in 2007 were<br />
from exports<br />
Argentina<br />
18.1%<br />
is its share of the disposable diaper<br />
market in Mexico, ranking it among<br />
the top diaper producers in the country.<br />
SOURCE: WWW.GPOMABE.COM.MX
18 Negocios Photos Courtesy of pronatura<br />
Mexico,<br />
A Megadiverse<br />
Country<br />
Mexico is among the most naturally<br />
diverse countries in the world.<br />
This has not only turned the<br />
country into an attractive<br />
destination, it has also encouraged<br />
multiple initiatives to preserve its<br />
natural richness.<br />
By Karla Juárez<br />
Mexico is recognized around the world for<br />
its natural diversity. It ranks fourth on the<br />
list of 12 countries that possess between 60%<br />
and 70% of known animal and plant species.<br />
This is due to the country’s large variety<br />
of ecosystems: from deserts and forests to<br />
jungles, coastal and marine areas, including<br />
numerous reef chains.<br />
According to the International Convention<br />
of Wetlands and the Treaty of Ramsar signed<br />
in 1971, Mexico counts with 11 out of the 1,675<br />
world’s most important wetland sites.<br />
Mexico is a megadiverse country, making<br />
it a privileged place to develop productive<br />
activities. The variety of its climates, for example,<br />
has enlarged the food industry with<br />
such products as cocoa, tomatoes, prickly<br />
pears and guavas –which play an important<br />
role in the daily diet of millions of people. It<br />
is also a factor that favors the development<br />
of agricultural businesses with competitive<br />
costs and high production levels. Historically,<br />
the country has been one of the main producers<br />
of hydrocarbons and today it is one of<br />
the regions with the biggest potential for the<br />
development of alternative energy sources.<br />
Mexico’s natural richness is, without a<br />
doubt, a competitive advantage for the development<br />
of successful businesses. But it also<br />
implies an enormous responsibility that calls<br />
on the country to protect and conserve the<br />
diversity that characterizes it.<br />
In the last few years, the world has become<br />
more conscious of the need to protect<br />
natural wealth to ensure humanity’s<br />
development and, above all, to guarantee<br />
its future. Mexico has not withdrawn from<br />
this tendency. Within the country there<br />
are more governmental, social and private<br />
initiatives that look to reorient the use of<br />
resources through sustainable methods and<br />
revert the negative impact that industrial activity,<br />
urban development and demographic<br />
growth have had on the environment.<br />
The National Commission of Protected<br />
Natural Areas (CONANP) is in charge of<br />
watching over locations designated as Protected<br />
Natural Areas (ANP). These are ecosystems<br />
of outstanding biodiversity, considered<br />
fundamental for conserving the world’s<br />
environment.<br />
Created in 2000 as an organization decentralized<br />
from the Ministry of the Environment<br />
and Natural Resources (SEMAR-<br />
NAT), CONANP’s mission is to preserve the<br />
country’s natural wealth and promote a culture<br />
of conservation and sustainable development<br />
within every community.<br />
Increasingly it’s the private sector,<br />
through socially responsible Mexican companies,<br />
that are fulfilling actions that contribute<br />
to social, economic and environmentally<br />
viable development. Their activities go<br />
beyond those required by law.<br />
The examples are abundant. In 2000, the<br />
bank Banamex created its own ecological association<br />
with the goal of contributing to the<br />
safety of protected natural areas, endangered<br />
species and water. It’s a group committed to<br />
preserving the environment and promoting<br />
sustainable development of communities.<br />
Other companies, like Productos Internacionales<br />
Mabe, integrate materials and actions<br />
that help reduce their activities’ impact<br />
on nature. These include systems that save<br />
energy, the reuse of wastewater and garbage<br />
management. In 2002, all of these efforts<br />
were awarded by the Federal Attorney’s Office<br />
of Environmental Protection, the Mexican<br />
government agency in charge of compliance<br />
with environmental laws.<br />
In addition Productos Internacionales Mabe,<br />
as well as other companies like Grupo Bimbo<br />
and Wal-Mart of Mexico, have undertaken diverse<br />
programs to help reforest the country.<br />
For CONANP, it’s important that all of society’s<br />
sectors join the care of the country’s<br />
most representative ecosystems. The agency<br />
is in charge of formulating, promoting, directing,<br />
negotiating and supervising programs<br />
and projects with this goal. Among<br />
its priority projects is the monitoring and<br />
watching over the biological diversity, the<br />
communities, ecosystems and the natural<br />
changes with ANPs.<br />
Since the 1990s, the Mexican government<br />
and the World Bank have looked for funding<br />
for the conservation of the country’s ecosystems.<br />
The Protected Natural Areas Fund<br />
(FANP) was created as part of the Mexican<br />
Nature Conservation Fund.<br />
FANP is funded by endowment monies<br />
and the interest generated each year is used<br />
to support the conservation of Protected<br />
Natural Areas. To date, this fund has 67.7 million<br />
usd, obtained mainly through contributions<br />
from the Global Environment Facility,<br />
the Mexican government, private foundations<br />
and state governments. With these resources,<br />
23 protected natural areas throughout<br />
the country are guarded. The fund has<br />
been internationally recognized for its good<br />
quality performance.<br />
Firms involved in the protection of ANPs are<br />
labeled as a “green company” by CONANP. This<br />
is done by printing the company’s name or logo<br />
in one of the agency’s different publications.<br />
The commission can’t directly deduct<br />
taxes for those that participate. But it does<br />
it through the civil associations authorized<br />
by the Ministry of the Treasury and Public<br />
Credit (SHCP) along with SEMARNAT to<br />
work on behalf of the environment, in particular<br />
with Protected Natural Areas.<br />
CONANP is hoping that in six years a national<br />
system of protected areas made up of<br />
representatives from the government, civil<br />
associations and communities near these<br />
natural environments is consolidated. All of<br />
this actions share the common goal of conserving<br />
Mexico’s natural wealth. n
Report Natural resources<br />
The Protected Natural Areas<br />
financially supported by FANP are:<br />
Campeche<br />
Calakmul Biosphere Reserve<br />
Montes Azules Bisphere Reserve<br />
Chiapas<br />
El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve<br />
Ocote Jungle Biosphere Reserve<br />
La Sepultura Biosphere Reserve<br />
La Encrucijada Biosphere Reserve<br />
Baja California Sur, Sonora,<br />
Sinaloa and Nayarit<br />
Plant and Animal Protected Area<br />
of the Gulf of California Islands<br />
Jalisco and Colima<br />
Sierra de Manatlán Biosphere Reserve<br />
Michoacán and Estado de México<br />
Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve<br />
Yucatán<br />
Río Lagartos Biosphere Reserve<br />
Quintana Roo<br />
Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve<br />
Banco Chinchorro Biosphere Reserve<br />
Baja California Sur<br />
El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve<br />
Sierra La Laguna Biosphere Reserve<br />
Sonora<br />
The Plant and Animal Protected<br />
Area of Sierra de Álamos-Río Cuchujaqui<br />
Cuenca del Río San Pedro<br />
El Pinacate and Gran Desierto<br />
de Altar Biosphere Reserve<br />
Chihuahua<br />
The Plant and Animal Protected<br />
Areas of Maderas del Carmen<br />
and Cañón de Santa Elena<br />
Biological Corridors<br />
Baja California<br />
and Sonora<br />
High Gulf of California<br />
and Colorado River Delta<br />
Biosphere Reserve<br />
Morelos<br />
The Plant and Animal Protected<br />
Areas of the Chichinautzin Wild<br />
Biological Corridor and Tepozteco<br />
National Park<br />
Chihuahua, Coahuila<br />
and Durango<br />
Mapimi Biosphere Reserve<br />
Puebla and Oaxaca<br />
Tehuacán-Cuicatlán<br />
Biosphere Reserve<br />
Coahuila<br />
Flora and Fauna Protected<br />
Area of Cuatrocienegas
20 Negocios Photo ARCHIVE
eport mexican coconut<br />
Coconut,<br />
a Star in the<br />
Organic Food<br />
World<br />
Ever since an appetite for organic<br />
products has become more popular<br />
around the world, Mexico’s<br />
production and exportation of<br />
organic coconuts has skyrocketed.<br />
The fruit has become a star in the<br />
country’s food industry.<br />
The demand for organic products has<br />
grown around the world and countries like<br />
Mexico, with a natural richness that expands<br />
from the mountains to the tropics, have headed<br />
the exportation of some food products<br />
considered delicacies in other locations.<br />
Coconut is one of them and without a<br />
doubt, it’s a good example of the type of<br />
fruits that have it all: exoticism, flavor, variety<br />
and nutritional properties.<br />
Mexico,<br />
No. 1 in organic coconuts<br />
Mexico has become the top producer of<br />
organic coconuts thanks to the National<br />
Integrator of Coconuts Plus, which in<br />
2008 increased its daily exports from<br />
28,000 to more than 280,000. National<br />
Integrator is an alliance that Audelino<br />
Salgado began with 32,000 coconut producers<br />
in the states of Guerrero, Michoacán<br />
and Tabasco. These producers have<br />
received organic certification in 80% of<br />
the hectares they have planted.<br />
Source: SAGARPA.<br />
The fruit is rich in fiber, potassium, copper,<br />
phosphorus, zinc, folic acid and iron. It<br />
also has high concentrations of vitamin E and<br />
group B, as well as mineral salts and sugars.<br />
If that wasn’t enough, coconut has an easily<br />
extracted oil that contains the highest rate of<br />
saturated fatty acids –the kind that go directly<br />
to the liver instead of the body’s fat areas and<br />
which have cosmetic and medicinal uses like<br />
hair conditioner, skin cell rejuvenator, natural<br />
antibiotic and antiseptic. With all these qualities,<br />
it is not surprising the coconut is one of<br />
the trendy fruits in Europe.<br />
Mexico is one of this fruit top sellers and<br />
producers. In response to the growing demand<br />
for organic products in international<br />
markets, most coconut production is done<br />
the old-fashioned way, without chemicals or<br />
industrial processes to accelerate its growth.<br />
Organic coconut fields extend over an<br />
area of 80,000 hectares throughout the<br />
country. The state of Michoacán has 60%<br />
of the production, followed by Colima,<br />
Guerrero and Chiapas, Sinaloa, Jalisco and<br />
Campeche.<br />
Since 2006, when several companies from<br />
Michoacán signed important agreements<br />
with companies from the Netherlands, England,<br />
Germany and France, exports of ecologically<br />
cultivated coconuts from Mexico have<br />
grown with great success. Between 2006 and<br />
2007, the volume of organic coconut exports<br />
went from 9,630 tons to 12,000 tons. Those<br />
exports accounted for 1.9 million usd in 2006;<br />
3.8 million usd in 2007 and 4.86 million usd<br />
in 2008, according to the Ministry of Agriculture,<br />
Ranching, Rural Development, Fishing,<br />
and Food (SAGARPA).<br />
Also in 2006, the Coconut Palm Product<br />
System was created. It promotes the planning<br />
of a chain of 60,000 producers, developers<br />
and dealers. Thanks to this chain, most of<br />
the coconut meat sold in the European and<br />
North American markets comes from Mexico.<br />
Today, 80% of Mexican organic coconut<br />
exports and their byproducts have destinations<br />
like the United States and Canada, with<br />
the rest going to Europe. n
22 Negocios Photo ARCHIVE<br />
Organic<br />
Agriculture,<br />
Ecologically<br />
Productive<br />
Worms<br />
The company Fertihumus is proving that chemicals are not required to<br />
fertilize soil. Hundreds of thousands of earthworms are taking care of this<br />
dirty job.<br />
By VANESA ROBLES<br />
Edgar Messina García’s employees are worth<br />
their weight in gold. Together they weigh<br />
three tons and their daily labor consists of<br />
providing the main ingredient for the manufacture<br />
of a unique agricultural fertilizer. This<br />
product combats plagues, possesses natural<br />
antibiotics, restores<br />
soil’s biological activity,<br />
helps establish levels<br />
of nitrogen, phosphorus,<br />
potassium,<br />
magnesium and calcium<br />
in the soil and<br />
doesn’t harm the environment.<br />
It is called<br />
humus and comes<br />
from the excrement<br />
of an annelid that can<br />
be frightening: the<br />
red California earthworm.<br />
Fertihumus is<br />
owned by Messina<br />
and his daughter,<br />
Paulina Lisette, both<br />
of whom cannot<br />
complain about having office claustrophobia.<br />
Their office is La Cofradía ranch, located 20<br />
kilometers above the town of Comala, on the<br />
sides of Volcán de Fuego, a volcano in the state<br />
of Colima. In the middle of a fairy tale landscape,<br />
their company annually produces 3,500<br />
kilograms of solid humus and 100,000 liters of<br />
An organic company,<br />
by the numbers<br />
6 years in business<br />
3 tons of earthworms<br />
“work” for the company<br />
3,500 kilograms<br />
of solid humus are<br />
produced annually<br />
100,000 liters<br />
of liquid humus are<br />
produced annually<br />
liquid humus. From there, the product is distributed<br />
to Mexico’s main cities and exported<br />
to Egypt, various countries in the Middle East<br />
and to Hungary in central Europe.<br />
It sounds easy but one most take into<br />
consideration that Edgar Messina was a civil<br />
engineer who all his<br />
life had worked in real<br />
estate. Then, six years<br />
ago he told his family<br />
and friends he was<br />
starting a new business.<br />
The responses<br />
from nearly everyone<br />
were expressions of<br />
surprise and disbelief.<br />
Messina had bought<br />
a ton of earthworms<br />
from an old client who<br />
was not doing too well.<br />
“When they offered<br />
me the business,<br />
I focused more on the<br />
positive aspects than the<br />
negative ones. I studied<br />
the market and discovered<br />
it had potential. I grew it,” Messina recalled.<br />
The next step was to look for certification<br />
that guaranteed the product was absolutely<br />
organic, meaning only natural elements and<br />
no manmade or chemical resources were<br />
used in its creation. Fertihumus was certified<br />
by the Italian organization Bioagricert,
eport ORGANIC AGRICULTURE
24 Negocios PHOTO ARCHIVE
eport ORGANIC AGRICULTURE<br />
according to guidelines from Inputs, an international<br />
auditing standard.<br />
On living together with earthworms, there is<br />
not much to say. It’s easier than with other species,<br />
including humans. They only need to be in<br />
an adequate location and fed vegetable waste.<br />
Everything happens in river-beds and dirt<br />
furrows that are 1.5 meters by 25 meters. The<br />
worms eat, excrete and reproduce like crazy.<br />
The next stage is more complicated or<br />
at least longer. The excrement has to be humidified,<br />
decomposed or ripened for eight<br />
months and then sifted and placed in either<br />
sacks or bioreactors where it is moistened to<br />
remove the liquid.<br />
What’s obtained in the end with solid humus<br />
is a material similar to typical humus,<br />
a layer of between 8 and 15 centimeters of<br />
leaves and branches that after tens of years<br />
becomes compost that naturally covers forests<br />
and nourishes the regeneration of ecosystems.<br />
“Here we obtain the same material, but<br />
we accelerate the time thanks to the earthworms,”<br />
said Messina.<br />
If you think you know what earthworm<br />
humus smells like, the answer is contrary to<br />
your preconceived ideas. It is odorless. This<br />
is different from other fertilizers and chemical<br />
pesticides, which sometimes affix themselves<br />
to the fruits, plants and vegetables.<br />
Using humus is simple. But if someone<br />
asks for advice, the company has a group of<br />
external specialists qualified to do the job.<br />
Endless positive qualities can be listed<br />
about humus. Here is a summary of some of<br />
them: it increases crop production; it doesn’t<br />
burn seeds or crops, even in excessive doses;<br />
it doesn’t attract harmful insects; it retains<br />
humidity at six times its weight; it decompresses<br />
clay soils and nourishes sandy ones;<br />
it is totally digestible and nontoxic to plants;<br />
it’s a bioregulator and improves soil; and it<br />
fights fungus and pathogen bacteria, thereby<br />
increasing immunity against plagues.<br />
For insects and harmful fungi that are<br />
more resistant, Fertihumus creates natural extracts<br />
from garlic, chili, cinnamon, flor de cempasuchitl<br />
(marigold flowers) and higuerilla (fig<br />
tree), according to the company’s information.<br />
In the last six years, Messina has learned<br />
more than ever. “We are finishing off the planet<br />
and it shows. Today we have to look at La Cofradía<br />
ranch for the climate that only a few years<br />
ago could be found 20 kilometers below, in Comala.<br />
We are on time to revert this,” he reflects.<br />
Maybe we should start with having more<br />
respect for earthworms. n
26 Negocios photo courtesy of Magnus von Koeller<br />
Monterrey fights<br />
pollution with garbage<br />
The city of Monterrey is not simply throwing away its trash.<br />
Instead, it’s converting it into biogas, which fuels public transportation,<br />
provides illumination for city streets and government offices and also<br />
helps to save the environment.<br />
By VANESA ROBLES<br />
Garbage is what moves the city of Monterrey.<br />
What is considered an ecological toll in other<br />
cities and countries, garbage in the capital<br />
of the northern state of Nuevo León is an alternative<br />
for taking care of the environment.<br />
Electric energy used in city subway lines,<br />
public lighting and government agency offices<br />
is generated with biogas, produced with the<br />
city’s decomposed trash.<br />
The project started in 2003, with a 7<br />
million usd investment from the System for<br />
Eco-management and Garbage Processing<br />
(Simeprode), a state agency, and from private<br />
company Bioeléctrica de Monterrey.<br />
From that ecological partnership came<br />
Bioenergía de Nuevo León, SA de CV (Benlesa),<br />
one of the world’s largest bioenergy<br />
plants and a pioneer in Latin America. This<br />
enterprise has contributed to the reduction<br />
of greenhouse gas emissions in Monterrey<br />
while at the same time lighting up the streets<br />
at night for a city of four million people.<br />
Benlesa provides electric energy to Monterrey’s<br />
Water and Drainage Department,<br />
state offices and other government agencies.<br />
Every day the energy generated by Bioenergía<br />
is used to feed the metro area’s public<br />
lighting, which remains on from 7:00 p.m.<br />
to 7:00 a.m. It is also used to move the city’s<br />
public transportation system cars, which according<br />
to the state ferry 300,000 passengers<br />
each day.<br />
The use of biogas will prevent the emission<br />
of 2 million tons of carbon dioxide in<br />
Government Offices<br />
with Ecological Lighting<br />
- Metrorrey Collective<br />
Transportation System -<br />
- City of Monterrey -<br />
- City of San Pedro<br />
Garza García -<br />
- City of San Nicolás<br />
de los Garza -<br />
- City of General<br />
Escobedo -<br />
- City of Santa<br />
Catarina -<br />
- City of Guadalupe -<br />
- City of Apodaca -<br />
- Monterrey Water<br />
and Drainage -<br />
- Nuevo León State<br />
Government -<br />
- Nuevo León Integral<br />
Family Development System -<br />
the next 20 years. This is the main cause<br />
(about 60%) of the greenhouse effect, which<br />
keeps heat closer to the Earth’s surface. This<br />
emission reduction will be due to Benlesa’s<br />
natural gas and fuel savings, which is equal<br />
to removing 150,000 motor vehicles from<br />
Monterrey’s streets.<br />
And everything is being done with a profit.<br />
More than 19 million tons of garbage accumulated<br />
in the Salina Victoria landfill will<br />
be used to produce biogas for 20 years. This<br />
means investment in the generating plants is<br />
self-sufficient.<br />
The Science of not Polluting<br />
The biogas that lights Monterrey’s metro<br />
area is generated in the city landfill of Salina<br />
Victoria, where the garbage disposed by four<br />
million residents is taken every day. No oxygen<br />
is used to decompose the organic trash<br />
deposited here. Instead, methanogenic bacteria,<br />
which produces methane gas, is used.<br />
For the extraction of this gas, the company<br />
dug several wells connected through<br />
a network of pipes that send the fuel to a<br />
central chamber, where it is conducted to<br />
motors that make the combustion. Through<br />
generators, also connected to the system,<br />
the mechanical energy produced by those<br />
motors is transformed into electricity that is<br />
sent to the city through the Federal Commission<br />
of Electricity network. n<br />
source: nuevo león state government
eport eco-energy
28 Negocios photos courtesy of tecnosilicatos de méxico<br />
Reinventing refuse<br />
Tecnosilicatos de México has made managing waste into<br />
a tidy business opportunity.<br />
By Jennifer Chan<br />
When talking about the proverbial dirty job<br />
that someone has to do, companies like Tecnosilicatos<br />
de México are taking a clean step<br />
forward in that effort.<br />
The company was started in 2005 with<br />
an initial investment of nearly 400 million<br />
usd from a group of Mexico City businessmen<br />
who wanted to promote alternative solutions<br />
for the sustainable and comprehensive<br />
management of waste.<br />
“We are promoting the closure of all<br />
landfills since it’s been clearly demonstrated<br />
they immediately become a long lasting environmental<br />
liability that emit gases leading<br />
to climate change and are unhealthy. They<br />
also emit impurities that contaminate surface<br />
waters as well as groundwater, affecting<br />
the health of those living in these areas,” said<br />
Rogelio López López, founding partner, vice<br />
president and director of construction and<br />
operations for Tecnosilicatos de México.<br />
Currently, the company operates in the<br />
metropolitan zone in the Valley of Mexico (in<br />
the Mexico City area). It has 175 direct employees<br />
and each day receives more than 1,000<br />
tons of non-hazardous trash. The company anticipates<br />
that figure will increase to 4,500 tons<br />
per day by the third quarter of 2009.<br />
The Tultitlán Project<br />
In 2005, the recently started company received<br />
much publicity due to its relationship<br />
with the municipal government of Tultitlán,<br />
in Estado de México. The two entities partnered<br />
on two projects: the technological<br />
management of an open-air dump that had<br />
been closed for 20 years and the sanitation<br />
of land where a chemical firm had operated.<br />
“Tultitlán had two grave environmental<br />
problems: a dump and the environmental liability<br />
of land where the company Cromatos de<br />
México had operated, leaving hundreds of tons<br />
of Hexavalent Chromium in the subsoil and contaminating<br />
the water table,” said López López.<br />
After getting an estimate from Tecnosilicatos<br />
de México, the municipality’s government<br />
had the company sanitize Cromatos<br />
de México’s property and reopen the dump<br />
to transform it into a controlled landfill. But<br />
this had to be done without affecting the municipality’s<br />
finances.<br />
The intention was to reduce the percentage<br />
of waste located in the landfill and<br />
increase its value by up to 80% through<br />
technology, equipment and industrial processes.<br />
The technologies selected for this<br />
goal included the mechanical separation of<br />
trash, and the smashing, mineralization and<br />
gasification of it to create energy.<br />
Investment in this project was nearly 4.3 million<br />
usd and in 2009 it’s expected to increase to<br />
10 million usd. To date, the project has created<br />
a controlled landfill with a capacity of 1 million<br />
tons of trash and constructed a conversion plant<br />
that will begin operating in 2009. Currently, a<br />
temporary trash warehouse, with a capacity to<br />
receive 15 million tons in its first stage, is being<br />
built. The facility, set to be completed in 2012,<br />
will work with plants that convert waste.<br />
López commented that after the Tultitlán<br />
project different companies from large metropolitan<br />
areas –like Invercoba in Jalisco–,<br />
are looking to duplicate models that comprehensively<br />
manage waste and reduce its negative<br />
effects on the environment and health.<br />
Looking to the Future<br />
Among the company’s short and medium<br />
term projects are: the daily collection of 5,000<br />
tons of waste from the metropolitan zone of<br />
Above The rough material at Tultitlán.<br />
the Valley of Mexico as well as from regions in<br />
the northern and western part of the country;<br />
the construction of waste conversion plants<br />
that will use 2,500 tons on a daily basis and the<br />
creation of partnerships with leading companies<br />
in the cleaning industry.<br />
Other areas Tecnosilicatos de México is<br />
thinking of focusing hard in are the generation<br />
of electricity through thermal processes by using<br />
sustainable technology and the creation of<br />
land for agricultural and forestry use through<br />
the mineralization of organic waste.<br />
“Natural resources are finite, the same as fossil<br />
fuels,” said López. “Recycling targets all those<br />
potentially reusable materials. The development<br />
of technologies, equipment and processes<br />
that eliminate contaminants from harmful<br />
waste cast into the atmosphere, soil and subsoil<br />
can benefit all of us.” n<br />
With a little help from their friends<br />
These are some of the international companies<br />
that have worked with Tecnosilicatos de México<br />
to make trash more useful.<br />
Biogas Technology (England)<br />
Construction of biogas collection wells and<br />
a system for transporting, cleaning and<br />
burning it. The company is also taking part<br />
in the evaluation process for the United<br />
Nation’s Program for the Development of<br />
Cleaning Mechanisms (for the payment<br />
of carbon bonds).<br />
Proleben (Mexico) Environmental<br />
auditoriums, municipal and state projects for<br />
environmental closure and management.<br />
Untha Shreeders (Austria)<br />
Compacting equipment for the appraisal<br />
of waste.<br />
X Products GMBH (Germany)<br />
Technology for the mineralization of<br />
dangerous organic and inorganic waste, and<br />
the creation of glass without contaminants<br />
and that is reusable for different processes.<br />
Imabe Iberica (Spain)<br />
Equipment for plants that select, compact<br />
and crush.<br />
GPEC (Canada)<br />
Gasification and generation of electricity.
entrepreneur mueblekipal<br />
The story of a<br />
young woman<br />
who planted<br />
guacamole<br />
and harvested<br />
furniture<br />
Gardenia Sahagún Ruiz has gone<br />
from business dreams of sending<br />
guacamole to Japan to starting<br />
a company that turned into the<br />
biggest exporter of equipales.<br />
And she is only 25 years old.<br />
By Sandra Roblagui<br />
The Japanese love guacamole. Gardenia Sahagún<br />
Ruiz discovered this when she took a<br />
Japanese course. She was a marketing student<br />
at the Western Technological and Advanced<br />
Studies Institute (Iteso) in Guadalajara<br />
when her entrepreneurial spirit emerged: she<br />
planned to export tons of guacamole to Asia.<br />
But her project soon disappeared. Today, the<br />
25-year-old marketing specialist knows the<br />
entire world loves muebles equipales (leather<br />
covered chairs and other pieces of furniture<br />
created back in the pre-Hispanic era) and she<br />
has become one of its main Mexican exporters.<br />
Her company, Mueblekipal, emerged<br />
in 2005 in association with Basilo Cantor<br />
Hernández. An artisan by heritage, Cantor<br />
Hernández was director of Equipales Corporation,<br />
a community cooperative in Zacoalco<br />
de Torres, the birthplace of equipal in southern<br />
Jalisco. Today it produces at least 600<br />
pieces –up to 1,000 if necessary– of this type<br />
of furniture each month. They are mostly for<br />
restaurants but a small number are for collections.<br />
He participates at exhibitions around the<br />
world and his products are displayed in different<br />
cities in Colombia, Guatemala, the United<br />
States and Canada. He has a store in Texas and<br />
sends containers to Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland,<br />
the Netherlands and Austria.<br />
“Equipales are in fashion around the world<br />
and we have much work. In Seville, Spain, for<br />
example, we are going to furnish a franchise<br />
of 10 restaurants,” Sahagún Ruiz commented.<br />
She is grateful for the “coincidence” that made<br />
her change her entrepreneurial goal from exporting<br />
guacamole to Mexican furniture.<br />
In 2005, while still a student, her obsession<br />
with guacamole took her to a business<br />
planning course sponsored by Iteso’s Young<br />
Business Office. “During the workshop, I<br />
discovered that making the salad would be<br />
more expensive than what Japan was prepared<br />
to pay for it. I was disappointed but I<br />
decided to stay in the course because I had<br />
already paid for it. Since I didn’t have a proper<br />
project, I offered to help an engineer who<br />
had a project to produce equipales.”<br />
During a visit to Zacoalco, Sahagún Ruiz<br />
decided to export equipales and registered her<br />
project at the university’s business incubator.<br />
Surprise!<br />
According to her project, she would have her<br />
first sale in three months. Thus, in 2005, after<br />
only knowing the Mexican furniture market,<br />
she participated at Guadalajara’s Expomueble<br />
Fair with a small sample of equipales.<br />
Some Austrian furniture buyers became interested<br />
in the products and wanted to see more<br />
so they could send back a medium sized container<br />
to their home country.<br />
Her university’s business incubator helped<br />
her figure out that 150 pieces of furniture could<br />
fit in a container. But the problem was she didn’t<br />
have 150 pieces made, not even in her wildest<br />
dreams. “I only learned about equipales three<br />
months before!” she said. She went back to the<br />
business incubator, where she discovered she<br />
was in luck. They put her in contact with the<br />
Equipales Corporation: a cooperative born a<br />
few years before thanks to Iteso.<br />
It was a Friday. The following Sunday Sahagún<br />
Ruiz needed to have everything ready<br />
and take the Austrian clients to Zacoalco so<br />
they could see “their” production. On her free<br />
day, she had to choose and prepare the exhibition<br />
of the pieces she would export, make<br />
agreements with the artisans and investigate<br />
what she would need for exportation.<br />
Everything came out perfect that day; so<br />
much so that the young woman, then only 22<br />
year old, lost her fear of international trade.<br />
Since then, much has happened. The best<br />
has been the annual exportation of 2,500 pieces,<br />
close to 36% of Mueblekipal’s commercial production.<br />
In addition, she partnered with Basilio<br />
Cantor Hernández, “Mexico’s best artisan”, and<br />
they decided to establish an independent workshop<br />
of 10 workers. During busier periods, they<br />
work with five other workshops in Zacoalco. Sahagún<br />
Ruiz is in charge of sales, Cantor Hernández<br />
of production and another partner, Óscar<br />
Sotelo takes care of exports.<br />
— What were the keys to success?<br />
— The main thing was I believed in the idea.<br />
Then I consolidated my relationship with<br />
Equipales Corporation to better organize production,<br />
followed up with clients and worked<br />
to have more buyers. It’s essential working<br />
with new technologies. Last week, I sent a container<br />
to Sicily, Italy. I don’t know my clients<br />
and they don’t know me. But both of us trust<br />
the Internet. They got their products delivered<br />
and I promptly received 3,500 euros.<br />
Another golden rule is innovation, Sahagún<br />
Ruiz said. There will always be clients who buy<br />
the most traditional things, even when there are<br />
new things in your catalogue. Innovation moves<br />
equipales throughout the world because the<br />
production level as a whole is what distinguishes<br />
a company from others. One of the most important<br />
lessons is listening to what the clients want;<br />
their needs tell what the seller needs to do. Another<br />
lesson: having people capable of doing this.<br />
The next key is returning to nature what you<br />
have borrowed from it. Some of the essentials to<br />
make equipales are sweetwood and rosewood,<br />
a tree with dry branches but a beautiful orange<br />
vein in the center. To avoid the depletion of these<br />
resources, Mueblekipal reforests an area of<br />
nearly four hectares. “Our intention is not to cut<br />
down the trees but only their branches, which is<br />
equivalent to trimming them.”<br />
Among all these rules, Sahagún Ruiz has a<br />
main one: “Never think about taking advantage<br />
of anyone and work with honesty.”<br />
— What happened in the end<br />
with guacamole?<br />
— Guacamole can wait! n<br />
www.equipalrestaurantero.com<br />
Photo courtesy of mueblekipal
30 Negocios<br />
photo courtesy of pronatura<br />
21st Century<br />
Mexico Forest Expo<br />
Strengthening<br />
the green Sector<br />
Thanks to its growing number of exhibitors, buyers, visitors and multiple<br />
focused businesses, the 21st Century Mexico Forest Expo is recognized as<br />
the most important event of its kind in the country. Its impact and prestige<br />
surpasses national borders.<br />
By conafor<br />
Mexico City will host the seventh edition of the<br />
21st Century Mexico Forest Expo. It is an event<br />
designed to strengthen the sector through: the<br />
creation of effective businesses; the promotion<br />
and sale of products, raw materials, machinery<br />
and equipment; and the exchange of ideas<br />
such as the generation of new strategies to integrally<br />
increase competition in the country’s<br />
forest industry.<br />
The expo will take place at Centro Banamex<br />
in Mexico City from September 24 through<br />
September 26. It is sponsored by the National<br />
Forest Commission (CONAFOR), the Ministry<br />
of Economy and ProMéxico. Its objective is to<br />
expand the possibilities of the forest production<br />
chain on a national and international scale.<br />
More than 60,000 visitors and more than 450<br />
exhibitors are expected to attend the expo,<br />
which is taking place in a 16,000 square foot<br />
area that will also include meeting rooms for<br />
national and international businesses.<br />
Business Meetings<br />
During the expo’s three days, intense commercial<br />
activity takes place on the exhibition floor,<br />
much like an international business meeting.<br />
Investors, producers, representatives from<br />
state governments and institutions can explore<br />
new business opportunities and have direct<br />
contact with each other.<br />
The Expo’s 2009 edition will intensely promote<br />
private investment in commercial forest<br />
plantations, with the goal of strengthening this<br />
alternative for the country’s timber production.<br />
It will also establish commercial agreements for<br />
future transactions with possible buyers.<br />
Technical Program<br />
An essential part of the event is its technical program,<br />
which includes masterful and thematic<br />
conferences, forums and technical meetings.<br />
These activities are directed at foresters, private<br />
businesses, community groups, public institutions,<br />
researchers and other professionals related<br />
to the sector.<br />
International organizations focused on environmental<br />
and forest issues like the Food and<br />
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations<br />
(FAO), the World Bank and the US Forest Service<br />
will participate, as well as prominent specialists<br />
and representatives from different countries.<br />
The Forest Expo is the best setting for<br />
forest-based businesses and for the diversification<br />
of the catalog for suppliers and buyers<br />
of services, raw materials, equipment and<br />
machinery for the sector.<br />
Exports of wood, charcoal and timber<br />
products (in millions of dollars).<br />
2000 - 519.5<br />
2001 - 389.0<br />
2002 - 358.6<br />
2003 - 331.2<br />
2004 - 381.2<br />
2005 - 408.4<br />
2006 - 467.9<br />
2007 - 422.1<br />
2008 - 389.3<br />
source: world trade atlas, 2009.<br />
High potential for forest activity<br />
'<br />
In Mexico, forest activity has a strategic<br />
plan for its sustainable development.<br />
It makes up around 11.5% of the<br />
Gross Domestic Product of the agricultural,<br />
forester and fishing sectors<br />
and it generates close to 300,000 jobs<br />
in the country.<br />
Mexico ranks 12th in the world in size<br />
of forest areas –64 million hectares of<br />
forests and jungles. It is 26th in timber<br />
production, churning out around<br />
7 million cubic meter rolls each year.<br />
It’s estimated that 21 million hectares<br />
of native forests and jungles have<br />
industrial timber potential. Of this<br />
amount, between 6 million and 7 million<br />
hectares are being managed for<br />
commercial use.<br />
An alternative way to increase timber<br />
production in the medium term is the<br />
use of commercial forest plantations.<br />
There are about 11 million hectares of<br />
agricultural land with the potential to<br />
be converted for this purpose.<br />
For more than a decade, the Mexican<br />
government, private investors, financial<br />
and forestry institutions have<br />
promoted the establishment of commercial<br />
forest plantations to reach<br />
production levels that respond to<br />
market needs.<br />
l<br />
In 2008, the main foreign market<br />
for Mexican forest products was<br />
the United States, with 92% of the<br />
exported value that year. That was<br />
followed by the Dominican<br />
Republic- 2.3%, Guatemala- 1.4%<br />
and Peru- 0.64%.<br />
That same year, total imports of timber<br />
products in the United States was<br />
14.1 billion usd; in Japan they reached<br />
11.2 billion usd; and in Canada they<br />
rose to 3.1 billion usd.
eport forest expo<br />
Edition<br />
Number<br />
of Exhibitors<br />
Number<br />
of Visitors<br />
Participating<br />
Federal Entities<br />
Technical<br />
Events<br />
Total Amount of Sales<br />
(millions of dollars)<br />
Location<br />
2003<br />
2004<br />
2005<br />
2006<br />
2007<br />
2008<br />
200<br />
280<br />
329<br />
335<br />
443<br />
474<br />
14,000<br />
13,690<br />
17,950<br />
13,000<br />
15,603<br />
18,717<br />
27<br />
30<br />
31<br />
31<br />
32<br />
32<br />
11<br />
23<br />
35<br />
28<br />
19<br />
49<br />
.37<br />
.35<br />
.38<br />
.40<br />
5.6<br />
7.5<br />
Expo Guadalajara Jalisco<br />
Expo Guadalajara Jalisco<br />
Convention and Expo<br />
Center of Morelia<br />
World Trade Center<br />
Veracruz<br />
Expo Guadalajara Jalisco<br />
Expo Guadalajara Jalisco<br />
*calculated values based on the bank of mexico’s fix exchange rate from june 3, 2009: 13.3 pesos per dollar. www.expoforestal.com
photo courtesy of green roof systems de méxico s.a de c.v.<br />
32 Negocios
cover feature green roofs<br />
Green<br />
Roof Effect<br />
Seen from the air, Mexico City is an endless urban mosaic.<br />
José Antonio Flores had observed the scene many times.<br />
Until one day he imagined it green.<br />
Efecto Verde (Green Effect), a civil association<br />
that promotes eco-friendly projects, is<br />
creating gardens in buildings throughout<br />
Mexico. Thanks to a benefit plan for all the<br />
companies or individuals involved, the association<br />
has made possible a novel and economical<br />
system to create green urban areas.<br />
As a postgraduate student in sustainable<br />
urban planning at University of Ferrara in<br />
Italy, Flores led a research based on the concept<br />
of “urban symbiosis,” which examines<br />
the correlation between the energy used by a<br />
city and what it gives back to its surroundings.<br />
The formula seems simple but the result<br />
tends to erase any optimism. Ideally, a<br />
large city should return to its surroundings<br />
as much energy –or even more– as it consumes.<br />
Very few cities reach this balance and<br />
the majority doesn’t even get close.<br />
From that research emerged a strategic<br />
plan for the “economical-urban-environmental<br />
regeneration” of the country’s capital<br />
that aims to place vegetation on 40% of Mexico<br />
City’s metro zone by 2030. This would<br />
be 590 square kilometers of the more than<br />
1,480 occupied by the metropolis.<br />
The strategy to reach this goal is easy:<br />
create corridors of vegetation through the<br />
city by designing nature areas on buildings,<br />
better known as green roofs.<br />
According to figures from the National<br />
Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI)<br />
the population of the Mexico City metro<br />
area in 2005 reached more than 19 million<br />
residents. That same year, the city had more<br />
than 2.5 million homes, which for green roof<br />
enthusiasts represent fertile ground to create<br />
little natural environments that counteract<br />
the negative effects of urban growth,<br />
reduce the heat island effect and substantially<br />
improve the quality of air breathed in<br />
the city.<br />
The idea to create nature zones on buildings<br />
is not new. Since the 1970s, countries like<br />
Germany, Canada and Japan have promoted<br />
this activity as an alternative to reducing environmental<br />
problems in urban zones.<br />
In Tokyo, for example, they plan to cover<br />
1,200 hectares of roofs with vegetation by 2011.<br />
This will, according to the city’s government, help<br />
reduce the metro area’s average temperature by<br />
one degree centigrade. In Germany, the world’s
34 Negocios<br />
photo courtesy of Efecto verde<br />
Efecto Verde will take part in<br />
creating close to 4,000 square<br />
meters of green roofs at the<br />
Iberoamericana University, in the<br />
Santa Fe zone, and the Children’s<br />
Papalote Museum.
cover feature green roofs<br />
biggest supporter of this activity, the number of<br />
ecological roofs went from 9 million square meters<br />
in 1994 to around 15 million by 2004.<br />
The greening of roofs is rooting around<br />
the world. Besides the environmental benefits<br />
this activity has demonstrated, creating<br />
gardens on building roofs brings multiple<br />
economic and social benefits.<br />
According to international studies, a<br />
green roof on average increases the commercial<br />
value of properties by 15%. It also translates<br />
into significant savings in the consumption<br />
of electrical energy by reducing the heat<br />
island effect and the use of air conditioning<br />
systems. It also results in property management<br />
saving as a green roof needs to be rain<br />
proved only once every 35 years.<br />
Green roofs arrived in Mexico in 1999<br />
with a project promoted by the Biology<br />
Institute at the National Autonomous University<br />
of Mexico (UNAM) and the Natural<br />
Resources Commission of the Mexico City<br />
government. With financing from Banco Interamericano<br />
de Desarrollo, this project installed<br />
the first green roof in the country on<br />
one of the buildings of the Biology Institute’s<br />
botanical garden.<br />
Currently, even though green roofs are not<br />
a new practice and their benefits have been<br />
proven, the cost of a rooftop garden continues<br />
being high for the general public. The cost is<br />
close to 100 usd per square meter, in addition<br />
to the monthly maintenance costs.<br />
There are some companies in the country<br />
dedicated to the design, development and<br />
installation of green roofs. In Mexico City<br />
there is Green Roof Systems of Mexico. It has<br />
been responsible for projects like the roof of<br />
The novelty<br />
of Efecto Verde<br />
The group uses containers<br />
with a novel design that is<br />
practical for greening Mexico<br />
City’s structures.<br />
The containers are manufactured<br />
with 100% recycled plastic.<br />
For the production of the flower<br />
pots, Efecto Verde receives<br />
donations of recycled trash.<br />
Six containers are required<br />
to cover a one square meter area.<br />
Their installation doesn’t<br />
require special preparations nor<br />
specific structural conditions.<br />
The area where these nature<br />
zones are placed is calculated<br />
based on the structural capacity<br />
of each building and the only<br />
requirement is the waterproofing<br />
of the roof.<br />
For each square meter<br />
of area covered with this system,<br />
33 liters of rainwater is stored<br />
and not sent into the<br />
drainage system.<br />
The average cost with Efecto<br />
Verde’s system is from 60 usd<br />
per square meter.<br />
HSBC’s corporate building in Mexico City; the<br />
ecological development of Grupo San Carlos<br />
in Zapopan, Jalisco; and the Steel Museum<br />
at the Foundry Worker’s Park in Monterrey.<br />
In Guadalajara, Jalisco, Idea Consultoría<br />
Ambiental offers its counseling services for<br />
the design and installation of these gardens.<br />
However, so far only a few companies and<br />
individuals have been inclined to make the<br />
investment.<br />
Nevertheless José Antonio Flores’ project<br />
has converted green roofs into a viable practice.<br />
The key to reaching the project’s goal of<br />
“economical-urban-environmental-regeneration”<br />
in Mexico City is a system of natural<br />
spaces that considerably reduces the installation<br />
and maintenance costs of a green roof<br />
and a promotion plan that allows those interested<br />
to recoup the biggest part of their<br />
investment by making it tax deductible.<br />
The young architect designed a system<br />
that reduces by up to 40% the cost of installing<br />
and maintaining a green roof so to make<br />
its use more common.<br />
This system is based on the use of plastic<br />
containers that don’t require any special<br />
preparation to be placed. It’s also based on<br />
waterproofing the area and minimum maintenance.<br />
Six of these containers, manufactured<br />
with 100% recycled plastic, cover an area of<br />
a square meter. For each square meter made<br />
natural with this system, 33 liters of rainwater<br />
are stored, which brings additional benefits.<br />
These include reducing maintenance,<br />
avoiding the channeling of waters into drainage<br />
systems and the evaporation of water<br />
and its return to the environment. Based
36 Negocios<br />
photo courtesy of idea/green roof systems de méxico s.a. de c.v.<br />
Some benefits from green roofs:<br />
Environmental<br />
• Vegetation from building roofs captures suspended particles in<br />
the air –such as lead– that attach themselves to the plants and don’t go back<br />
into the atmosphere.<br />
• Absorbs carbon dioxide and creates oxygen.<br />
• Decreases the heat island effect and the production of ozone.<br />
• Retains rainwater for its subsequent evaporation.<br />
• Reduces flooding problems in drainage systems saturated<br />
by rainwaters.<br />
Economical<br />
• Energy savings from reduced use of air conditioning systems.<br />
• Reduction in building operation and maintenance costs.<br />
• Noise insulation for the interior of buildings.<br />
• Increase in building property values.<br />
Social<br />
• Green roofs transform the urban landscape and have a positive effect<br />
• on the daily lives of individuals.<br />
• They contribute to improving social coexistence and reducing the<br />
stress levels.<br />
• They don’t alter the physical structure or the proper dynamism at urban centers.<br />
on this, it’s estimated that at the end of this<br />
green roofs project in Mexico City, around 9<br />
million cubic meters (9 billion liters) of rainwater<br />
will be stored each year.<br />
The manufacture and greening of these<br />
containers will also have important economical<br />
benefits for the city. Plastic waste generated<br />
by businesses and homes in the city are<br />
used to create them.<br />
The plants used in green roofs are cultivated<br />
and grown in these containers, increasing<br />
their chances of survival. They are<br />
fertilized with compost created by organic<br />
waste produced in the city. In addition,<br />
plants that have been adapted to the environmental<br />
conditions of the region are used,<br />
which makes the project self-sustained.<br />
Mexico City uses plant species that are<br />
produced in the Xochimilco lake zone, located<br />
south of the metro area. This will help<br />
promote the economic revitalization and<br />
conservation of Xochimilco’s chinampera<br />
(or floating gardens) zone, which in 1987 was<br />
declared Patrimony of Humanity by UNES-<br />
CO. Agricultural production will count on<br />
advice from UNAM’s botanical garden. The<br />
plants’ lives are guaranteed for one year.<br />
To close this virtuous circle, the community<br />
association Efecto Verde was founded in<br />
2007 and is in charge of executing the strategic<br />
plan designed by Flores.<br />
In 2008, Efecto Verde formed an alliance<br />
with Ecological Promotion Banamex –an<br />
institution created by the Administrative<br />
Counsel of Banco Nacional de México (Banamex)<br />
to contribute to the preservation and<br />
restoration of the environment in the country.<br />
From this alliance came the Green Effect<br />
Environmental Fund (FAEV), a subsidiary<br />
account to finance projects that support the<br />
integration of eco-technologies such as green<br />
roofs in urban buildings.<br />
FAEV operates on donations from individuals<br />
and businesses. These donations<br />
have two features: they can be “tagged” and<br />
they are tax deductible.<br />
Therefore, a company can request to use<br />
their donations to create green roofs in a<br />
specific site or zone in the city. Donations can<br />
also be deducted from income tax payments.<br />
In addition to the fiscal advantages that<br />
would come from financing the installation<br />
of green roofs on their buildings or the zones<br />
where they operate, companies that participate<br />
in this project would have access to<br />
other benefits. These include energy use savings,<br />
being socially responsible (which helps<br />
attract investors), establishing alliances with<br />
companies from other countries, having access<br />
to sources of financing and being certified<br />
as a green company. But the important<br />
benefit is giving back to their surroundings<br />
a bit of what has been provided to them for<br />
the development of their businesses.<br />
Under this effort, Efecto Verde will take<br />
part in creating close to 4,000 square meters<br />
of green roofs at the Iberoamericana University,<br />
in the Santa Fe zone, and the Children’s<br />
Papalote Museum. For the bicentennial celebration<br />
of Mexico’s independence in 2010,<br />
70% of Mexico City’s historic center will<br />
have green roofs. These are the first steps in<br />
reaching the ambitious goal of transforming<br />
the face of the country’s capital.<br />
While Efecto Verde’s main project is the creation<br />
of green roofs in Mexico City, many of its<br />
operations, like FAEV, are national in scope. The<br />
effort to cultivate green roofs in urban zones can<br />
be replicated in any city of the country.<br />
Also, the technology used by the association<br />
can be exported. Flores knows the green<br />
roof effort they have used to promote participation<br />
can turn into a reference to support<br />
similar projects in other latitudes.<br />
Some companies dedicated to the production<br />
and distribution of construction materials<br />
have shown an interest in selling, both in<br />
Mexico and abroad, the containers designed<br />
by Flores. This would help extend the greening<br />
of buildings under this novel system.<br />
By 2030, Efecto Verde expects to have<br />
green roofs in 40% of the structures in the<br />
Mexico City metro zone. It’s an ambitious<br />
goal but one the association will not carry<br />
out alone. Improving the quality of life in cities<br />
is a dream shared by many. n
special report Certified Forestry Companies<br />
Productivity<br />
and Protection<br />
of Forests,<br />
Under the<br />
Same Seal <br />
Private companies and<br />
government agencies in<br />
Mexico are working<br />
together to ensure the<br />
country’s development<br />
and use of its forest<br />
resources is done in a<br />
sustainable way.<br />
From environmental, economic and social<br />
perspectives, forestry activity is strategic for<br />
Mexico. The country’s forests and jungles<br />
occupy an area of approximately 65 million<br />
hectares, which are home to a great diversity<br />
of species that are relevant worldwide. In addition,<br />
13 million to 15 million people live there<br />
and these forests’ resources are an important<br />
source of income for those individuals.<br />
Today, there are strong social and governmental<br />
initiatives that promote the production<br />
and consumption of certified forest<br />
products. This has led to a growing number<br />
of public and private companies that have a<br />
clear environmental responsibility.<br />
Over a decade ago, Mexico adopted forestry<br />
certification as an instrument to guarantee<br />
the conservation of woods through the<br />
sustainable use of their resources, mainly<br />
timber.<br />
Sustainable Production<br />
On average, national production of wood is<br />
approximately 7 million cubic meter rolls<br />
each year. The majority of this production<br />
is pine wood. Only 5% is from tropical<br />
wood. The National Forestry Commission<br />
(CONAFOR), a Mexican agency in charge<br />
of managing the country’s forest resources,<br />
estimates this activity generates around<br />
300,000 jobs. According to figures from this<br />
governmental agency, five states are responsible<br />
for about 70% of the country’s wood<br />
photo courtesy of conafor
38 Negocios photo courtesy of conafor<br />
production: Durango (26.6%), Chihuahua<br />
(18.5%), Michoacán (9.4%), Oaxaca (7.5%)<br />
and Jalisco (6%).<br />
Of the country’s wood production, approximately<br />
15% comes from property that<br />
has been certified by the Forest Stewardship<br />
Council (FSC). The Rainforest Alliance, the<br />
main certifier in Mexico, estimates the commercial<br />
volume of certified wood products in<br />
2008 was 787,763 cubic meters, representing<br />
total sales of more than 100 million usd.<br />
In addition, 18 companies from diverse<br />
regions in the country have chain of custody<br />
certification to sell wood in rolls, wood<br />
sawed-off in small and large dimensions,<br />
platforms, squared for broom handles, packing<br />
boxes, pilings, stakes and supports. All<br />
together, these certified companies in 2008<br />
used 30 million planks and 33,548 cubic meters<br />
of wood in rolls, representing a total of<br />
175,770 cubic meters of certified wood. This<br />
is equivalent to 32% of the country’s total<br />
certified volume. The rest, 535,679 cubic<br />
meters, is sold in generic markets.<br />
A Push to Forestry Certification<br />
Those mindful that the sustainability of forestry<br />
certification –which occurred in 1995–<br />
depends in large part on the development of<br />
the internal market have accomplished important<br />
efforts to promote the creation of a<br />
solid market for these certified products.<br />
Currently, companies like the Indigenous<br />
Community of Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro<br />
in the state of Michoacán produce furniture<br />
with certified wood. This company sells 95% of<br />
its production to El Palacio de Hierro, one of the<br />
country’s main department store chains.<br />
Companies in Zapoteca communities in<br />
Ixtlán de Juárez, Pueblos Mancomunados<br />
and Santiago Textitlán in the state of Oaxaca,<br />
are suppliers of furniture for schools in their<br />
state’s public education system.<br />
In 2007, a significant advance in the construction<br />
of a market for certified forestry<br />
products was a decree that requires federal<br />
government organizations to buy only wood<br />
products and furniture from companies that<br />
sell such goods.<br />
Forestry Certification<br />
Forestry certification is a process to guarantee<br />
that products originate from managed forests:<br />
meet adequate environmental standards, are<br />
economically viable and socially beneficial.<br />
It’s a voluntary auditing system that is developed<br />
in two spheres: forest management<br />
and the chain of custody of forest products.<br />
Forest Management Certification is a<br />
type of certification that involves the auditing<br />
of companies to verify that forests are being<br />
managed according to the standards established<br />
by the Forest Stewardship Council.<br />
Chain of Custody Certification involves<br />
the evaluation of the production line, from<br />
the tree to the creation of the final product<br />
in order to verify the wood being used comes<br />
from a certified forest.<br />
Forestry certification seals inform consumers<br />
that wood products being offered<br />
are certified and originate from a forest<br />
managed under technical, environmental<br />
and socially accepted conditions. <br />
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)<br />
is an institution that accredits independent<br />
organizations and issues them certifications.<br />
FSC promotes sustainable forest management<br />
that is responsible, socially beneficial<br />
and economically viable. This is done through<br />
the verification of a series of principles and<br />
criteria related to forest management. n
special report Certified Forestry Companies<br />
A Model Forest<br />
Company<br />
The communal landowners<br />
of El Balcón, in the state of<br />
Guerrero, have consolidated a<br />
powerful company that respects<br />
the environment. Today, this<br />
cooperative is an example of<br />
responsible productivity and<br />
management of forest resources<br />
The cooperative El Balcón, located in the<br />
town of Ajuchitlán del Progreso in Tierra<br />
Caliente, Guerrero, has managed to consolidate<br />
one of the most productive forest industries<br />
in southern Mexico.<br />
During the 1970s and 1980s, the government-based<br />
forest company Vicente<br />
Guerrero was in charge of the area’s forest<br />
resources. In 1987, the community took the<br />
A business with<br />
strong roots<br />
El Balcón manages forests that cover<br />
an area of 16,065 hectares.<br />
Its main activity is cutting<br />
down pine-wood. It produces<br />
close to 26,000 cubic meter<br />
rolls each year.<br />
Its annual sales are more<br />
than 2.6 million usd. Of this<br />
amount, around 15% is allocated<br />
for social programs in the<br />
community, which has 836<br />
inhabitants.<br />
It exports between 40%<br />
and 50% of its annual<br />
production, which represents<br />
60% of its total sales.<br />
reins and became the main industrial producer<br />
of wooden boards as well as the first<br />
with an agrarian administration. But after<br />
1989, it was run more as a business.<br />
Under this plan, El Balcón raised its extraction,<br />
transportation and sawmill capacities<br />
and improved its marketing strategies.<br />
This helped it position its products in both<br />
national and international markets.<br />
In January 2003, El Balcón obtained the<br />
Good Forest Management certification from<br />
Smartwood, an entity coordinated by the Rainforest<br />
Alliance and approved by the Forest<br />
Stewardship Council. In 2004, El Balcón also<br />
received the Chain of Custody certification.<br />
With these qualifications, the cooperative<br />
was recognized for complying with federal<br />
and state laws regarding forest materials and<br />
the environment. Thanks to the assembly’s<br />
control of forest activities, there is no illegal<br />
logging in this area. The company’s development<br />
has brought important benefits to the<br />
community, like the creation of jobs and investment<br />
in social programs. n
40 Negocios<br />
Negocios figures<br />
Biodiversity<br />
in Mexico<br />
ONLY 12 COUNTRIES CONTAIN BETWEEN<br />
60% AND 70% OF THE PLANET’S<br />
BIODIVERSITY, THUS EARNING THE<br />
HONOR OF BEING CALLED MEGADIVERSE.<br />
MEXICO IS ONE OF THEM.<br />
IN MEXICO, 12 OUT<br />
OF EVERY 100<br />
KNOWN SPECIES<br />
IN THE WORLD<br />
CAN BE FOUND.<br />
MORE THAN<br />
40% OF MEXI-<br />
CAN FLORA IS<br />
EXCLUSIVE TO<br />
THE COUNTRY.<br />
Ecologic Zones in Mexico<br />
Eco Zone Area* Dominant Vegetation Flora species Flora endemits<br />
Tropical Humid 22 Tropical evergreen forests and savannas 5,000 250<br />
Tropical Sub-humid 40 Deciduous forests 6,000 2,400<br />
Temperate Humid 1 Mixed forests 3,000 900<br />
Temperate Sub-humid 33 Pine-Oak and mixed forests 7,000 4,900<br />
Arid and Semiarid 99 Shrub and Grassland 6,000 3,600<br />
*Millions of hectares<br />
Source: National System of Environmental and Natural Resources Information, Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources<br />
infographic oldemar<br />
Number of species<br />
in Megadiverse Countries<br />
Flora<br />
Brazil 55,000<br />
Colombia 45,000<br />
China 30,000<br />
Mexico 26,000<br />
Australia 25,000<br />
Amphibians<br />
Brazil 516<br />
Colombia 407<br />
Ecuador 358<br />
Mexico 282<br />
Indonesia 270<br />
Reptiles<br />
Mexico 707<br />
Australia 597<br />
Indonesia 529<br />
Brazil 462<br />
India 433<br />
Mammals<br />
Indonesia 519<br />
Mexico 439<br />
Brazil 421<br />
China 410<br />
Zaire 409<br />
Source: Mittermeier, R. and C. Goettsch/Mexico before<br />
the challenges of biodiversity/Conabio, Mexico, 1992.<br />
Some plants originating from Mexico<br />
Main Use<br />
Green Manure<br />
Nourishment<br />
Drink<br />
Condiment<br />
Stimulant<br />
Fiber<br />
Gum<br />
Wax<br />
Decorative<br />
Pigment<br />
Name<br />
Guaje Leucaena<br />
Avocado<br />
Cocoa<br />
Pumpkin<br />
Sapodilla<br />
Bean<br />
Guava<br />
Jícama<br />
Tomatoes, Red Tomatoes<br />
Corn<br />
Mexican Hawthorn<br />
Green tomato, tomato rind<br />
Prickly pears and their fruit<br />
Maguey cenizo, maguey del cerro<br />
Maguey mezcalero, maguey espadín<br />
Maguey tobalá<br />
Maguey pulquero, ixtle<br />
Maguey tequilero, maguey azul<br />
Annatto<br />
Chili, chili ancho, serrano, jalapeño and others<br />
Vanilla<br />
Tobacco, yetl (Aztec name for tobacco)<br />
Cotton<br />
Henequen (an agave)<br />
Gum and Sapodilla<br />
Catkin<br />
Marigold (flower of the dead)<br />
Poinsettia<br />
Anil<br />
Source: Conabio
The lifestyle<br />
T h e C o m p l et e G u i d e of t h e M ex i c a n Way of L i fe .<br />
In Favor<br />
of Nature<br />
p. 60<br />
Photo Courtesy of MuAC - UNAM<br />
Report<br />
The Collector’s<br />
wardrobe<br />
A Series of Thoughts<br />
Related to Art acquisition<br />
6<br />
p. 42
42 Negocios i The Lifestyle photo courtesy of muac by barry domínguez<br />
The<br />
Collector’s<br />
Wardrobe<br />
Negocios suggests Guillermo<br />
Santamarina, curator manager<br />
of the University Museum of<br />
Contemporary Art (MUAC)<br />
at the National Autonomous<br />
University of Mexico (UNAM),<br />
a series of ideas and thoughts<br />
related to art acquisition<br />
By santino escatel<br />
Currently, MUAC’s works are facilitated<br />
thanks to three cultural systems: the first<br />
one is the university heritage, with works acquired<br />
by a committee designated expressly<br />
for this goal. The second is made up of 128<br />
works from international artists bestowed as<br />
long-term loans by Patrick Charpenel. The<br />
third integrates works by 16 prestigious artists<br />
from around the world that the Corpus<br />
Contemporary Art Collection, A.C. lent to<br />
the museum for its housing and exhibition.<br />
Collecting<br />
Art is a reflection of lively times. It focuses pleasures<br />
and definitions on individual existence,<br />
on the existence shared between two people<br />
(memory of seductions), configuring family living<br />
(inheritance of likes), ranking coincidences<br />
in style. It is the materialization of illusions,<br />
spiritual victories, aesthetic arguments, the<br />
terrors and the productive spare time of the<br />
social fabric. Collecting, just like creating art,<br />
is an eternal goal or an adventure you keep<br />
returning to. If you collect art, you keep confirming<br />
the extent of your soul, without leaving<br />
your home. By collecting you are also planting<br />
seeds. You determine economic investment<br />
and open conversational themes.<br />
Criteria for forming a collection<br />
Like everything, collecting is accompanied<br />
by experience and experimentation. The criteria<br />
that guide the exercise are as abundant
eport guillermo santamarina
44 Negocios i The Lifestyle<br />
Tendency, technique/support<br />
The fascination with new forms of creativity<br />
sometimes has triumphant discoveries that are<br />
immediately positioned in history. It can also<br />
cause enormous mistakes and irreparable damphoto<br />
courtesy of muac by barry domínguez<br />
as individuals. Affection or affectations are<br />
sustained. In those cases, impartial subjectivity<br />
doesn’t even matter, and consequently<br />
neither the wandering path. Every honest<br />
collector finds his path, his sources and his<br />
niches that best suit him. Molds, protocols, negotiations,<br />
and above all proposals are more<br />
complex when the chase is distinguished (or<br />
negotiated) by more than one person. More<br />
complex networks emerge because of reasons<br />
of speculation, valuation and location of<br />
works that make up a cultural heritage. These<br />
come from their effectiveness in the projection<br />
of a corporate image or consistency on<br />
the dictation of aesthetic control.<br />
Defining a good collection<br />
I will begin my answer from the most republican<br />
and representative criteria: a good collection<br />
brings together indisputable works of<br />
artists who are undoubtedly important for it<br />
and for the great social body.<br />
Another compromise expresses the importance<br />
of works based on the institutional<br />
prominence of their creators, works that<br />
resignify historical contexts and those that<br />
signaled the aesthetic discourse of periods<br />
within the national culture. Cooperative collections<br />
tend to establish a fruitful investment<br />
in the medium and long term. There are<br />
others, however, that confuse the projection<br />
of art in public conditions and are victims of<br />
land speculation or political dystrophy.<br />
Private collections usually are guided by<br />
taste and their owners decide if the results<br />
are good or bad. Some of these are considered<br />
good by consensus for having discovered early<br />
on talent that in the end was recognized. Others<br />
were recognized for having supported a<br />
stylistic movement or new technological methods<br />
that encourage the creative expression.<br />
A good collection should have:<br />
Coherence<br />
The signatures are no more relevant than<br />
the works. The decorative qualities also<br />
can’t be privileged. In the case of public collections,<br />
the vision has to obviously be wellbalanced<br />
and intentions have to be based on<br />
institutional responsibility.
eport guillermo santamarina<br />
age. Here, coherence counts for much. But personally,<br />
I prefer to nurture adventure and risk.<br />
Close to collecting emerging artists<br />
Finding success as a collector of works by<br />
emerging artists takes one to noble and lucrative<br />
pleasures. Acquiring works that way can<br />
be seen as a philanthropic and generous gesture.<br />
Those who take on this exercise participate<br />
in fortunate bets, a luxury few assent to.<br />
MUAC’s collection<br />
The university’s collection establishes its<br />
institutional parameters in the acquisition,<br />
custody and exhibition of excellent works of<br />
art, created in a specific period and fundamental<br />
to the modern complexion of UNAM.<br />
It is responsible for the institutional capitulation<br />
that recognizes and rewards creativity<br />
that other governmental outlets have left and<br />
continue leaving outside of our nation’s cultural<br />
course. It also embraces the expression<br />
founded in the interdisciplinary and in the<br />
extraordinary. Also, it favors national talent<br />
and university graduates over the works of<br />
foreign artists, internationally approved firms<br />
and the maneuverings of artists legitimized<br />
by political favor or social advantages.<br />
Individual exhibitions at MUAC<br />
Exhibitions of works of a single artist that take<br />
place in this museum will be of international<br />
figures whose works establish a link with the<br />
central thematic points that guide their cycles.<br />
Accepting gifts or<br />
works donations for MUAC<br />
It can’t be done. All works proposed for inclusion<br />
in the university’s museum collection are<br />
subject to evaluation and judgment from experts<br />
(curators, artists and university employees)<br />
and academics that form two committees<br />
focused on this exercise.<br />
Finding good works<br />
The best, the most successful and the most<br />
logical of those nominated lay the foundation<br />
for the construction of an institutional<br />
collection. Such parameters are not exclusive<br />
of tough critic manifestations, or those<br />
that might break the law. And there are also<br />
experimenters who encourage new models,<br />
languages and technology for artistic expression.<br />
They are also not discriminated by age,<br />
sex, sexual orientation, social status, etc. Certain<br />
techniques are also not given preferential<br />
treatment. n
46 Negocios i The Lifestyle<br />
photo Courtesy of ayuntamiento de culiacán by fernando haro
destination bacurimi, sinaloa<br />
La Chuparrosa<br />
Enamorada,<br />
where Tasty<br />
meets organic<br />
La Chuparrosa Enamorada is a country-like restaurant<br />
in the northern state of Sinaloa. Menu offers traditional<br />
dishes, which strive to be natural and organic without<br />
sacrificing the rich flavors of this vibrant cuisine. It is served<br />
in an eco-friendly setting that blends with the region’s<br />
traditions and natural settings.<br />
In the northern city of Culiacán, Sinaloa,<br />
there is a family making history, and making<br />
it deliciously. Jorge Peraza and his three sons<br />
are preparing organic, eco-friendly northern<br />
Mexican food. La Chuparrosa Enamorada<br />
serves meals tourists will remember forever<br />
and local costumers can often indulge in but<br />
without the guilt.<br />
In the outskirts of Culiacán, there is small<br />
rural town called Bacurimí, where Peraza<br />
grew up. In the family home –next to the<br />
Rosales Canal– they used to call “el rancho”,<br />
corn was abundant and an ever-present part<br />
of Peraza’s life.<br />
“The first lighting of the oven to make<br />
‘pan de mujer’ (a local type of bread) was<br />
frequently baked with corncob. When the<br />
donkeys couldn’t perform their breeding<br />
duties, grandfather would order: rub their<br />
ears with the biggest corncob and see how<br />
it doesn’t fail to solve the impotency problem,”<br />
Peraza remembered. He even calls<br />
his hometown “Bacurimí de los Olotes” (Bacurimí<br />
of the Corncob).<br />
Peraza’s love for corn –a key staple in Mexican<br />
cuisine– has prompted him to include it<br />
in the meals served at La Chuparrosa.<br />
In that little ranch next to the river where<br />
Peraza grew up La Chuparrosa now sits. It<br />
is an outdoor restaurant with many moods<br />
and many flavors. Peraza started it in 2003<br />
with the idea of serving fresh food with<br />
his mother’s original recipes. Everything<br />
in La Chuparrosa is made on-site inside of<br />
fireplaces. “It’s the old style. No cans are<br />
opened,” described Jorge Peraza Sato, the<br />
founder’s eldest son, “The eggs come from<br />
hens raised and kept in the back of the<br />
ranch; the jocoque (dry yogurt), cream and<br />
ice cream are made in the creamery, right<br />
next to where people enjoy their dinners;<br />
and the bread and tortillas are baked there.”<br />
More than organic, they like calling their<br />
cuisine slow cooked, fresh or natural food.<br />
“I’m not sure if we are considered organic.<br />
We are definitely eco-friendly,” said the<br />
young Peraza. “We don’t open a Maggi sauce<br />
“I’m not sure if we are<br />
considered organic. We are<br />
definitely eco-friendly,”<br />
said the young Peraza.
48 Negocios i The Lifestyle<br />
photo Courtesy of ayuntamiento de culiacán by fernando haro<br />
or Worcestershire bottle. We grind our corn.<br />
We make beef consomme. Our hens aren’t<br />
stressed out to make them produce eggs.<br />
Our hens sleep at night and live during the<br />
day. They are free.”<br />
“Our roosters fight with the sparrowhawks<br />
so they won’t eat the chickens,” he added, “I<br />
have seen sparrowhawks come down to take<br />
the chickens and the roosters kicking them<br />
out. That is more than organic, that is real.”<br />
Going to the restaurant is like having a<br />
natural, ecological experience. The main<br />
terrace of La Chuparrosa reminds one of a<br />
country restaurant full of Mexican kitsch ornaments.<br />
Each table displays a painting of a<br />
“Art and culture is the way<br />
we want to relate to the community,”<br />
Peraza said.<br />
Mexican icon, from folk singer Pedro Infante<br />
among other fixtures of Mexican pop culture.<br />
From there, costumers can see the outdoor<br />
kitchen, with women making tortillas<br />
and offering visitors freshly made salsas.<br />
Venturing farther inside there’s the<br />
hamaca (hammock) section, which invites<br />
people to spend the afternoon relaxing and<br />
listening to the river’s water flow or the<br />
roosters crow. The kids can always play and<br />
enjoy the Iguanario (an iguana farm) the<br />
Perazas created a few years ago. Last time<br />
they counted there were 120 iguanas, all<br />
completely free. “All we do is give them some<br />
food,” Peraza commented.<br />
La Chuparrosa is in the process of becoming<br />
the first restaurant in the state certified<br />
by Destino. It is a new certification by the<br />
city that means the restaurant is committed<br />
to taking care of the environment (no bottled<br />
water sold here!) and promoting regional<br />
values and culture. With La Chuparrosa’s<br />
original and natural food and its efforts to<br />
conserve the area’s trees and animals, no<br />
one doubts it is eco and culturally friendly.<br />
Every year, during the not so hot months,<br />
La Chuparrosa celebrates the ‘Fiesta de los<br />
Días Frescos’ (Party of the Cool Days). It is<br />
a series of activities and events to promote<br />
culture, art, literature and music. It features<br />
plays and pottery lessons for children and all<br />
sorts of cultural events for adults. “Art and<br />
culture is the way we want to relate to the<br />
community,” Peraza said.<br />
One of the family’s plans is to franchise<br />
the restaurant and its food. One day their<br />
chilorio (a pork dish), chorizo (pork sausage),<br />
beans, jocoque, or ice cream will be available<br />
anywhere in the world. But for now, it<br />
is a must to visit the restaurant in Bacurimí,<br />
right next to the river, and enjoy delicious<br />
meals right next to the iguanas. n
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50 Negocios i The Lifestyle photos courtesy of archive/ café punta del cielo<br />
city<br />
The City<br />
of Mole<br />
Some historians say it’s the result of a fortunate<br />
coincidence; others believe it was the<br />
product of a meticulous process. What’s true<br />
is that mole is one of the most representative<br />
dishes of Mexican cuisine.<br />
Mole is a thick sauce made with a base of<br />
cocoa or chocolate, peanuts and other nuts,<br />
and a mix of peppers and spices. It has a total<br />
of more than two dozen ingredients that are<br />
carefully blended to achieve a unique flavor.<br />
It is traditionally served with turkey meat,<br />
but it also goes well with pork, beef or chicken.<br />
When it comes to mole, the best ones<br />
are served in Puebla, considered the birthplace<br />
of the dish. In the streets of this town,<br />
there are all types of restaurants, from small<br />
diners to places like Fonda de Santa Clara,<br />
María Bonita, La Casita and La Guadalupana<br />
where anyone can enjoy this exquisite<br />
dish along with other traditional ones like<br />
chiles en nogada, cemitas and escamoles.<br />
www.puebla.gob.mx<br />
awards<br />
Celestial<br />
Coffee<br />
Coffee brand Punta del Cielo bought the entire<br />
production by the farmers who won the Premio<br />
Cosecha 2008 (the Harvest Award), which<br />
is given by the Mexican Association for a Productive<br />
Coffee Chain (AMECAFE). Punta del<br />
Cielo will package this coffee as a special edition<br />
that will be distributed in some Mexican<br />
cities and mainly exported to Spain.<br />
www.puntadelcielo.com.mx
The Lifestyle briefs<br />
government policies<br />
A Meeting<br />
for Protection<br />
of Islands<br />
The goal: the conservation and the sustainable<br />
use of Mexico’s island resources. The means:<br />
the National Meeting for the Conservation<br />
and Sustainable Development of Islands, taking<br />
place from June 23-26 at the Center of<br />
Scientific Investigation and Higher Education<br />
in Ensenada, Baja California (CICESE). The<br />
gathering is organized by the National Institute<br />
of Ecology, The Nature Conservancy, the<br />
Ministry of Interior, the National Commission<br />
of Protected Natural Areas, the Center of Scientific<br />
Investigation and Higher Education in<br />
Ensenada and the Island Ecology and Conservation<br />
Group. In Mexico there are 2,800<br />
island-like bodies, including islands, cays, reefs<br />
and rocks.<br />
www.ine.gob.mx/dgioece/con_eco/encuentro_islas_2009.html<br />
photo © Edward Porter /© The Nature Conservancy<br />
photo © Connie Gelb / © The Nature Conservancy
52 Negocios i The Lifestyle photos courtesy of hsbc.com/wikipedia<br />
ecotourism<br />
Punta Allen,<br />
Among Land,<br />
Sea and<br />
Paradise<br />
One of the best locations for an ecological trip<br />
in Mexico is Punta Allen in the Mayan Riviera.<br />
It is in Sian Ka’an, “the place where the sky<br />
begins,” about 180 kilometers from Cancún in<br />
the state of Quintana Roo. It is a coastal area of<br />
530,000 hectares and 100 kilometers of reefs<br />
that in 1986 were designated as Biosphere Reserve<br />
by the Mexican government. This came<br />
one year before it was declared Patrimony of<br />
Humanity by UNESCO. Punta Allen’s inhabitants,<br />
about 300, strive to bring in responsible<br />
tourism. Sian Ka’an has at least 12 hotels with<br />
ecological cabins made of wood and palm leaf.<br />
Visitors can enjoy the 1,400 species of plants,<br />
800 of flowers, 340 of birds and 100 of mammals<br />
that inhabit the reserve.<br />
www.sedetur.qroo.gob.mx<br />
photo courtesy of destination marketing office/community tours sian ka’ an<br />
mexico city<br />
A legend<br />
inside a<br />
park<br />
photo gerardo becerril ®<br />
The Ecological Park of Xochimilco is made<br />
up in part by 165 hectares around a legendary<br />
Mexico City lake that in 1987 was named<br />
Cultural Patrimony of Humanity by UNES-<br />
CO. The park is an invitation to take a walk,<br />
ride a bike or go rowing.<br />
www.xochimilco.df.gob.mx/turismo
The Lifestyle briefs<br />
construction<br />
A Rectangular<br />
Bubble in the Capital<br />
A rectangular bubble in Mexico City’s Zona<br />
Rosa is part of an effort to save nonrenewable<br />
resources and offer a breath of fresh air for<br />
2,800 of the metropolis’ inhabitants. It is an intelligent<br />
building from the English bank HSBC,<br />
located in front of the Ángel de la Independencia,<br />
one of the city’s emblematic monuments.<br />
It has 23 floors and parking on ten levels. The<br />
tower, where the flow of millions of dollars in<br />
Mexico and Latin America is controlled, is efficient<br />
in every sense. Those inside can breathe<br />
securely thanks to an air filtration system<br />
that doesn’t allow suspended particles inside.<br />
Thanks to an automated system, it combines<br />
natural sunlight with electricity to provide illumination.<br />
The building saves water thanks<br />
to a system that absorbs and filters rain, which<br />
is used for the bathrooms. The financial palace<br />
was designed by the Mexican construction<br />
company Hicsa and it’s one of the bank’s five<br />
“intelligent” buildings. The others are in the<br />
United Kingdom, India, Hong Kong and the<br />
United States.<br />
www.hsbc.co.uk<br />
culture and arts<br />
Cultural<br />
Showcase<br />
on the Net<br />
Mexico’s cultural life is on display for the<br />
entire world to see through the Cultural<br />
Information System, an Internet page from<br />
the National Board of Arts and Culture<br />
(CONACULTA). Users of the Web page can<br />
check details from each region of the country<br />
about Mexican heritage, festivals, cultural<br />
institutions and financing sources.<br />
literature<br />
Queen Sofía Poetry Prize<br />
for José Emilio Pacheco<br />
Mexican poet José Emilio Pacheco (born 1939<br />
in Mexico City) was honored on May 7 with the<br />
Queen Sofía Poetry Prize. The prize –nearly<br />
57,000 usd- is awarded in Madrid to recognize<br />
the career of a living author from Ibero-America<br />
and Spain. Emilio’s work has since the 1950s<br />
been included in various anthologies. Highlights<br />
of his work include “The Elements of the<br />
Night,” “The Fire’s Rest,” “Don’t Ask Me How<br />
Time Passes,” “Since Then” and “The Moon’s<br />
Silence.” His poems have also been featured<br />
in certain translated works and bibliographic<br />
collections. It is the first time a Mexican has received<br />
the prestigious award.<br />
sic.conaculta.gob.mx<br />
www.usal.com
54 Negocios i The Lifestyle illustration Ma. elena lópez<br />
Pecha-Kucha<br />
Pecha-Kucha, in Japanese,<br />
would be the sound made<br />
when whispering<br />
It was conceived in 2003 by Astrid Klein<br />
and Mark Dytham (Klein Dytham Architecture)<br />
in Tokyo, as a format for designers<br />
to display their work and as an informal<br />
way to exchange opinions. The fundamental<br />
idea behind Pecha-Kucha is for a person<br />
to communicate a proposition in a brief<br />
and concise manner. For this, the format<br />
“20x20” was created. It is 20 images or slides<br />
projected for 20 seconds each. This gives<br />
the presenter a total of six minutes and 40<br />
seconds to talk about a project or share an<br />
opinion about a certain theme.<br />
This singular format has become popular<br />
and its use has been extended to such<br />
fields as art, architecture, photography<br />
and even business. Currently, more than<br />
100 cities around the world have adopted<br />
the Pecha-Kucha format to create meeting<br />
spaces, mainly for young people.<br />
In Mexico, they are periodically organized<br />
in Guadalajara and Mexico City.<br />
There have been two in Tijuana and occasionally<br />
some are organized in Oaxaca,<br />
generally in bars where spectators can<br />
drink something and whisper while the<br />
presentations take place.<br />
Information about places, dates and presenters<br />
around the world for Pecha-Kucha<br />
can be found on the Web at www.pecha-kucha.org<br />
Information about Pecha-Kucha in<br />
Mexico is available at www.pechakucha-df.<br />
org for Mexico City, and at www.pechakuchagdl.org<br />
for Guadalajara.<br />
If travelers are fortunate, they can coincide<br />
with a date for Pecha-Kucha in the city<br />
they are visiting. n
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+52 (55) 5447 7070
56 Negocios i The Lifestyle photo archive<br />
Mazunte,<br />
from<br />
Turtles to<br />
Cosmetics<br />
The small Mexican Pacific<br />
coast village of Mazunte has<br />
gone from an economically<br />
depressed turtle fishing village<br />
to a community that has<br />
remade itself with cosmetics,<br />
ecotourism and the aim of<br />
cooperative organizations.<br />
By Fidelia Fadel<br />
For generations, the residents of Mazunte –a<br />
small beach town on the Pacific Coast in the<br />
southern state of Oaxaca – made their living<br />
from turtle fishing and hunting. But in 1990,<br />
the practice was forbidden by law and the<br />
locals soon were plunged into poverty and<br />
high unemployment.<br />
But thanks to a little hard work, ingenuity<br />
and a helping hand from cooperative organizations<br />
and businesses committed to rural<br />
communities and the environment, Mazunte<br />
is climbing out of its economic troubles and<br />
reinventing itself by looking to alternative<br />
forms of industry like cosmetics and ecotourism.<br />
The change began in 1993 when a project<br />
promoted by the Tropical Forestry Action<br />
Plan helped install solar energy cells<br />
throughout the entire town. The area was<br />
also reforested with vegetation suitable for<br />
such an ecosystem. In addition, cabins were<br />
built with adobe. This element is used in<br />
rectangular units and it doesn’t have a negative<br />
impact on the environment because the<br />
materials to produce it are as simple as soil<br />
and water. In opposition to regular bricks,<br />
raw adobe doesn’t need to be fired –which is<br />
a major source of pollution–, it is dried thanks<br />
to the solar energy. It is also worth to mention<br />
that the design of all structures in Mazunte is<br />
based on an architectural model that blends<br />
in with the natural landscape.
eport mazunte<br />
Mexican Government called for the<br />
creation of the National Mexican<br />
Turtle Center in September of 1991
58 Negocios i The Lifestyle<br />
photos courtesy of mazunte cosmetics<br />
01 body oil.<br />
02 Lip Balm.<br />
03 even anticelulite -reductive gel<br />
is also sold by Mazunte.<br />
04 shower gel.<br />
05 moisturizing body cream, another<br />
of the Mazunte organic products.<br />
On the opposite page the other main tourist<br />
happenings, the Mexican Turtle National Center.<br />
01<br />
03<br />
02 04<br />
05<br />
It was also in the early 1990s when someone<br />
came up with an unusual but brilliant<br />
idea: “What if we produce cosmetics instead<br />
of hunting turtles?” That led to the creation<br />
of Cosméticos Naturales de Mazunte, which<br />
today employs ten women and three men.<br />
The project began with help from the<br />
British cosmetics franchise The Body Shop.<br />
The late former director of the company,<br />
Anita Roddick, visited Mazunte and was astonished<br />
by the efforts of its residents. The<br />
Body Shop supported the endeavor by training<br />
workers in cosmetics production.<br />
Reyna Rosario Robles, one of Cosméticos’<br />
founders, says the company now has more<br />
than a decade of market presence. But that<br />
has come through the daily hard work of<br />
many, including Robles.<br />
“There have been many duties. I was in<br />
charge of production. Then I was responsible<br />
for the warehouse and raw materials.<br />
Next I was in the shop and now I’m in the<br />
sales department,” she describes.<br />
Cosméticos now produces natural shampoo,<br />
hair conditioner, body oil, moisturizing<br />
cream and other products.<br />
Sales in Mexico have done very well. But<br />
Robles has always hoped her company’s<br />
products would go beyond Mexico’s borders.<br />
“Our products are being sold in our country.<br />
Our dream has always been to export so<br />
Mazunte Numbers<br />
Cosméticos Naturales<br />
de Mazunte has 14 different<br />
product lines and one<br />
ecological hotel.<br />
Bioplaneta has worked with<br />
up to 55 communitarian<br />
enterprises in 12 states<br />
in Mexico. In Oaxaca, the<br />
network has incorporated<br />
the work of 30<br />
small producers.<br />
we can give more jobs to people in our community,”<br />
she said.<br />
That dream came through in early 2008<br />
when Novo-Deal, a Swiss-Mexican enterprise<br />
founded in 2001 with the goal of trading natural<br />
products worldwide, began exporting Cosméticos’<br />
hair care line to Switzerland.<br />
NovoDeal’s philosophy seemed to match<br />
perfectly with the leitmotif of the Mazunte<br />
community. They both had common goals<br />
of enriching different countries with cultural<br />
knowledge, offering customer satisfaction<br />
with natural high-quality products and helping<br />
to develop producers.<br />
Pretty soon, other products like lotions,<br />
soaps, lip balms and massage oils were added<br />
to NovoDeal’s exports list. The firm now<br />
offers online Cosméticos’ entire collection<br />
and sends them anywhere in the world.<br />
Besides creating new industry, another of<br />
Mazunte’s main commercial strategies has<br />
been turning the coastal town into an ecotourism<br />
destination.<br />
In 1994, the doors – as well as ponds–
eport mazunte<br />
photo courtesy of destination marketing office<br />
of the Mexican Turtle Center opened. It is<br />
home to every species of salt and fresh water<br />
turtles from the region, including the<br />
Lora turtle, an exotic variety that can only<br />
be found along Mexican coasts. In addition,<br />
the center’s surroundings are made up of a<br />
beautiful botanical garden with semi-desert<br />
plants from the region.<br />
Robles says there are other paths to improve<br />
Mazunte’s future, including the construction<br />
of a cabin complex that can be<br />
rented to vacationers.<br />
But Mazunte’s efforts to redefine itself<br />
have not been an isolated project. It has also<br />
been helped by the Bioplaneta Network.<br />
This is a national network in Mexico of<br />
rural and self-sustained cooperative organizations<br />
whose goals include protecting the<br />
environment, fair trade, improving living<br />
standards of its member communities and<br />
promoting ecological tourism. Its director is<br />
Héctor Marcelli Esquivel, a Mexican expert<br />
on environmental development.<br />
“We have been working for years to consolidate<br />
community enterprises. Our idea is to<br />
make them self-efficient,” said Sandra Contreras,<br />
Bioplaneta’s administrative director. “Our<br />
duty is to support them, advise them, create<br />
workshops so they can reach their goals. It is always<br />
done in an ecological and social manner.”<br />
Contreras said Cosméticos Naturales de<br />
Mazunte is a good example of projects occurring<br />
along the coast of Oaxaca, which are<br />
linked to one another and support each other.<br />
Cosméticos Naturales supports and promotes<br />
the sale of peanut butter, a project of a<br />
factory located in La Ventanilla, two kilometers<br />
away from Mazunte.<br />
“What (the factory) used to do was sell<br />
peanuts at very low prices, less than 1 usd.<br />
Now they sell peanut butter at (around) 4<br />
usd each,” Contreras said.<br />
Bioplaneta has also partnered with other<br />
fair trade projects affiliated with its network.<br />
“We work in the area of Pinotepa Nacional in<br />
Guerrero, with a network of Mixteca weavers<br />
(an indigenous community). We organize fashion<br />
shows where their techniques are incorporated<br />
with trendy clothing and patterns to catch<br />
the taste of young people,” Contreras said.<br />
The Bioplaneta network also organizes<br />
workshops in different communities. Those<br />
who attend then discover they can focus in<br />
different areas, from reforestation to cultural<br />
missions or teaching. “The whole community<br />
understands that everybody needs to get involved,”<br />
Contreras added.<br />
Bioplaneta’s ambition is not so different<br />
from that of Robles in Mazunte: increasing<br />
their presence abroad through exports.<br />
According to Contreras, Bioplaneta Network<br />
goal goes far beyond sales: “From Mexico<br />
City we are currently doing exports, sales and<br />
events but having direct contact with consumers<br />
is our aim because this generates environmental<br />
education. People get to know the<br />
benefits of consuming organic products and<br />
they assume a social responsibility. It is also important<br />
to us that consumers learn something<br />
about the place that produces what they are<br />
buying. Such community labor generates development<br />
and growth.” n
60 Negocios i The Lifestyle photos courtesy of pronatura<br />
In Favor<br />
of Nature<br />
With a portfolio of projects<br />
that is as inexhaustible as its<br />
strength, Pronatura watches<br />
over the conservation of<br />
Mexico’s true wealth.<br />
By Jennifer Chan<br />
From monarch butterflies and frogs in the<br />
Zoque Jungle in southern Mexico to reforestation,<br />
environmental education and fair<br />
trade programs, Pronatura Mexico continues<br />
expanding its reach like a protective tree.<br />
This civil association was founded in 1981<br />
and is dedicated to the conservation of plants,<br />
animals and prioritized ecosystems in Mexico.<br />
Comprised of representation from around<br />
the country and specifically from five regions<br />
–Northeast, Northwest, the Yucatán Peninsula,<br />
the South and Veracruz– Pronatura<br />
works to develop harmony between society<br />
and nature.<br />
Currently, the organization supports 199<br />
conservation projects, 30 regional programs<br />
and five national programs in 46 protected<br />
natural areas, 38 priority land regions, 16 priority<br />
marine regions and 56 Important Areas<br />
for Bird’s Conservation (AICAS).<br />
Among Pronatura’s stand out endeavors<br />
is its National Program for the Conservation<br />
of Private and Public Lands. It is dedicated to<br />
the management and protection of ecologically<br />
significant lands that are property of cooperatives,<br />
communities or small landholders.<br />
In 2008 alone, this program secured the longterm<br />
conservation of 93,912 hectares of land.<br />
Two other Pronatura projects are its National<br />
Program for the Conservation of Wetlands,<br />
which in 2008 helped restore 880 hectares,<br />
and its National Program for the Protection<br />
and Bird’s Conservation.
feedback pronatura<br />
Protected<br />
Natural Areas<br />
(Anps)<br />
ANPs are portions<br />
of land or aquatic areas<br />
representative of diverse<br />
ecosystems where the<br />
original environment<br />
has not been<br />
essentially altered.<br />
They are subject to strict rules<br />
of protection, conservation,<br />
restoration and development<br />
that have been established<br />
by Mexican law.<br />
Currently, the National<br />
Commission of Protected<br />
Natural Areas administers<br />
166 ANPs that represent<br />
more than 23 million hectares.<br />
They are classified in<br />
the following categories:<br />
Biosphere Reserves (38)<br />
11,846,462 ha<br />
National Parks (68)<br />
1,505,643 ha<br />
Natural Monuments (4)<br />
14,093 ha<br />
Protected Natural<br />
Resource Areas (7)<br />
3,467,386 ha<br />
Protected Plant and<br />
Animal Areas (31)<br />
6,127,425 ha<br />
Sanctuaries (17)<br />
689 ha<br />
Other Categories (1)<br />
186,734 ha<br />
TOTAL<br />
166 Categories<br />
23,148,432 ha<br />
www.conanp.gob.mx
62 Negocios i The Lifestyle<br />
photos courtesy of pronatura<br />
Perhaps the organization’s most important<br />
project is its National Program for Reforestation<br />
and Water Collection. Through<br />
this project, 1,648 hectares of land were reforested<br />
in 2008 in 11 Mexican states. This<br />
resulted in more than 1.6 million trees being<br />
planted in the states of Coahuila, Durango, Estado<br />
de México, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán,<br />
Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Tlaxcala,<br />
Veracruz and Zacatecas. The program was<br />
recognized by the Switzerland-based World<br />
Economic Forum, its objective is to restore<br />
25,000 hectares of highly degraded ecosystems<br />
and plant 30 million trees by 2012 . In<br />
2009, it incorporated 5 new federal entities<br />
into this effort: Puebla, Hidalgo, Aguascalientes,<br />
Morelos and the Federal District.<br />
Also, each region represented by Pronatura<br />
has different programs to promote the<br />
development of sustainable communities.<br />
“The results obligate<br />
us to work closely with those<br />
companies interested in lessening<br />
their impact on nature or<br />
implementing strategies<br />
that directly benefit certain<br />
ecosystems,” Roldán said.<br />
These include environmental policies and administration;<br />
the creation and management<br />
of information for conservation; and the es-<br />
tablishment of environmental education and<br />
communication strategies. All the organization’s<br />
programs are planned to have short,<br />
medium and long-term impacts and its safe<br />
to say they are here to stay.<br />
In 2009, Pronatura is looking to promote<br />
societal involvement and bring forth to the<br />
general public the tools and mechanisms<br />
needed to help with the conservation of<br />
nature. “This translates into environmental<br />
education,” said Sergio Roldán, director of<br />
communication for Pronatura Mexico. “One<br />
of Pronatura’s main objectives is to strengthen<br />
the conscience of Mexicans concerning<br />
environmental issues.”<br />
To accomplish this objective, Pronatura, in<br />
coordination with HAVAS Media, conducted
feedback pronatura<br />
a study to measure the public’s interest and<br />
knowledge of environmentally friendly products.<br />
According to this study, 82% of Mexicans<br />
prefer buying products from companies that<br />
have taken measures to counter the effects of<br />
global warming.<br />
“The results obligate us to work closely<br />
with those companies interested in lessening<br />
their impact on nature or implementing<br />
strategies that directly benefit certain ecosystems,”<br />
Roldán said.<br />
In its constant effort to look for innovative<br />
mechanisms for conservation –whether<br />
they be technical, new technologies or even<br />
through marketing– Pronatura meets the<br />
challenges of promoting its results in a charismatic<br />
way so that people become as passionate<br />
as the organization about wolves and bats.<br />
The association totally depends on funds<br />
from donors and national and foreign corporate<br />
sponsors. All donations go directly to<br />
rural projects. For more information or to become<br />
part of Pronatura’s protective embrace,<br />
visit www.pronatura.org.mx. n<br />
A Question of Priority<br />
The National Commission for the Awareness<br />
and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) is an organization<br />
that coordinates the government’s<br />
efforts related to the conservation of the country’s<br />
biodiversity. Through its Priority Regions<br />
Program for the Conservation of Biodiversity,<br />
the organization dedicates itself to identify<br />
areas that through their physical and biotic<br />
characteristics are key zones for the conservation<br />
of the country’s natural diversity.<br />
• Priority Land Regions (RTP): Currently<br />
in Mexico, 152 priority land regions have<br />
been designated. They cover an area of<br />
515,558 square km, representing more<br />
than one-fourth of the country’s territory.<br />
• Priority Marine Regions: CONABIO<br />
has identified 70 coastal and oceanic<br />
areas considered priorities because of<br />
their great biological diversity.<br />
• In addition, CONABIO has defined<br />
230 Important Areas for Bird’s Conservation<br />
(AICAS) where 26,000<br />
specimens from 1,038 bird species<br />
live. This represents 96.3% of Mexico’s<br />
total bird species, according to the<br />
American Ornithologists’ Union.<br />
Source: CONABIO and Pronatura 2008
64 Negocios i The Lifestyle<br />
30<br />
offices around<br />
the country<br />
PRONATURA’S<br />
RESOURCES<br />
420<br />
advisers<br />
13<br />
administrative<br />
offices<br />
320<br />
staff members<br />
17<br />
rural<br />
offices<br />
Investment in<br />
conservation<br />
(in USD)<br />
312<br />
partners<br />
$2.18 million<br />
Pronatura<br />
México A.C.<br />
$1.65 million<br />
Pronatura<br />
Northeast A.C.<br />
$1.41 million<br />
Pronatura<br />
South A.C.<br />
$1.15 million<br />
Pronatura<br />
Northwest A.C.<br />
$1.15 million<br />
Pronatura<br />
Yucatán<br />
Peninsula A.C<br />
Investment in<br />
conservation<br />
1990-2008 (in USD)<br />
$593,640<br />
Pronatura<br />
Veracruz A.C.<br />
27.5%<br />
from companies<br />
and individuals<br />
TOTAL<br />
$8.13<br />
million<br />
7.5%<br />
from<br />
others<br />
$3.01<br />
million<br />
$627,789<br />
$4.66<br />
million<br />
$7.12<br />
million<br />
$7.86<br />
million<br />
$7.79<br />
million<br />
infographic oldemar<br />
22.1%<br />
from<br />
governments<br />
The origin of<br />
Pronatura’s<br />
resources<br />
in 2008<br />
42.9%<br />
from foundations<br />
and NGOs<br />
NOTE: ALL FIGURES IS USD