Our November 14 meeting to present CeMIR project to the state authorities, as well as to the municipal authorities, was a big success for CEA. The meeting moved us forward in disseminating information about the waste treatment problem, the consequences for the environment, and CEA's solution, Proyecto CeMIR.

Our first goal was to get both authorities that are directly involved in CeMIR, CAPA (Water Commission) and FIDECARIBE (quarry owners) to come to our presentation. Both were represented. Representing CAPA was Ing. Jaime Quiñones, Director of Projects; the representative from FIDECARIBE in the north of the state was Lic. Edgardo Díaz. The representative for Governor Hendricks, who was out of the country on that day, was Ing. Jorge Mariano Morales Calzada, Secretario de Desarrollo Urbano y Medio Ambiente (SEDUMA). SAUS (Servicios Ambientales Urbanos) the Delegado for Akumal and Akumal residents were present, too.

CEA Director, Dr. Charles Shaw, gave a brief, but warm, welcome. Emilio Talancón gave a presentation on Reef Ecology, which illustrates the threat to the reefs´ health due to the mishandling of liquid and solid waste. After that we went on to our work of the day and motive of the reunion, the presentation of the CeMIR Project by Ing. Mauricio Bautista. The presentation was a fluent speech and explanation of the project and the benefits that will occur. All of the attendants listened with interest.

At the end, a question and answer period took place, where Ing. Jorge Morales, the Governor’s representative, said there is interest for projects like CeMIR. He left an open door for further contact with the government to achieve together our goal of a contamination-free Akumal.

An appetizer buffet from Imelda's Kitchen of small chicken tacos, guacamole, empanadas, chips and hot sauce, and refreshing Jamaica flower water was served after the meeting. The buffet was typical Mexican cooking that everyone loved.

We are working closely with CAPA and FIDECARIBE in these coming weeks, presenting a formal request for the quarry to FIDECARIBE and a technical proposal to CAPA for the installation of a created wetland as complementary treatment to waste water for the soon-to-be-constructed waste treatment plant.

Guardias Ambientalistas (Environmental Guards)

The latest meeting of Akumal's inhabitants for the establishment of the Committee of Guardias Ambientales took place on the 21st of this month of November. As we know, the voting for this committee took place the previous week and PROFEPA's authorities came again for the establishment of the committee. The participation of the residents of Akumal has been increasing as meetings continue. This last meeting had the highest attendance of all and the committee was installed with the official name, Comité de Guardias Ambientales de Akumal. Pictures and ID of everyone were submitted for the credentials to be made.

This is a great step towards the conservation of the Akumal environment since we are now a Watched Natural Area just a step below our intended Marine Protected Area. There remains an open invitation to participate as a Guardia to Mexicans interested in participating.

With everyone's participation, the future of Akumal will have an optimistic outcome.

Dr. Rina Aguirre

You must be wondering: Who is this Dr. Rina Aguirre? Well, let me tell you briefly about her and why she is one of our major subjects. Dr. Rina Aguirre was here at CEA about two years ago on sabbatical. It was a year that she took and she was working with the SEMARNAT (Environment Office). She heard about and came to learn more our CeMIR project while here and she liked it very much.

Rina went back to Mexico City and back to her classes she teaches at UNAM (Mexico's State University). This was two years ago. Well, she phoned and e-mailed us just this week telling us about a proposal that she made on a project called ProMIR (twin brother of our CeMIR project) to CONACYT (Council of Science and Technology) and guess what? Rina got the project APPROVED!!

Rina wants to work with CEA on the project and proposes the installation of Waste Management Centers for the major towns of Quintana Roo: Tulum, Akumal, and Puerto Aventuras. She will be at CEA on January 12, 2004 to present to us her concept of an integrated waste management center. Here at CEA we are very excited about all of this and we look forward to a productive collaboration, which comes at just the right time, coinciding as it does with our efforts along the same line.

I will keep you posted on these significant serendipitous advances.

Best wishes,
Emilio C. Talancón
Government and Public Relations