Celaya, Gto., October 10, 2019.- With the establishment of an Arboretum (botanical garden) in the Janicho headquarters of the University of Guanajuato (UG) it is sought to rescue the endemic plants of the place, take care and preserve them, as well as open possibilities for these actions to be promote development in and for communities, as well as the generation and application of knowledge.

For this purpose, the project for the establishment of a UG Arboretum began at the Celaya-Salvatierra Campus, which in a first stage will be aimed at reforestation and environmental preservation of the Janicho headquarters in Salvatierra, and Juan Pablo II, in Celaya, explained the M. Luz María Landa Zavaleta, from the Environmental Management and Sustainability Unit of the Campus.

In Janicho, graduate students in Regional Development began the rescue work of some specimens of plants typical of the area. The work plan began with the removal of weeds, i.e. those that grow between useful plants and compete for nutrients and space and interfere with their growth and preservation putting them at risk of extinction. In the region of Salvatierra there are about 260 species of weeds, such as fig, buckle, dandelion, bramble, among many others.

Alternately, some species of useful plants or suppliers of some benefit to the population, donated by Social Development of the municipality of Salvatierra, were planted.

Some of these species have medicinal, ornamental, and/or edible properties such as nopal, guamúchil or golden acacia, some of them at risk of disappearance. Its rescue will allow the restoration of degraded sites, as well as curb ingesting the deterioration of the ecosystem and the loss of biodiversity.

Explaining the scope of the project, Professor Dulce María Reyes Barrera, responsible for delivering environmental and sustainable development subjects at Janicho Headquarters and coordinator of the group of students who started the project here, explained that the next stage is to carry out monitoring, using geographic information systems, as well as training on species care, and working on social awareness about forms of participation.

It is a linking project, which integrates aspects of rescue of endemic plants and at the same time is oriented to the creation of sources of experimentation and knowledge generation, notes the professor and researcher Rafael Veloz García.

Likewise, at the headquarters of Juan Pablo II, students of Clinical Psychology and Civil Engineering initiated the first actions for the establishment of the Arboretum in this headquarters. With the planting of plant species that require little water and that are typical of the area, it is sought to contribute to lower the water footprint, as well as the care of ecological niches.

In the Arboretum project, all university disciplines converge: physical and emotional health, administrative sciences, engineering, "we are going to create spaces where economic, social, cultural and formative development is generated, recreation spaces for the benefit of the university community and also for the benefit of the environment," reports Campus Rector Dr. Graciela Ruiz Aguilar, accompanying the group of students who get to work on this project.

In this way, the UG joins the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations (UN), in implementing social responsibility and sustainability actions.

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