Caborrojeños Pro Salud y Ambiente, Inc. (CPSA, Caborrojeños for

Health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

and Environment) is a non-profit

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

organization based in Cabo Rojo,

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

. The organization was founded in 1990 by a group of concerned residents who wanted to improve the livings standards of Cabo Rojo and

in general, and was incorporated as a non-profit in 1991. The organization's first president and main driving force was

Efrén Pérez Rivera Efrén Pérez Rivera (March 10, 1929 – May 15, 2011) was a Puerto Rican environmentalist leader and college professor. He got married at the age of 28 with Pezinka Berenguer, till the day he died. He had three children with her, Efrén Pér ...

, an

ecologist Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

and retired professor of the

University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (UPRM) or Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez (RUM) in Spanish (also referred to as Colegio and CAAM in allusion to its former name), is a Public university, public land-grant university in Mayagüez ...

. The organization partnered with the US Fish & Wildlife Service to preserve and manage the Cabo Rojo Salt Flats. CPSA promotes efforts to preserve the indigenous flora and fauna of the Cabo Rojo area. The organization created and manages the Centro Interpretativo, a visitors' center in the Salinas area, near the Los Morrillos Lighthouse. Volunteers at the Centro Interpretativo provide guided walking tours that allow visitors to experience the local wildlife and fauna. CPSA collaborated with

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

on the Sowing the Development of the Country (SDE) Project before withdrawing in 2008. The group was also actively involved in the preservation of Isla de Ratones (Mice Island), a small island off the coast of Cabo Rojo. The island has been suffering from significant erosion during the past decades. Caborrojeños Pro Salud y Ambiente, with the help of the local government, planted

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen and remove sal ...

and launched a project to repopulate the local

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

population in order to stop the erosion. The group was part of the alliance of environmental groups that fought the installation the

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalence, tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 ...

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

Cogentrix. Caborrojeños Pro Salud y Ambiente was actively involved in the reconstruction effort of the Los Morrillos Lighthouse, achieving a grant from the

U.S. Federal government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, execut ...

to restore the historic building. However, political moves and the inactivity of Cabo Rojo mayor Santos Padilla doomed the plan and the federal grant was lost. In 1999, the group received the Urban Community Award, presented by the Puerto Rico Forestry Conference Annual Convention. In 2003, the organization was awarded the

Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations: * Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia * Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana) * Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) * Environmenta ...

Environmental Quality Award The group was also recognized by the Miranda Foundation. The current president is retired college professor Dr. Pedro Valle Carlo.

External links

Official Web PortalPrimera Hora Newspaper article describing the organization's work

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caborrojenos Pro Salud y Ambiente Environmental organizations based in Puerto Rico Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico Forestry in Puerto Rico 1990 establishments in Puerto Rico Organizations established in 1990