Corridor toward Stewardship of Dendrocygna arborea: The Juana Matos Community Initiative (Cataño, Puerto Rico)

As part of the Agents of Change initiative and as an IGERT Fellow our integration with the organization The Corridor of the Yaguazo, Inc., are related to the empowerment of the community on resolving all their problems. Problems related to their coexistence and problems related to the environment. They present to us the need of compiling their historical memory because that’s the missing part need it to become more empowered. To achieve this goal we are interviewing different people in the community to gather the historic memory of the place, as well as collecting information about the projects carried out to maintain a data base of research on the zone. The Corridor of the Yaguazo, Inc. is concerned with the protection and development of natural resources in Puerto Rico. We believe that the Island’s natural resources are of great value, and hence should be recognized in their ecological, historic, anthropologic, cultural, social and legal context. The responsibility of caring for our natural resources belongs to each human being. This is why we promote environmental education for all: children, adults, individuals, communities, and groups from the public and private sector. This way, we promote the integration of the community in preventing harm to the natural environment, and the preservation and sustainable development of Puerto Rico.