31-10-2022
16 Years of Volunteering at the REPSA
Although volunteering has been related with charity—to bring support, to make donations—the concept has changed since climate change is here. It’s in this area that environmental volunteering appears, focused on the development of conservation actions where common people can intervene.
URLStarting the moment when UNAM’s National School of Social Work (ENTS, Spanish initials) was invited by the Pedregal de San Ángel Ecological Reserve (REPSA, Spanish initials) to “adopt”— in the sense of taking charge of—the A2 buffer zone of the reserve, in 2007, the ENTS directorate created a team of teachers and students to take a part in conservation actions along with the Institute of Applied Sciences and Development.
Voluntary work at the REPSA is done out of love for the territory, for the preservation of the green color in spring that transforms into brownish tones when fall arrives. New environmental proposals focus on the possibility of living in balance and in peace with our surroundings, taking care of everything that adds to biodiversity of the San Ángel ecosystem: respect for many species’ habitats, both plants and animals (the biotic part), as well as for water, soil, air, and energy (the a-biotic factors); protecting it from external agents that may endanger it, and avoiding overexploitation so that it stays sustainable. These are the reasons why students learn to respect and care everything in the REPSA.
Along 26 years many conservation activities of the REPSA’s buffer zones A2-1 and A2-2 have been done. Among them, we can mention a floweredplants database of both native and introduced species, a multidisciplinary conservation project, social responsibility workshops, and many more.
For the volunteers, these activities have represented moments of peace and relaxation. Dedicating six hours per week and the first Saturday of each month to care for the protected area, are a token of our own feelings, of being with ourselves and with the environment; this is our way out in search of a moment with nature.
Ulises Torres holds a Sciences PhD from UNAM’s National School of Social Work, where he works in academic and research activities focusing in University Social Responsibility. He also participates in DGECI.
Genoveva Villalobos holds a Sciences master’s degree from UNAM’s Institute for Applied Sciences and Technology. She works in academic and research activities on medicinal plants.
The authors wish to thank REPSA’s Technical Secretariat for their support.
Genoveva Villalobos holds a Sciences master’s degree from UNAM’s Institute for Applied Sciences and Technology. She works in academic and research activities on medicinal plants.
The authors wish to thank REPSA’s Technical Secretariat for their support.
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