The Mexican students reforesting Yucatán’s dunes

“ Nature is not hasty but it can do anything,” said the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tse. At Sisal Dunes, in only eight months, a group of students of the Yucatán Academic Unit (UAY) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) will have restored the vegetation with the help of recycled PET in over 9,000 square meters with over 10,000 plants through the Recycling Dunes project.

Every dune “is a biodiverse environment that is home to plants and animals, so it is possible to find rodents, coyotes, turtle nests, and birds. Likewise, there are reptiles, snakes, and insects,” says Doctor Juan José Kasper from the Marine Sciences and Limnology Institute .

Juan José Kasper explains that a dune “is a sedimentary deposit that is created from the transportation and accumulation of sand , mainly on deserts and coasts .” Some have a height very close to the ground, however, others can be up to 30 meters tall . For instance, the Sisal dunes are two meters high , while some of the dunes of the Vizcaíno Reserve in Baja Calfornia Sur are 15 meters high .

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Hence, the students Luis Perea, Baruch Aguilar, Erika Sánchez, and Omar Pérez , as all inhabitants of Sisal, Yucatán, have another skin, that formed by the breeze from the Gulf of Mexico, which inspired them to create this project that seeks to recover the functions of dunes, such as preventing the loss of ground , filtering water to the subsoil to maintain an adequate quality in it and reduce the development of hurricanes .

It all began on February 2019 ; the class “Conservation of diversity” of the major in Sustainable Management of Coastal Areas, established that in order to pass, they had to create groups and come up with a project that could compete in a contest .

The friendship between Luis, Baruch, Erika, and Omar made them choose the white dunes as a topic for their Project. “Knowing the dynamic of the town helped us choose them. Moreover, one of our objectives is to contribute to improving the environment as a way to thank Sisal for adopting us,” they explain, for they are originally from Mexico City.

The next step was to find a feasible call. For this point, the founders tell they began “to believe” because they considered that it was a necessary and feasible strategy. Hence, on March 21, 2019 , Recycling Dunes was the winner, among 35 teams, of the “ Endorsing Ideas ” competition from the Bepensa Foundation .

With the money of the prize, they began working and choosing the most affected areas due to the opening of private roads to enter the beach , causing the fragmentation of several parts of the dunes. “Therefore, we looked to reconnect those areas, close the non-established roads, and recover that area of vegetation,” says Luis.

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Let’s do it!

It is Tuesday night. Adriana, Luis, and Baruch prepare the pipes that work as posts to define the area to be restored; they cut PVC plastic bars and drill them so that they can create a sort of fence with a rope to protect the new plants.

As every Wednesday, Baruch wakes up at 8:00; a bit earlier than usual, because he needs to fetch the ATV and a tow , which belong to Richard Wilson , an inhabitant of Sisal, who offered to lend them so that the students could transport the plants that will fill the empty spaces in the sands of the dunes. Likewise, he donated nearly 100 meters of rope recovered from the sea to enclose the restoration area.

Once at the UAY’s greenhouse, the students choose plants like Canavalia Rosea , Sesuvium portulacastrum , and Marine Suriana that have the required characteristics to survive and adapt to outer life. There, the students germinate the plants from the seeds collected on the beach with the guidance of Patricia Guadarrama .

They transport them through iceboxes to take them to the laboratory of the institute for the chemical scarification , a process in which they submerge them in a petri dish with hydrochloric acid for a day. Then, they put them in pans where they will sprout. It is a simulation of what they have to experience in the outer world.

With the help of recycled bottles , they have created shields to protect some plants and to create terrariums that allow them to artificially simulate the conditions of the habitat of those plants who are still not ready to live on the beach. This magic is possible thanks to the gathering of PET bottles by a group led by Doña Julia . They need almost 7,000 of them to achieve their goal.

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Once in the area to be restored, Adriana Ramírez and Guadarrama focus on planting , while Luis and Baruch dig holes to install the posts . Usually, they plant between 80 and 150 specimens every Wednesday, of which 80% survive. The rest do not because they do not develop roots , they need more water , or are stepped on by visitors.b

With time, other students have joined the project, such as Alitzel Juárez, Alejandro Villanueva, Saúl Jaramillo, Estela Pérez, and Luis Martínez .

“It’s very moving to watch the development of different plant species; to give them love and care inside the greenhouse; you can have an important role in creating awareness in society,” says Adriana, who is in charge of keeping a register of all the flora that is planted and monitor them carefully.

A patient work

Due to the rise of the tourist offering and the construction of hotels , there are more roads to the beach, which causes people to use them and step on the plants that are part of the dunes fauna. Numbers of the Yucatán’s Tourist Promotion Ministry prove it: In December 2019, the percentage of hotel occupation in the state rose 2.4% compared to the previous year.

“The lack of information and signaling for its care is what makes plants vulnerable,” adds Baruch. Likewise, the dunes are the main protection barrier against the breeze, hence, reforestation is vital.

“For there to be dunes, a sufficient supply of sand is needed, produced by wind , dry weather for the transportation of sand, and slightly rugged terrain,” explains Kasper. This kind of soil elevations is divided according to the direction and the speed of the wind: “Transversal, parabolic, barchan, longitudinal, and star.”

The dunes must not only be seen as a cultural benefit because they create a beautiful landscape. Among its fauna , there are plants that can help treat different diseases and others that are used for gastronomy.

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A collaborative work

This team has endorsed workshops and talks in Sisal’s schools about how to take care of the environment and the dunes, as well as the UNAM’s Open Doors Day . In 2019, in the framework of the 15th anniversary of the UNAM in Yucatán, they promoted an ecologic hike in which participants picked up garbage on the beach.

The commissioner of the community, Miguel Antonio Ek , has also endorsed the project. “He has helped us with posters, in addition to ours, where visitors are asked not to enter the dunes with vehicles and not to litter and those who do not respect the rules are punished,” they say.

Luis, who has always liked the sea, would like for Recycling Dunes to become a referent in the restoration of this kind of ecosystem. Omar does not hesitate when he asserts that he believes the project will become grand and that they will be able to restore the vegetation in similar nearby áreas.

For his part, Baruch had always wanted to become a biologist and leave a mark by helping people and confesses that he did not imagine the impact the project would have, for he thought it would remain local .

Through this project, there will also be reinforcement for refuge areas for turtles and birds, as well as the creation of new pollination areas for butterflies and bees. Now, they must keep planting hoping that one of the many lungs of Mexico can keep breathing strongly.

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