COZUMEL, Mexico (AFP) – Mexican billionaire Carlos
Slim, one of the world's richest men, on Thursday launched a
joint 100 million dollar project to protect Mexico's
environment with the government and the World Wildlife Fund.
"I believe that looking after the environment will be one of the
big generators of jobs in the future," Slim said on a beach on
Mexico's Caribbean island of Cozumel at
the launch of the alliance.
"Whether there's a crisis or not, the cost of looking after the
environment and reducing risks is more advisable than not doing
anything," Slim said.
The alliance aims to promote sustainable development in one of
the world's most biodiverse countries.
Six priority regions, including northern deserts, tropical
Caribbean beaches and eastern jungles -- representing 30 percent of
the country -- are involved in the project, and funding from both
the public and private
sectors will later increase, said Mexican Environment
Secretary Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada.
Carter S. Roberts, CEO of the World Wildlife Fund, lauded the
involvement of Slim -- who is worth some 60 billion
dollars, according to Forbes Magazine.
"It's more important beyond the money. It's the fact that the
private sector, civil society and the government are
working together," Roberts told AFP.
"In the developing world it's a very new model."
The selected regions for the project are the Gulf of
California, the Chihuahuan desert, the
Mesoamerican Reef, Oaxaca, the Monarch Butterfly Region and
Chiapas, including the Lacandona Forests and El Triunfo
reserve.
It's good to have this mindset of putting others in front of
yourself.
But of course, be able to help yourself as well.
