Non-profit organizations can now contribute to the preservation of natural areas close to their communities through co-management agreements with the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources. These agreements establish collaborations to manage natural protected areas, like forests and reserves, although in the future there is a possibility of establishing agreements to manage national parks. This kind of agreements became popular after the community project Casa Pueblo fought, since 1980, to avoid mining in Adjuntas, Utuado, Lares and Jayuya. After the mining project was rejected, Casa Pueblo got the area declared as the Bosque del Pueblo (the People’s Forest) and started managing it in 1996.

With a $1.4 million investment from the Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI), which will be distributed over the next 5 years, the University of Puerto Rico inaugurated a modern proteomics laboratory at the Medical Sciences Campus. The proteomics laboratory, in the Comparative Medicine Division of the Medical School, will allow scientists to do research with proteins, molecules and other compounds that could help identify diseases earlier than before.

The Camuy river cavern system is unique. It has a great ecologic diversity and one of the longest and most plentiful underground rivers in the world. The Caverns of Camuy are among the first 20 underground bodies of water in the world and receives more than 300,000 visitors a year.