The Puerto Rico Manufacturers Association honored FirstBank with the Sustainability Excellence Natural Solutions award for its coastal erosion mitigation program – Rescate Costero (Coastal Rescue), the bank announced.
The awards ceremony was held during the 15th Environmental Sustainability and Best Practices Summit, where Senior Vice President of Communications and Marketing at FirstBank, Wanda Betancourt, presented the program.
“We’re so proud to be receiving this recognition during Earth Month, and for years, FirstBank has distinguished itself by its commitment to protect the environment. Last year, as part of our 75th anniversary, we embarked on this great challenge to contribute to the mitigation of coastal erosion by planting 25,000 trees over a period of three years. To help with an environmental problem as complex as this, we took on the task of managing collaboration agreements with a multisectoral group that includes the government sector, affected municipalities, community-based organizations, schools, and private entities,” said Betancourt.
In addition, to facilitate the coastal planting process and achieve greater reach, the Rescate Costero program formed an alliance with the ecological conservation and restoration center Vida Marina – a non-profit environmental organization led by Dr. Robert Meyer, a scientist and researcher at the UPR-Aguadilla campus, and working to restore sand dunes, which serve as a natural obstacle in mitigating coastal erosion.
According to Betancourt, “These initiatives complement each other in favor of the environment: the creation of dunes through Vida Marina, and the reforestation with endemic plants through our work at FirstBank, helping to create a barrier to prevent coastal erosion. Having launched it on October 6, 2023, we’ve already planted 4,215 trees during 8 planting events between Isabela, Loíza, Camuy, and Manatí – all thanks to the efforts of our allies."
Notably, the following companies are also part of Rescate Costero: Boy Scouts of America, Ecoexploratorio, Fundación Amigos del Yunque, Girl Scouts of the Caribe, Organización Pro-Ambiente Sustentable (OPAS), Scuba Dogs Society, United Way of Puerto Rico, Academia María Reina, The Baldwin School, Universidad Politécnica, Assurant, Stellantis, Empresas Santana, the Department of Education, and the municipalities of Camuy, Isabela, Loíza, Luquillo, Manatí and Quebradillas.
Rescate Costero includes volunteers from organizations that are part of the program, along with FirstBank employees and citizens who sign up through www.unoconelambiente.com.
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