Arboreto Cholul
The Cholul Mayan Fruit Arboretum is a project developed by a group of approximately 70 community volunteers and supported by other relevant actors such as the Mérida City Council, the Cholul Township in Yucatán, Mexico, and the San Pedro Cholul church, a 17th-century historical monument adjacent to the Arboretum.
The Arboretum represents an effort that began more than three decades ago when Dr. John Ehrenberg, a renowned Mexican expert in communicable diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO), and his wife, Perla Coll, an Argentine psychologist and environmentalist, established a garden at their home in Cholul. In this place, they promoted the planting of fruit and ornamental trees as a mechanism for conserving native species and generating income for the community. Over time, they noticed the disappearance of most of these fruit trees from the community’s plots.
The Arboretum has become not only an attractive meeting place for the Cholul community but also a symbol of the rescue and conservation of forgotten native trees and an example of community collaboration in a sustainable development project by civil society.
