Words by Smiley Team
Patrons of the Planet is a weekly series where we hear from climate heroes of the global south and the world’s indigenous communities.
As an indigenous woman, I have a connection to nature that inspires me to protect our environment. But it was only when I moved to the city to study biology that the importance of this work really struck me.
My parents come from two communities in southwestern Mexico. While my mother grew up in the coastal community of Juchitán, my father comes from a hillside community called San José El Paraíso.
While living with the Binnizá people of Juchitán, I was surrounded by flat land with a lot of heat and humidity. Often, floods would hit the community there because of the amount of water during the rainy season.
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I’d frequently visit my Ayuuk community, who live in the dense forests of the mountain foothills, interwoven with rivers. So the environment is very different between the two and I grew up seeing those differences culturally but also environmentally.
Later I moved to Mexico City to study biology, which took me far away from the sea and forests I was used to. Seeing that contrast, and learning the science behind the broader problems our environment faces, drilled home how important nature was for me.
I returned to the countryside for my college thesis and Masters, which was when I started to see the connections between environmental science and my communities’ knowledge. As indigenous people, we coexist sustainably with the land and nature. Eventually, my cultures coupled with my education, led me to dedicate my life to topics related to indigenous peoples and the environment.
Today, I am the program manager for the Keepers of the Earth Fund run by Cultural Survival, an organisation that works with indigenous peoples to defend their rights and cultures. My work involves granting funding to local community projects, many of them aim to protect land and environment.
With our support, indigenous people are better able to defend and protect their land, water and surrounding environments. For example, one of our partners, a Maya community on the Mexican peninsula, has been mapping important water sources, culturally important sites and more since 2017. After some years, they are using the maps to defend the land and water sites around them from destructive industrial projects. So it’s a great success for the environment.
One of the best experiences from my work is connecting with local people who we have granted funding to, visiting their land and witnessing the beautiful nature there. Because when I do this I begin to understand the importance of our grants and the projects people are running.
Patrons of the Planet is a weekly series to amplify the voices of heroes on the frontline of climate campaign work, as told to Blyth Brentnall. Every Tuesday, we meet individuals from the global south and indigenous groups who have risen above increasing adversity to support their communities, conserve nature and protect the planet for future generations.
