Lessons from the field in Oaxaca, Mexico — Planting the Seeds of Change
Hina West, WWF Nature Pays and Global Deputy, Markets Practice
After three long years of supporting WWF-Mexico remotely to deliver our flagship Nature Pays project to integrate conservation, sustainable agriculture (agroecology) and livelihoods in the Oaxaca region of Mexico, the time finally came to see this work with my own eyes.
We are in the last year of a three-year partnership to improve the lives of 1,500 people in this region of Mexico, with mostly indigenous Zapotecs, who depend on their land for an income. The programme focuses on 12 Community Conservation Enterprises (CCEs), of which six are staffed exclusively by women, and receive support to help consolidate and strengthen their businesses. The thinking behind Nature Pays is that by delivering long-term economic benefits for communities along with positive outcomes for nature, successful CCEs are crucial allies for conservation. Generating and combining sustainable ecosystems and agriculture with job and income opportunities, whole regions can regenerate themselves. Long-term livelihoods are improved, jobs created, and the number of people in extreme poverty and migrating is reduced. Benefitting from the diverse ecosystems of the region, the natural environment is better conserved and managed, making a positive impact on the world.
Warmly hosted by the WWF-Mexico team, we embarked upon a week’s journey from the upper to the middle and lower part of the Copalita river basin, starting in Oaxaca and ending on the Pacific coast in Huatulco, via many hours of windy roads. However, with Mexico being one of the most megadiverse countries this wasn’t a chore, especially with the gastronomic delights that seem to be standard affair across the breadth of the country, ensuring pit stops were highlights in their own right.
Rather than telling you about the details of the project, which you can read all about online here, I want to share with you the main lessons, insights, and reflections I had from this long-awaited field visit in the context of the post-pandemic world…the increased anxiety of travelling, recalibrating firmly set changes in behaviour, balancing work/life when your family is now used to having you around all the time and attempting to stay present when technology permits you to be ‘present’ in multiple places at the same time were all real-life challenges during this trip.
Nevertheless here are my key ‘seeds of change’ that hopefully plant some new possibilities:
1. Football and food make the world go round
These two main topics of conversation throughout the trip not only unify Mexico but seem to strengthen the sense of community throughout. Fair enough, their food is next level delicious but not being the biggest football fan didn’t always help my small talk on the long car journeys between communities. It did spark a thought though, that with the drastic measures needed to transform our global food systems to feed an ever-growing population sustainably, maybe we need to shift our thinking and treat food with the same value we apportion to star football players and related events.
2. Water as a life source
We had three main stops on our trip to visit three separate community groups spread down the river basin. They were separate but unified by water, with a real appreciation of their unique role in protecting their locality for the greater good of the broader watershed. For example, minimising erosion from the upper part of the watershed ensures lower parts are not affected adversely. Sharing learnings and resources between communities and enterprises even when resources are sparse benefits all. With WWF-Mexico’s deep roots in the community this has created a foundation for change through patience and trust. With WWF’s work in the area dating back 15+ years, there has been a continual revolution in each phase of the programme. As a community member put it, WWF was originally focused just on the ‘tree’ but over the years, with the guidance of the community, apportion equal admiration, in chronological order, to water, soil, biodiversity, capacity building, livelihoods, health, poverty alleviation, governance, social impact, markets and gender. I wonder what will come next?
3. A woman’s work is never done
Since working in international development for over 15 years, a key gripe for me is projects focusing on women’s economic empowerment without considering that the workload burden (usually unpaid) of many women, is already over spilling running households, caring for children and older family members, etc. This is also an increasing trend in terms of project donor requirements. It is critical that these types of projects fully factor in gender equity issues and respectfully challenge entrenched social norms. The role of women throughout the Copalita basin varied dramatically and greater appreciation will be needed moving forward to understand how to shift this imbalance in a way that better factors in the overarching role of women and their desires, without adding more to busy women’s plates. I’m aware that working on this challenge has not been easy for the team but they have made steps forward, along with committing to striving harder to continue to empower women in the future.
4. The good life prevails
A key component of supporting the communities to adopt agro-ecological practices, is ensuring that each enterprise has access to natural bio-fertilizers (over chemicals) through the construction of dedicated mini bio-factories, along with all the training needed to understand how to harness this shifted approach. This has been a major success of this project, with the extensive support of our local delivery partner Mbis Bin. An unexpected consequence of this intervention has been highlighted through the communities’ survival through the ongoing global crises with an abundance of access to independent sources of bio-fertilizers, despite volatile external market forces increasing prices and decreasing availability globally. Instead communities have created a bubble of self-sufficiency. With climate change causing ever-increasing extreme weather fluctuations, this way of farming will be even more important than ever. So much so, that the communities have been welcoming government officials to their communities to see their set-ups first-hand and to learn how this might benefit commercial agricultural practices beyond the watershed.
5. The power of the collective
A standout enterprise was Unión San Pedro, who took control of their opaque supply chain by cutting out their corrupt market intermediaries and creating an alliance of coffee producers in their area to increase their collective bargaining power and successfully access international markets. Working directly with buyers in, for example, Canada and Germany, and inviting them to come and see operations for themselves instead of relying only on ‘expensive’ certifications. Additionally, recognizing that working as a team across enterprises in the upper part of the basin created quicker results and the importance of not just focusing on quick profit.
6. Disrupting the status quo across generations
A story that sticks with me is that of the journey a particular family has gone through, from the varying perspectives of a father and his adult son and daughter, to live in harmony with nature but evolve to ensure their livelihoods are viable to shifting consumer and market demands, moving with the times. The father has dedicated his life, after gentle persuasion to his own father 40 years ago, to shifting his land from a mono-crop of maize to mixed-crop of coffee, bananas and spices including cardamom, amongst others, all underneath tall shade-creating trees that did not exist before. Nearly half a century ago he recognised the market potential of diversifying his product range and has set a solid pathway for his children to continue to thrive without having to relocate from the family home to find employment. Fast forward to today, his children have taken over the reins of the family business, grateful for the risks taken previously. Youth’s fresh thinking being a critical catalyst to evolutionary survival, combined with the wise advice of elders. Fortunately, the Zapotec communities are one step ahead in this respect, where I was also blown away by a passionate youth group of environmental defenders called Yu Naban who proudly recognise their role in saving the planet as their destiny and are embracing entrepreneurship.
7. Back to basics
With the world’s ever-increasing pressures to always be connected and ‘on’ it was a pleasure to be able to slow things down somewhat and be welcomed into the communities and their way of life even for a brief moment. With great food, music (courtesy of the local children’s orchestra), dancing, company and shelter we were even able to rise above the unexpected wet weather. It is through this ethos that one of the flourishing, more mature enterprises has blossomed — Naye. Led by five Zapotec women who harness traditional indigenous medicine to create beautiful natural remedies to day-to-day ailments, such as bruising, headaches, colds and menstrual pain. This enterprise is definitely one to watch, you can pick up some of their lovely products on their online shop.
8. All for one and one for all
Solidarity was a vital thread throughout the trip, exponentially heightening that sense of community and collective improvement — whilst minimising negative impact. However, this was only possible through adaptability and humility. Although community members were clearly harnessing their individual strengths, the appreciation to all get stuck in and take on multiple roles was ever-present, seamlessly shifting from delegates, leaders, sales reps, producers, gatherers, washers, packers, mentors, pupils and on and on.
9. Shifting ways of working
Adapting to your environment is critical to survival, and in terms of the team effort, this seemed to come very naturally to the communities we met. An area to work on however, is evolving some of the key business practices that have been normalised to allow enterprises to take the next step towards achieving market penetration, for example, formalising purchasing arrangements and repeat orders in writing beyond verbal agreements. Unfortunately, a handshake can only go so far once you expand out of your inner circle and across cultures and countries.
10. Not one size fits all
The focus of Nature Pays is firmly on micro/small scale early-stage enterprises, led by Indigenous Peoples and local communities that WWF partners with in the places which we are trying to conserve. Within the 12 enterprises of this project, there is a split in terms of the stages of enterprise development for each, some right at the beginning of their journey and some accessing international markets, with many in between. In light of this, we have started working with our new global partner Technoserve to initially catalyse the five most promising enterprises. Recognising WWF cannot do it alone but with the right partners we can increase a greater ROI in terms of socio-economic impact for the communities and environmental impact for nature.
11. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
Innovate, innovate, innovate! It was inspirational to see how creative the communities were in terms of diversifying product ranges and extending product life, a true challenge to all farmers, including fruit infused mezcal, rabbit manure, testing best formulas of biofertilizers and then adapting management plans, experimenting with preservation methods of mushrooms and apples and testing viability of new product offerings such as spices, oranges, cacao, banana bread and vanilla. As we evolve our lifestyles to the wider context of climate change, the importance of building community resilience through diversifying livelihood options, whilst advocating for climate justice, will be critical. Although focus is important, we do need to keep trying new things.
12. Seeing is believing
Observing from afar can never really give you a full sense of the situation and having the opportunity to see this critical Nature Pays work directly was equal measures of a humbling and proud moment. Seeing documents, reports, even photos and videos, don’t really do justice to the 3D reality. Seeing the great progress the communities have made to forge forward their own enterprises in spite of the pandemic was also heartening. Meeting the individuals on the ground changing the rules of the game will continue to inspire me for many years to come, especially the likes of Marinhe of Macuilles, who is a woman on a mission to single-handedly replant every lost tree in Mexico and then many more, personifying exactly what Nature Pays is all about.
To read more about the Nature Pays journey globally, here is our three-year impact report.
‘Tish kish go’ (thank you in Zapotec)
