Challenges of Biodiversity in San Miguel de Allende

In its series of discussions on “Re-Imagining San Miguel de Allende as a Sustainable Community,” the Education Collaborative is examining the Environmental Agenda developed by the University Seminar on Society, the Environment & Institutions (SUSMAI) at the UNAM. The Agenda outlines some of the most urgent socio-environmental issues facing all of us today--water; biodiversity; forests; cities; energy transition; oceans and coasts; mining and extractivism; agriculture, soil and food sovereignty

This third meeting is examining the agenda item, “Biodiversity Conditions-Diagnosis and Public Policy,” developed by coordinators María del Coro Arizmendi and César Domínguez Pérez-Tejada. Among their findings they point out that:

• Mexico is a megadiverse country, one of the ten most biologically diverse nations in the world.

• An important aspect of this is the endemic biodiversities within our territory.

• It is necessary to make additional efforts to to have in-depth knowledge of the fundamental aspects of Mexican biodiversity (genetic, specific and ecosystemic).

• Mexico is also a country of enormous cultural wealth.

• The diversity and strength of the practices and knowledge of Mexican peoples and communities about their natural environment are the basis of the existence of an important agrobiodiversity.

Taking the Environmental Agenda as a frame of reference, we would like to contribute to a dialogue on the subject of biodiversity here in San Miguel de Allende, which could lead to proposals concerning our municipality. We invite the general public to participate in this collective effort.

Our panel will examine how problems of biodiversity are experienced here in San Miguel de Allende and will present some of the efforts to address them. The program will include:

• A presentation of the Biodiversity theme of the Environmental Agenda by biologist Atahualpa Caldera Sosa

• A conversatorio> on “Sanmiguelenses protecting our natural spaces” led by Alejandra Quezada of El Charco’s Sciences Unit. The discussion will seek to bring together the initiatives within civil society for the protection of San Miguel’s natural spaces.

• A workshop on seeds from the organization "Somos Semillas."

The Education Collaborative is looking for people who want to work together to build a shared awareness of the environmental concerns that we are facing and to build a deeper sense of community. Current collaborators include: El Sindicato Cultural Comunitario, The Center for Global Justice, Instituto de Educación en el Campo Mexicano, el Charco del Ingenio, Tianguis Organico, Grupo de Acción Interdisciplinaria Ambiental, Via Organica and Transición SMA. All programs will be bi-lingual with translation.