Martha “Pati” Ruiz Corzo is a recognized leader for building a bottom-up civil conservation movement in central Mexico. Located in the Sierra Gorda mountains, Pati and her husband began organizing concerned citizens for a regional rescue program based on environmental education, economic development, forestry management, and community development specifically directed to women who are the heads of household in the rural extreme poverty communities due to high rates of migration of working age men to the USA … (full text).
She is a social entrepreneur recognized by Ashoka … (full text).
In l984 she and her husband Roberto, an accountant, decided to abandon their professions and comfortable middle class, urban lifestyle in Querétaro City. They moved to Roberto’s home region, in the mountains of Sierra Gorda, to live a self-sufficient life with their two sons Roberto and Mario. « I was plagued with health problems, as was [Mario], one of my two sons, » Ruiz explains. « Through research I came to understand that the way we were living, the toxicity of Querétaro City, was literally making us sick » … (full text).
Martha Ruiz Corto has long used music and songs to educate children about the environment (scroll down).
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Martha Isabel “Pati” Ruiz Corzo – Mexico-Jalpan
Video: For a sustainable economy; tourism as a tool to empower local communities and conservation in the Sierra Gorda, Mexico, 3.07 min.
Where she lives: Martha Isabel “Pati” Ruiz Corzo, Address: Jalpan MexicoCategory: Activists, Used in the following map: WGGAN Global Map – Martha “Pati” Ruiz Corzo is a recognized leader for building a bottom-up civil conservation movement in central Mexico. Located in the Sierra Gorda mountains, Pati and her husband began organizing concerned citizens for a regional rescue program based on environmental education, economic development, forestry management, and community development specifically directed to women who are the heads of household in the rural extreme poverty communities due to high rates of migration of working age men to the USA. (Community Walk).
Find her living place on this google-map.
… The Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda, which she and her husband founded, addresses the survival needs of the 100,000 men, women and children living in this biosphere by promoting alternative economic approaches while preserving the area’s endangered ecosystem. As a result of its visible success, in 1997, the Mexican government designated the area as the first federally protected reserve in Mexico.
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Document ID: C25112 – Education and communication for conservation: co-management of the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, Mexico.
Pati Ruiz and a citizen effort spearheaded by the Sierra Gorda Ecology Group (Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda) have, through a long process of negotiation, created the one-million acre (383,567-hectare) Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve to protect Mexico’s most eco-diverse region. Thanks to their leadership, this unique environmental treasure is protected, and damaged areas are beginning to recover … (full text).
Google download-book: Communicating protected areas, 311 pages, 2004; also on IUCN;
The Innovation: Over the past sixteen years, Martha Isabel (or Pati, as everyone refers to her) has been working to protect this unique area of the world. The result has been the creation of a grassroots environmental movement that has transformed the natural resources management practices of the local population and reoriented public investment from government authorities. In 1997, the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve was declared the first protected area in Mexico declared with the approval and support of the local citizens, thanks to the previous work of the GESG. According to a recent evaluation, 86.2% of its 40,000 local inhabitants report that their quality of life has improved thanks to the Reserve, and 13,000 hectares of previously deforested land have been recovered as a result. The Reserve has spearheaded a conservation economy, promoting several schemes for compensation and payment to local forest owners for environmental services including initiating CO2 sales under a voluntary mechanism. The Reserve’s local inhabitants are directly involved in conservation activities and a variety of social networks operate in the area … Read more.
links:
Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs, 197 pages
Biodiversity Conservation in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve;
Divine beings and mercenaries;
Sierra Gorda Reserve: Product Diversification;
Global Katoomba Meeting: Developing an infrastructure fund for the planet;
Sierra Gorda.net, Bulletin 2005.