Adapting to a Changing Environment

RAIZ DE FONDO JARDINES Y EDUCACION A.C.

La Paz, , USA

An Overview Of Our Solution

Who is this solution impacting?
Ecosistema
Urban Built Environment
Urban/Built Environment
Tipo de comunidad
Urban
Urban
Suburban
Suburban
Additional Information
  • Population Impacted:
  • Continent: North America
General Info

Dirección

GUILLERMO PRIETO 1016
La Paz,
Estados Unidos

Correo electrónico

raizdefondo@gmail.com
Problem

Población impactada

250000

Size

13,000 HECTARES

Ocupaciones principales

FISHING, AGRICULTURE, GOVERNMENT, TOURISM

Recursos locales de los que depende la comunidad y con qué propósito

Water - nearly 100% comes from our aquifer. Usage is dominated by urban human use followed by agriculture

Amenazas locales a los recursos

Fisheries - Substantial artisinal fishing industry relies on dwindling population

Riesgos climáticos

Pristine coast/beaches - Tourism is a large source of revenue

Nivel de sensibilidad

Overfishing and bycatch is disrupting sea ecology and diminishing fisheries

Nivel de capacidad adaptativa

Rampant construction and poor planning is ruining the coastline.
Solution

The city of La Paz is very vulnerable to these changes. Current infrastructure is maxed out. Our official urban plan in the municipality expired years ago and has not been updated. Current development and economic expansion is highly dependent on current climactic conditions and realized for short-term outputs. Drastic climate change will have a profound effect.

Results

Costos ecológicos

We promote gardening and reforestation techniques that harmonize with the local environment. Our goal is to conserve local ecosystems within the urban landscape. These will increase the amount of habitat for local flora and fauna and increase the infilt

Beneficio ecológico

Home gardens, lower dependence on fossil-fuels, and water conservation will allow La Paz to better adapt to future climate warming and droughts. The techniques we teach are easily implemented and do not require large economic investments. They can be pe

Indicadores económicos utilizados para medir el beneficio

La Paz is at a cross-roads. We can choose the path of consumption, of man versus nature, of short-sighted development, and of dependence. We can also choose the path of community empowerment, of consideration for our natural environment, and of long-term planning. We are happy to say that our activities help residents to consciously make these decisions and give them tools to make a difference.

Costo comunitario/social

Participants in our activities are planting home gardens. They are using their organic waste to make compost rather than send it to the municipal dump. They are spending time in the community gardens and getting to know their neighbors. Friendships and collaborations are blossoming. We are working with school groups and establishing school gardens. Young children are learning where their food comes from and the importance of a balanced diet. Residents are taking into consideration the quality and quantity of the water they use. They are spending more time outdoors, paying attention to the climate and calendar, and thereby creating connections to our limited natural resources. All of this contributes to the resilience of our community.

Beneficio comunitario/social

Gardens use water. In this region with our soil and precipitation we use about 240 liters per square meter of garden per month.

Indicadores comunitarios/sociales utilizados para medir el beneficio

We are teaching participants to create their own compost and natural pesticides rather than use synthetic fertilizers. We are teaching rain-capturing which has the potential to capture around 600 liters of water per square meter per year. The amount or space for water capture far exceeds the amount of space needed for gardens. We are creating spaces with native and introduced plants that create habitats for wild species. We are creating economic alternatives for residents to reduce the need for ecologically damaging activities.

Costo económico

We see more wildlife around gardens and reforested areas that were once vacant lots.

Beneficio económico

There are not many social costs in gardening other than time.

Indicadores ecológicos utilizados para medir el beneficio

There is increased awareness of water and resource use, less organic waste being sent to the landfill, more interaction between community members at the gardens, more nutritional awareness and varied foods available.

What were/are the challenges your community faced in implementing this solution?

We have over 1500 participants attending our events per year. They come from all demographics from pre-school to adults, families and singles, teenagers and elderly, rich and poor. Gardening is gratifying, uncomplicated, and beautiful and so it appeals to many people.

Action

Describa el proceso basado en la comunidad utilizado para desarrollar la solución, incluidas las herramientas y los procesos utilizados.

The city is heating up due to climate change and the removal of local vegetation and installation of pavement. We have created a "heat-island" effect. Intensifying hurricanes cause loss of human life, economic damage, and ecosystem damage. Rising sea-levels destroy coastline for human-use, tourism, and increase flooding of residential areas. A substantial area of the city will be under water in the next 20 years.

Peligro climático de preocupación

La Paz has one of the fasted growing populations in Mexico. Public works and infrastructure is getting maxed out. As population continues to increase our barely functional sewage treatment, school systems, traffic flow, and other social indicators will

¿Cómo reduce su solución la exposición y amortigua/protege el ecosistema afectado?

Many of these changes will be catastrophic. La Paz is located on the Baja Peninsula. We are geographically and socially isolated from mainland Mexico. Our municipal government is in serious debt, which limits the amount of help that we can get from the federal government until we have a better credit rating. We are reaching our population threshold and while we can receive more migrants in the short run, we are only biding time before we over-draw on our natural resource account and the repercussions become critical. At the same time, we although our population is growing quickly, we are still in the least densely populated state in the nation. La Paz functions as a small town in some ways, and so alliances between different sectors in the society can be achieved for the common good.

How has your solution increased the capacity of the ecosystem to adapt to potential climate changes?

Baja California Sur suffers from high unemployment compounded by a high cost of living. At the same time, it's isolation makes it difficult to acquire a varied diet. Thus, we are experiencing an epidemic of nutrition related diseases such as obesity, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Raiz De Fondo models methods of cultivating one's own healthy vegetables and preparing them. We also provide workshops on sustainable living that include water saving techniques, rain-capturing, and alternative construction. We have seen participants go on to use these acquired skills to create new economic activities. One member was hired to install an herb garden at a local restaurant. Other participants are organizing a cooperative gardening store for the growing population of home gardeners. Finally, by raising awareness and training a population to grow its own food, we are building capacity for food autonomy in an isolated and thus vulnerable region of Mexico.

¿Cómo reduce su solución la exposición y amortigua/protege a las comunidades afectadas?

Changing temperatures and weather patterns

¿Cómo su solución reduce la sensibilidad de las comunidades afectadas?

We are teaching residents to conserve water while beautifying and reforesting the urban landscape. Part of this comes from producing food locally, thereby reducing the carbon footprint of importing food over thousands of miles. The other part comes from our emphasis on learning to read local conditions, plan accordingly, create small-scale operations, and use less resources with a biointensive method. Finally, we are giving workshops on rain-water harvesting. grey-water recycling and urban reforestation. We live in a heat-island with extreme summer temperatures and lots of pavement and concrete. By planting native trees we could significantly lower the temperature. This would raise the quality of living and reduce the need to use air conditioners, an energy-intensive solution which uses lots of water and carbon for electricity production. The sequestering of storm water also reduces storm-surges and the damage they cause to man-made and natural infrastructure.

¿Cómo ha aumentado su solución la capacidad de las comunidades locales para adaptarse a posibles cambios climáticos?

We are teaching strategies to reduce the quantity of water extracted from aquifers, the use of electricity for cooling, and the import of food. This will create a city that is less dependent on fossil fuel, a contributor to global warming. Community members are the focus of these activities, as oppose to government or the private sector, they will not only be able to change their activities, but be empowered to advocate change, accommodate new situations, and create new models.

Scale

¿Se puede replicar esta solución en otros lugares?

Our organization runs three community gardens, 10 gardening workshops, 8 nutrition workshops, 22 school visits, and 4 events for about US$115,000 per year. We are comprised of 7 part-time employees. All of our workshops are free and open to the public with a suggested donation (not obligatory).

Overview
Solution
Scale