Restoring Santa Fe’s green lungs Impact Makers: Diana Alejandra García Najera

NAME

Diana Alejandra García Najera

TITLE

Vice-President, Co-Founder, Legal Representative, and Ravine Restoration Manager, CamBIO ECO Colectivo A.C.

LOCATION

Mexico City, Mexico

ABOUT

Diana Alejandra García Najera is the co-founder of CamBIO ECO Colectivo A.C., a civil association committed to ecosystem restoration, species protection, and environmental education. Diana leads the restoration of Santa Fe’s Ravine Forest, one of the last ‘green lungs’ of Mexico City and a crucial point for aquifer recharge, biodiversity conservation, and climate resilience.

Since 2017, Diana and her team have been restoring the ravine’s 160 hectares, an area that was once heavily eroded, used as a mine, garbage dump, and drainage outlet. Before beginning the restoration, a large part of the ravine was completely eroded and deteriorated. Previously, this space was used as a mine, and subsequently as a garbage dump and drainage outlet, until the space was abandoned in the 2000s.

Since 2017, the river flow has increased, the amount of garbage has been greatly reduced, eroded areas are now covered with vegetation, and animal species that had disappeared have returned to their habitat.

Key initiatives include reforesting with native plants, installing sustainable water systems, conducting environmental workshops, and involving local communities in conservation efforts. 

MOTIVATIONS

"Since I was a child, I have always been passionate about caring for nature, especially animals, and as I grew up I understood that it was not enough to take care of animals if they did not have a safe and clean habitat for living. This led me to start volunteering in both environmental and social areas, consequently this mix of activities conducted me to another conclusion, that no matter how hard I tried to conserve the environment and ecosystems, if society is not interested in environmental conservation, any ecosystem restoration or species protection project would be useless in the long term. Therefore, it is not enough to protect an ecosystem, but it is necessary to educate the population, understanding that the problem we face is socio-environmental and intersectoral.

This is how I met people with similar ideologies and goals at university, and what we started as a student association to promote environmental education within the school, has now become into CamBIO ECO  Colectivo, an NGO with international recognition. Thanks to the incredible work of the wonderful and dedicated people who work at CamBIO, we have managed to have an impact in the capital of Mexico and the metropolitan area, benefiting the communities surrounding the ecosystems we restore, and the large amount of flora and fauna that inhabit them, in some cases not only native species, but also endemic ones.

For me, this is not a hobby and why, after studying Chemical Engineering, I decided to obtain a postgraduate degree in Ecosystem Restoration. I truly believe that restoration is the connecting link that focuses not only on the problems of biodiversity or climate change, which are often seen as separate issues. Restoration addresses these problems together, understanding that they are interdependent and adding a crucial factor: for proper restoration to happen, community participation is key, because true change can only be achieved collectively."

IMPACT

• Reforested more than 7,000 specimens of plant species, such as pines, oaks, cedars, tejocotes, peaches, avocados, sabilas, magueyes, loquats, and tepozanes.

• Removed more than 22 tonnes of garbage.

• Organized 101 volunteer days involving the population in restoration and conservation efforts.

• Installed four water tanks, a rainwater harvesting system, an irrigation system with treated water, and built a dry toilet.

• Created more than 10 firebreaks to prevent forest fires.

• Implemented the Miyawaki Method, a Japanese reforestation method that replicates the growth of a natural forest by planting a diverse range of species in a small space.

CHALLENGES

• Community participation remains a challenge, although involvement is gradually increasing to make the ravine a safe space for both people and fauna.

• Overcoming the ravine’s history as a neglected space used as a mine and garbage dump.

• Raising funds and resources for ongoing restoration and maintenance.

GOALS

• Expand the use of the Miyawaki Method to accelerate reforestation and create dense, biodiverse forests.

• Deepen community engagement through workshops on urban orchards, permaculture, and regenerative agriculture.

• Restore the ravine as an edible forest where the population can harvest their own fruits.

• Scale the project’s model to inspire similar initiatives across urban areas in Mexico.

ADVICE

"Being selected as an Impact Maker is a great honour for me, since the path to consider myself a person with leadership in this field was a long road of self-recognition of my own capabilities. Although I have always considered myself someone who can lead, directing something like a school project is not the same as one with a real impact on nature and people. Also, because no one taught me how to lead an organization, how to make a project efficient, how to approach a community, or how to transmit a mission and a vision to other people; so it is something that I have had to learn on the fly.

I have understood that leadership is not giving orders, it is getting close to people, listening to them, understanding them and taking them into account when making decisions; it is being able to teach by example. It may seem obvious, but when a decision involves large-scale legal, accounting, and logistical processes, it is easy to forget this lesson. However, surrounding myself with people like those who work at CamBIO always reminds me of the importance of community participation, since the achievements we have had are because we have worked them together, and although I have also learned the importance of personal recognition, I am always grateful to have found people with such strong values ​​and a great passion for preserving nature.

In this sense, I think that one piece of advice that I always give is to approach people with similar interests. Sometimes we think that there are no other people who can have the same conservation goals, or that this is only for "activists", but the reality is that there are hundreds and thousands of people around us who also want to make a difference. There is always some association nearby that is working for its community, for ecosystems, for the environment. And if there isn't, a group of people working together are already an organization that can make a significant change. We don’t need to wait for someone else to protect our ecosystems, our flora and fauna, one little individual action will not reverse the damage we have done as humanity, but a large group of people, each taking individual and collective action, will surely have an impact. Personally, that has always been my inspiration, to work to give back to nature, all that it has given us."

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Support CamBIO ECO Colectivo’s mission by:

• Participating in the tree adoption program.

• Donating plants, tools, or funds to aid restoration efforts.

• Volunteering for reforestation days or educational workshops.

• Sharing the initiative’s story to inspire similar projects in other cities.

CONTACT

Website: https://www.cambiocolectivo.com/

Instagram: @cambiocolectivomx

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cambiocolectivo/