Heladio Reyes Cruz

Heladio helps rural communities develop and adapt best practices in crop management, forestry, organic agriculture, wildlife preservation, and biological pest control that maintain the environment and allow people to still practice traditional hunting and agriculture.

By encouraging communities in Mexico to understand the impact their way of life has on the environment, Heladio is helping them to maintain their traditional agricultural and hunting practices whilst preserving the environment. Although the devastation of Mexico's rural areas is often blamed on the government or big landowners, communities have contributed to the problems, and have not always been willing or able to stand up to other interests. The aim of Heladio's program is to ensure a way of life in rural communities which safeguards the environment.

What makes his project different from others is its mechanism for community organization. Heladio involves the community in environmental protection by fundamentally changing how the people view their everyday environment and practices. Ultimately, environmental use and abuse is about habits. Changing any habit must involve people at a deep personal level to make a real difference.

Heladio does just this, using psychosocial techniques to involve and animate the people to want to participate in change. His strategy begins by inviting people to a community meeting to reflect on the past "to remember" what the community looked like, what people did, what animals and plants were there, and how community members used these natural resources. He then asks them to look at where they are now and comment on the changes that have occurred in their village.

Through multimedia, theater, and "chats", the people really begin to feel and see the loss and change that has occurred in their community and environment. This reflection sets the stage for the next step. Each community, using visions of where they want to live, actually create their own "code" for how their environment can be sustained - a code of bioregional sustainability. Heladio facilitates this process by introducing a "menu" of ways to achieve sustainability. The communities then can select those closest to their own needs and interests and which contribute most to the code they have agreed on.

The benefit of his technique is the strong organizing bonds it creates. People feel a common goal and a common past. This makes it easier for them to face barriers in the future. It paves the way for the more practical forms of support which Heladio's program also provides.

Rural areas in Mexico are being devastated. In the fourth most biologically diverse country in the world, more and more species face extinction. The forests are disappearing, and the land and water are being poisoned by chemicals. Often this is related to urban encroachment combined with devastating agricultural and hunting practices.

In Oaxaca, where Heladio's program is operating, over 50 percent of the land is undergoing some degree of soil erosion. Over twelve hundred acres a year are lost to forest fires and the region's forests have lost over six hundred acres to deforestation. Communities' hunting and agricultural needs, and their demands for wood for furniture, fuel, and housing, have led to the extinction of twelve local mammals, several bird species and at least four types of trees.

New technologies have helped to poison the landscape even further. For example, over five hundred tons of chemical fertilizers are used in the region each year. If the problem continues the region will experience food shortages, unemployment, and migration to other regions.

The limited ability of local residents to combat these problems is often blamed on corrupt government or big landowners, who resist any practices they feel might threaten their economic interests. But the communities themselves also can be the problem. Without strong consensus within a community, it is very difficult to make even small changes in long-term practices. This is the error many programs make in trying to bring about environmental change, and the basis for Helado's approach.

Heladio's project works because his process allows people to see the connection between their activities and the long-term destruction it can cause while allowing them to continue similar lifestyles without sacrifice. For example, even local hunters are involved in the wildlife preservation programs. Wildlife conservation efforts involve constructing breeding facilities for the preservation of deer, wild boar, armadillos, iguanas, toucans, pheasants, and parrots. They do not call for a wholesale ban on hunting. Rather, they emphasize sustainable practices. Heladio explains that after communities define their codes, the hunters participate either because they are either repentant, realizing what their hunting practices have done, or for practical reasons, recognizing that if they want to continue hunting, they must assist in maintaining base levels.

Another example is forest preservation. Forest preservation, in Heladio's project, begins by identifying the most common trees used in furniture and for fuel. The community then can begin planting tree farms. Some breeds are ready for harvest in as little as three years. The promise of a practical use for these trees involves many more community members than would a simple "plant a tree" program. Heladio also involves the community in measuring the growth rate and comparing this with the community's needs, so that they can learn how much wood they can take each year without depleting overall stock.

Of course, not all community members immediately buy in to these ideas, but those that do are the ones particularly interested and ready to lead programs. Once a community's "code" and goals have been established, Heladio's program provides training and assistance in setting up various bio-friendly projects, such as forest preservation, endangered species preservation, organic farming and organic pest control. When projects are up and running and real, more and more community members volunteer to participate, in what Heladio calls a process of osmosis.

Projects range from breeding endangered animals to the use of bio-safe pesticides to cultivating tree farms. Often when a community begins with one project, they build on this and develop more. Communities meet monthly to report on project development and devise strategies.

Heladio's program has been implemented throughout the Río Verde de Tututepec region located in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. This regional effort involves more than one hundred fifty low income landowners and fifteen communities, ranging from one hundred-fifty to five hundred families per community. The project provides support and training to each community for the different preservation projects and environmentally safe production techniques that the communities have chosen to take on.

Heladio's short-term goal is to develop similar individual organizational cells in each of the communities within a broader general region. These cells then can be linked in a regional plan. The long-term aim is to develop regional organizations to facilitate change, examine local conditions, and propose solutions to the problems specific to the region. Heladio is already developing the regional network. His group arranges a regional meeting every six months on a certain topic -- for example, endangered animal breeding. Community members come to these meetings to learn new techniques and, most importantly, to share experiences and successes.

The Ecosta Yutu Cuii team includes a group of directors and project coordinators. This group is in charge of management, provides technical assistance, and coordinates activities. It also encourages community participation and acts as a liaison with other groups dedicated to developing tangible projects within each community. The project is promoted via pamphlets, radio spots, videos, networking efforts, and by participation in local and national conferences.

Heladio's organization generates a modest income from the sale of the certified corn seeds they developed. In addition, their breeding facilities and the laboratory they developed that specializes in the cultivation of local plants and insects for plague control are on the point of self-sufficiency. This money is used to support a staff of five full-time individuals involved in strategic and technical planning, twenty-five rural promoters, and sixteen women employed on a full-time basis.

Heladio has the political support of local government. In 1993 one of the areas in which he first began to work fell prey to a plague of "mosca prieta de los cítricos" (black citric fly). This plague could not be stopped with conventional chemical fertilizers. Heladio's proposal to use natural plague control methods resulted in a strong confrontation with government and with resident landowners whose financial interests he threatened. When nothing else worked, the government finally tried Heladio's natural enemy plague control method, and the plague stopped. Today the state government still uses this control measure to combat plagues. Ever since this incident, Heladio has had a strong relationship with the government. Now, Ecosta plans to officially integrate representatives from various government departments, related NGOs and regional groups in their efforts.

Heladio grew up in a rural village. At a young age, he became aware of the need to protect rural communities and their inhabitants. He earned a scholarship to study agriculture with the intention of improving the living conditions. In particular, he wanted to study alternative harvesting techniques to provide indigenous people with opportunities to improve their economic situation.

Upon graduating, he organized seventeen of his neighbors to put an end to the destruction and looting of the flora and fauna of an important national park in the State of Oaxaca. The fact that the park was owned by opposing government sectors made it impossible for the group to continue with their reforestation efforts. They began, therefore, to collect the seeds of endangered trees and built a specially designed nursery to support reforestation. A growing number of projects continue to stem from this initiative. These experiences taught Heladio how much could be achieved if all members of the community worked together.