Martha Isabel Ruiz Corzo
Ruiz Corzo accepting the Wangari Maathai Forest Champion Award in 2014
Born (1953-01-17) 17 January 1953
Mexico City, Mexico
Other names"Pati"
Occupations
  • Environmentalist
  • violinist and music teacher (formerly)
SpouseRoberto Pedraza Muñoz
Children2
Websitesierragorda.net

Martha Isabel "Pati" Ruiz Corzo (born 17 January 1953) is a Mexican environmentalist. She is the founder of the Sierra Gorda Ecological Group, which has successfully led grassroots efforts to conserve the Sierra Gorda in central Mexico since 1987. In 2013, she was named a Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Early and personal life

Martha Isabel Ruiz Corzo was born on 17 January 1953 in Mexico City.[1] She grew up in a wealthy family in Santiago de Querétaro in the central Mexican state of Querétaro.[2] She is most often called "Pati", a nickname derived from the childhood nickname "pata" that her sister called her.[2] Pati took up the violin at age 12, and as a teenager, she became the first violin in the Querétaro Philharmonic Orchestra, a position she held for five years.[2][3] For 16 years, she taught music at the John F. Kennedy School in Querétaro.[4][5] She married an economist named Roberto Pedraza Muñoz (born 1950) and had two sons, Roberto ("Beto") and Mario.[1][3][6]

However, Ruiz Corzo eventually grew dissatisfied with modern city life. She attributed family health problems to urban pollution and said she felt "suffocated" by upper-class social norms.[7][8][9] Seeking a simpler life, the Pedraza Ruiz family moved back to nature in 1984 in the forested mountains of Pedraza Muñoz's home region, the Sierra Gorda in northern Querétaro state.[8][10][11]

Environmental career

Mountains in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve

Ruiz Corzo came to prominence for her activism to conserve the diverse ecosystem of the Sierra Gorda. By the 1980s, it was threatened by mining, logging, poaching, littering, water pollution, uncontrolled wildfires, and other issues.[2][8][10]

In 1987, Ruiz Corzo and her husband Pedraza Muñoz founded a nonprofit organization, the Sierra Gorda Ecological Group (GESG, Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda), to promote sustainability in the region.[4][7] The group first focused on raising awareness at schools in the Sierra Gorda, holding environmental education events that featured theater and music, including Ruiz Corzo's singing and playing of the accordion.[2] Over time, drawing on Ruiz Corzo's "imposing charisma", GESG generated grassroots support for environmental practices (recycling, reforestation, etc.) among the mostly poor communities of the Sierra Gorda.[2][7] Nuestra Tierra ("Our Land"), the group's radio show, debuted in 1990.[12] As the group grew, it attracted support from the Governor of Querétaro Enrique Burgos García and earned financial backing from many international groups, such as the World Land Trust and the Global Environment Facility.[2][6]

GESG petitioned for many years for the Sierra Gorda to be recognized as a biosphere reserve. It was finally successful in May 1997, when President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo established the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve over about 385,000 hectares (950,000 acres) of land, one-third of Querétaro state.[4][10] This gave Mexico's environment ministry authority to protect the area's rich ecodiversity.[13] Ruiz Corzo served as the inaugural director of the reserve for 14 years.[2][3] As director, she helped set up compensation for locals protecting the ecosystem of their land instead of using it for activities like subsistence farming.[6][14] Ruiz Corzo often fought private and public interests such as the national electric company, which sought to expand electric lines in the reserve despite a ban in the protected area.[2][6]

As of 2023, GESG continues to help fund and advocate for conservation in many fields, such as sustainable logging, waste management, soil management, ecotourism, and education.[8][10] One of GESG's initiatives today trains teachers to reach more than 15,000 students in the region annually.[8][15] Ruiz Corzo resumed leading GESG around 2009, and continues to campaign at local, national, and international levels.[4][7] The Ecologist magazine wrote in 2016 that Ruiz Corzo "manages to speak to large audiences without fear and she almost always ends a speech by singing".[7]

Awards

Various organizations have recognized Ruiz Corzo for her activism, including two awards from divisions of the United Nations: Champions of the Earth (2013, from the UNEP) and the Wangari Maathai Forest Champion Award (2014, from the UNFF).[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda. "Clean Development Mechanism Project Design Document Form" (PDF). pp. 101–104. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 de Miguel, Teresa (13 July 2022). "La maestra de música que protegió los bosques de Querétaro a golpe de acordeón" [The music teacher who protected the forests of Querétaro with the stroke of an accordion]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 "Martha Isabel Ruiz Corzo from Mexico - OWA Winner 2021". one-world-award.com. Rapunzel Naturkost. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Team". sierragorda.net. Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda. Archived from the original on 2 July 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  5. ↑ Serrano Jauregui, Iván (10 November 2022). "Entregan Premio Música México a la activista 'Pati' Ruiz Corzo en FIM GDL 2022" [The Música México Award is presented to the activist 'Pati' Ruiz Corzo at FIM GDL 2022]. udg.mx (in Spanish). University of Guadalajara. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Pastrana, Daniela (5 July 2010). "Conservation can be a weapon against poverty". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Mac Gregor, Tadzio (25 August 2016). "Activist 'Pati' Ruiz Corzo: The Singing Conservationist". The Ecologist. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Martha Isabel (Pati) Ruíz Corzo". ashoka.org. Ashoka. 1995. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  9. ↑ Poniatowska, Elena (22 July 2012). "El premio National Geographic 2012, para Paty Ruiz Corso y la sierra de Querétaro" [The 2012 National Geographic Award, for Paty Ruiz Corso [sic] and the Sierra of Querétaro]. La Jornada (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Women building a sustainable future: The Mexican violinist who saved the Sierra Gorda". news.un.org. United Nations. 6 February 2022. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  11. ↑ "Meet the guardian of Mexico's "fat mountains"". CNN. 27 January 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  12. ↑ Soto, Gonzalo (25 July 2018). "Ella es la mujer que salvó la Sierra Gorda de Querétaro" [She is the woman who saved the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro]. El Financiero (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  13. ↑ Cornejo, Josué (January–February 2006). "La Sierra Gorda de Querétaro" [The Sierra Gorda of Querétaro]. Arqueología Mexicana. 77 (in Spanish). Editorial Raíces S.A. de C.V. XIII: 54–63. Archived from the original on 30 January 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  14. ↑ "Martha Isabel Ruiz Corzo - Inspiration and Action". unep.org. United Nations Environmental Programme. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  15. ↑ Sánchez, Erica (8 December 2020). "Meet Martha Isabel Ruiz Corzo, Winner of Global Citizen Prize: Mexico's Hero Award". globalcitizen.org. Global Citizen. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
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