UN‑Backed Documentary Turns Climate Report into Community Dialogue in Mexico City’s Xochimilco

In 2025 the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security released a study that linked climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution as intertwined risks. To move the analysis beyond academic circles, the institute partnered with Mexican director Rodrigo Jardón Galeana to produce a short documentary titled “Chinamperos: Preserving Ancestral Farming Practices in Mexico City.” Filmed in the San Gregorio Atlapulco area of Xochimilco, the film was later shown at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil and at cultural festivals in Spain, Greece, Türkiye and the Czech Republic, exposing the research to international audiences.

When chinampero Mariana Páez posted the online version of the documentary, she expected only family and neighbours to view it. Instead, a video call with former classmates Karen Ramírez and Abel Bastida, originally scheduled for a brief twenty‑to‑thirty‑minute chat, stretched into a two‑hour conversation about water management, traditional farming and the pressures of urban growth. The depth of that exchange inspired the trio to establish the Permanent Seminar on Xochimilco Studies (SEPEX), a regular forum where local residents can discuss the future of their chinampa fields, which are now threatened by rapid urbanisation, environmental degradation and climate‑related stresses.

More than a year after its premiere, the film returned to Mexico for public showings at the National Centre for the Arts and at the Metropolitan Autonomous University. The events attracted university officials, UN representatives and city authorities, creating a platform for direct dialogue between researchers and the people who tend the canals. During the sessions, UN Resident Coordinator Allegra Baiocchi described Xochimilco as a “living territory” where biodiversity, water governance and food security intersect. A screenshot of a UN News story featuring chinampero Samuel Avelino appeared among his final Facebook posts, highlighting how the documentary helped bring Indigenous knowledge into wider recognition and provided a shared space for community discussion.