Recently, eight of Rare’s partners graduated from the Pride program, with ceremonies taking place in Mexico City in June. The following are highlights from each campaign — the successes, challenges, and plans for long-term sustainability.

Led by campaign manager Martin Castillo Paniagua, Mexico’s National Park Service (CONANP) and the staff of Parque Nacional Lagunas de Montebello diligently spread their campaign slogan, “Clean and Beautiful, the Color of Montebello,” throughout one of Mexico’s most important protected areas. The goal was to foster Pride and behavior change in a region threatened by pollution and harmful agro-chemicals.

Located in Chiapas in a rural part of southern Mexico, Montebello is an area filled with world-class wetlands, orchids, butterflies, and endemic birds that are popular with tourists and locals alike. But like many of Mexico’s protected areas, unsustainable agricultural techniques, burning of land leading to forest fires, and dumping of waste into waterways is a challenge to overcome. As Pride campaign manager, Martin traveled to the twenty-three communities around the park, promoting its value and bringing awareness to threats. He offered solutions, such as recycling and better land use strategies.

Multiple communities immediately embraced Martin and his message of conservation. Still, he was nervous about some towns that were known to be more conservative. “I was a little anxious about going to these areas, and I wasn’t sure how effective the campaign would be there,” said Martin. A breakthrough moment came when he brought his mascot, the threatened Pale-billed Woodpecker, to these particular communities. “The faces of the kids just lit up; they had never seen something like that before. These communities welcomed the campaign, and Pride made an impact there.”

Before the campaign, only 35 percent of the target community even knew that Montebello was a protected area, while afterwards that percentage grew to 98 percent. Pre-campaign, only 30 percent of community members knew about the threat to their own natural resources from pollution, while post-campaign surveys revealed that 80 percent now understood the risk of this behavior. This rise in awareness resulted in creation of a community-run recycling collection center.
Park staff now wear aprons with the campaign slogan and an image of the Woodpecker. Martin is committed to staying at his site and hopes to begin focusing on organic agriculture; strengthening and promoting the recycling collection center; and educating others about Montebello and why they should protect it.

Yazmin Yesenia Benitez Partida of CONANP used Pride to target 17 communities in El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve in Baja California, which, at 2.5 million hectares, is the largest protected area in Mexico. This site is also a breeding ground for the Gray Whale, one of the most popular and recognizable creatures in the region and therefore Yazmin’s choice for her campaign’s flagship species. One of the biggest threats to the area is the overuse of scarce freshwater reserves. Using the Grey Whale as a messenger to address water scarcity had its challenges, but Yazmin and her team developed a slogan that elegantly tied community members’ affinity with the species to their own health and well-being: “Yo, al igual que tu, necesito el agua para vivir” (I, Like You, Need Water to Live). The Ballena Gris (Grey Whale) mascot visited school and community fairs to educate children – the next generation of fishers and farmers – about protecting its habitat and using freshwater carefully.

The campaign message could also be seen on large murals painted along city streets, stickers on the windows of restaurants, and t-shirts on the backs of children and adults. Yazmin showed the community how to wash dishes and cars with less water and the importance of attending to a dripping faucet. Through activities like these, she inspired over 500 students to send letters to her mascot, and she responded to nearly all. Children in particular have become an active voice for conservation in El Vizcaino.

At the end of Yazmin’s campaign, the number of school children who knew about water issues and promoted sustainable water practices in the reserve rose from 9 percent to an astounding 49 percent. Awareness in the community of Yazmin’s site as a national protected area rose from 48 percent before the campaign to 80 percent after. Often, making local communities who live in and around reserves even aware of the protected status of their natural resources (and the value of that protection to their own health and well being) is a critical first step.

Yazmin and CONANP made tremendous strides in this area during the campaign. Once a volunteer at CONANP, Yazmin’s position has been made permanent, and she will continue her successful work in outreach and conservation. “Our mission in CONANP is to conserve,” Yazmin said. “Through Pride we can inform local communities about the current situation and promote behavior change.” 

Yazmin was recently invited to an international cultural exchange on water management in Japan to share insight on her campaign and conservation in Mexico.

Paty Delgado with CONANP ran a Pride campaign in Cuatro Ciénegas, an area in northern Mexico with a unique system of 450 vernal pools full of unique biodiversity found nowhere else in the world. Paty’s campaign tackled unmanaged usage of water for agriculture that threatens the water supply of the vernal pool ecosystem, as well as a particularly unique species — the Coahuilan box turtle — which lives in the region’s vernal pools and which served as the campaign’s flagship species.

Through the campaign, Paty motivated farmers to adopt more efficient irrigation systems so that less water is pulled from the aquifer, preserving Cuatro Cienegas’ vernal pools.  From her outreach efforts, dozens of land owners were  inspired to install new irrigations systems on over 50 hectares of farmland that now serve as demonstration sites for other farmers to visit as they consider making a change in their water use.

Paty held summer camps and drawing contests to get her message out, all with the help of dedicated volunteers. At the start of her campaign, Paty had 15 salaried interns who helped her implement planning and outreach. But when funding was cut in her department, she was no longer able to pay these assiduous workers. “I told them, I’m sorry I have no more funding for you,” said Paty “But these workers had become so involved, they wanted to continue, complete the ideas they had helped create even without money. All of them stuck with me.”

Working with CONANP, local farmers, and the water commission, Paty helped implement a more sustainable irrigation system. Previously, local farmers used aquifers that wasted a large amount of water that spilled out into irrigation channels and evaporated. Paty’s campaign helped get a grant from the Mexican government’s water commission to put a new irrigation system into practice, which preserves more water for both the community and the world-renowned vernal pools. Paty worked on this project with a dedicated group of farmers who then trained others to adopt new irrigation practices as well. “The methodology of Pride works,” said Paty. “Pride provided me with very useful tools to do the job.”

Alejandra Paredes, a communications and education specialist at the local Ecuadorian NGO EcoCiencia, focused her Pride campaign on the small community of El Chaco in the nation’s Quijos Valley. EcoCiencia and Rare also partnered with The Nature Conservancy, which has a long history in this region. Already equipped with plenty of communications and public relations experience, Alejandra added the new tools she gained from the Pride program to mobilize the community in this tropical Andean hotspot toward more sustainable practices. She was able to run a government sponsored public service announcement and get the word out about area threats, including over-grazing, water shortages, pollution, and petroleum spills.

Focusing on water issues, Alejandra introduced the community to Filipe, a Mountain Tapir and her campaign’s mascot and flagship species. Filipe asked the community to preserve water and keep it clean for himself and other animals, which like people need clean water to live. The campaign helped unite local mayors and conservation supporters around a new watershed management plan that is now being implemented at the municipal level. Pride has become a signature program for EcoCiencia, and the organization was recently invited to present its model during a national summit to draft Ecuador’s new constitution. EcoCiencia used Pride to advocate for the role of conservation in the new legislative mandate. 

Many of Alejandra’s volunteers who helped facilitate puppet shows, reading groups and radio spots are now interested in pursuing environmental education at the university level because of the campaign. The community has so heavily embraced the campaign that the municipality is creating a new local government position to sustain impact. Alejandra will work with this employee to continue contacting farmers about over-grazing issues and educating the community about water conservation. Alejandra and EcoCiencia have recently been awarded a 10 thousand dollar follow-up grant from Rare to continue their effective outreach.

Elizabeth Cabrera and her organization Guyra Paraguay “want to stay in San Rafael.” So much so, that “I want to stay in San Rafael” was their campaign slogan and a message the entire community near San Rafael National Park, Paraguay rallied around by embracing conservation of their unique natural heritage. San Rafael is home to 60,000 hectares of Atlantic Forest habitat, one of the most biologically diverse and threatened ecosystems in the world. Threats include deforestation, forest fires, and pollution from agro-chemical farming.

Elizabeth’s initial research showed a third of the population didn’t know that San Rafael was a protected area, but that many were aware of deforestation in the area and were willing to volunteer. She pulled together community members to help mobilize a Pride campaign. “The local volunteers from my community were empowered and really helped this campaign get off the ground”, she said. “Everyone worked together; it was a true collective effort.”

Elizabeth spread her message about a clean and healthy forest anywhere she could place a sticker. She held “mini conservation courses” and took groups to visit the reserve. Because of Elizabeth’s campaign more than 135 children and teenagers visited and learned about protecting the forests of San Rafael, as well as planted 135 native trees around their schools and homes.

Elizabeth helped farmers adopt more sustainable practices, including production of organic watermelons as an alternative to destructive soya crops., After Elizabeth’s campaign, the practice of organic agriculture grew by 20 percent (with hundreds of local farmers altering behavior), and organic watermelons are becoming a staple in the area.

Throughout the campaign, community members could be heard singing the  campaign song, which was set to a polka tune, a popular genre of music in Paraguay. Victoria Aquino, mayor of the neighboring community Alto Vera, became highly involved in the campaign. she introduced Jaku, Elizabeth’s mascot representing the Black-fronted Piping Guan bird, to the community, focusing on adolescents, farmers, teachers and indigenous populations like the Mbya guarani. “I want to see a municipality where our people are proud to work their land and be responsible of taking care of our environment,” said the mayor, who has worn the costume on occasion. The mayor is now working to increase the territory of San Rafael so that a natural protected area can be decreed in her municipality.

Elizabeth will now take her Pride toolkit to another community to coordinate a second social marketing campaign, sponsored by Guaya Paraguay. But she knows her message and work will stay in San Rafael.  “I believe we were able to install a permanent capacity,” Elizabeth said. “The volunteers will continue there in the future.” Guaya Paraguay has secured a quick 20-minute meeting with the President of Paraguay to promote their work, and they have chosen to highlight the Pride campaign as a model for success.

Elizabeth has recently been nominated for the Overbrook Conservation Fellowship for Latin American Conservationists, a grant which supports sustainable conservation projects. The award is administered by   Columbia University’s Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC).

Jesus Maria Miranda Alvarez was a little skeptical about Pride at first. Working with CONANP, Jesus focused on the Ajos-Bavispe in Sonora Mexico, a somewhat rural and conservative community that relied on mining for income – regardless of its negative impact on conservation. The area itself is a habitat for over 200 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies, as well as providing a home to the black bear and endangered Mexican Spotted Owl. The land is cleared for pit-mines and, as a result, water, soil and air become contaminated. Jesus decided to try a Pride campaign as a way to promote the value of area watersheds and encourage local residents to use water more effectively.

The people of this area tend to be more reserved or serious, and Jesus wasn’t sure if the colorful social marketing campaign would have any effect. Jesus was persistent and invited farmers to workshops five separate times before they accepted. When they eventually came, Jesus was pleasantly surprised about how the community received his message. “When the residents saw the mascots they really ‘lit up’ and listened to what we had to say,” said Jesus. One boy became so intrigued by Jesus’s campaign that he didn’t want to take off his campaign t-shirt to wash it, because he wanted to conserve water.

When Jesus’s campaign was completed, the number of community members who were aware that they lived in a protected area increased 30 percentage points. There was also a dramatic rise in the percentage of community members who reported altering their daily actions to preserve water quality. His coworkers in Sonora are now executing more activities, and his campaign is continuing in this area. “Now I feel capable to run a campaign in another protected area,” said Jesus. “I have acquired so much knowledge that I feel I now have the tools to do Pride anywhere.”

Zayareth Belendez Hernandez, also working with CONANP, has become very well known through her Pride campaign in Tehuacan-Cuicatlan Biosphere Reserve, 150 kilometers Southeast of Mexico City. The reserve is full of endemic plants, pumas, lynxes, and 350 bird species. Illegal extraction of cacti, overgrazing, and water pollution threaten this desert ecosystem. In an effort to protect the plants and animals, “Zaya” aimed to educate the community about water conservation. Zaya was a little nervous about working with children at first, but brought them to the reserve on overnight visits, showing them its value and introducing them to her campaign mascot – the Mexican ponytail palm. This palm tree holds a lot of cultural value to the area and lives over 100 years. Now, children and adults alike recognize Zaya as the woman on the radio, with board games, t-shirts, photo contests, bracelets, booklets and coloring books promoting ways they can conserve water.

To ensure her message is lasting, Zaya made a formal agreement with the state’s education department to work environmental education, specifically the campaign’s focus on water and forest issues, into the curriculum through 2011. At first, the new curriculum will be implemented in 80 schools, but there are plans to work it into 1,000 schools in the area. “I feel so respected by the education department in my area,” said Zaya. “I feel recognized by professors, and it’s so rewarding. We work in such a critical field and I feel that the Pride campaign belongs. Through Pride you become an engineer, teacher, biologist, etc. as you work with the whole community in a collaborative way.”

Zaya has recently been nominated for the Overbrook Conservation Fellowship for Latin American Conservationists, a grant which supports sustainable conservation projects. The award is administered by   Columbia University’s Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC).

Paulina Saucedo Mora and CONANP launched aPride campaign in Cozumel National Park, Mexico, promoting safe practices for divers to protect the coral reef system from pollution and misuse. Cozumel’s reefs are some of the most famous and beautiful in the world. Paulina also worked with the Coral Reef Alliance to target local scuba diving outfitters, asking them to ensure that divers respect the reefs and that boating operators comply with current protective laws to avoid further damage.

Organizing town hall meetings, beach clean-ups, and school events, Paulina became more driven as she saw the way community members reacted toward her campaign and wanted to get involved. Through the Coral Reef Alliance, Paulina helped produce and distribute a national public service announcement about protecting the reefs. Her mascot, Strombus, delivered conservation messages to more than 9000 kids — 10 percent of the total island population!

Paulina, who inhabited the costume herself multiple times, told children a story about her mascot and how he deserved a clean and safe home, just like them.
Pride campaign messages were also featured in a national public service announcement on coral reef protection, produced with the Coral Reef Alliance.

Currently, 50 percent of the island of Cozumel is under protected status. A growing constituency of local youth inspired by the campaign is now working to secure 100 percent protection for their ecologically rich, but heavily threatened home.

“Every protected area needs a Pride campaign,” said Paulina “There are many challenges, but we have great results.” Paulina’s mother attended the graduation and spoke about her daughter’s hard work. “I witnessed how Paulina reached out into the community to speak on behalf of conservation. This program has influenced her so heavily, and I am incredibly proud of her." To read more about Paulina's dynamic mascot, click here!