Women Who Safeguard Biodiversity

"The idea of Toroto was not forged in an office. It germinated in the forests of Mexico, specifically during a forty-kilometer hike that began at the base of the Nevado de Toluca and ended two days later in Valle de Bravo. During this walk-a gift from a son to his mother-and in the environment of forests that are cared for by the ejidatarios of the area, who showed us the species that live there, told us about the age of the trees, and gave us wild blackberries to eat; the son asked his mother (who writes this): what if we create a company that helps mitigate climate change? Toroto was born at that precise moment.

Today, almost three years after that walk, Toroto is a company where around 70% of the employees are women. There are four founders, two of them women. Four directorates, two of them are headed by women. The same is true for the management. There is not a single area in Toroto that is not integrated by a woman. The most amazing thing is the variety of professions that converge in this project: economists, financiers, communicologists, biologists, physical engineers, chemical engineers, and urban planners. Many of them already have a master's degree or are studying for one. All these women-despite the diversity of their professions- coincide in their love for nature, in wanting a better world, in reversing climate change, each one from their own position: one of them is responsible for a greenhouse, another supervises the financial statements of the company; some others are in charge of managing the Geographic Information Systems, others are developing programs related to technology. Many are in charge of being in the field collecting information on the soil, flora, and fauna and in contact with the ejidatarios; some supervise the budgets of the different projects being carried out, while another is in direct communication with companies that develop the protocols for generating carbon credits. Some others are in the area of communication, disseminating information and projects generated in the company; several of them are developing regenerative agriculture programs, while others are talking to investors or potential clients; another one is in charge of Toroto's Human Resources area.

All of them fulfill a mission: to have a future compatible with life. Toroto's seed germinated almost three years ago; it is now in full growth and would not have been possible without the efforts of all these women in conjunction with the other members of the team."

Pilar and Rocío Harispuru, co-founders of Toroto.

Many are the environmental questions that have risen over the years and with the undeniable-now more than ever-and tangible environmental and climate crisis, however, there is one that in my opinion stands out above all: who takes care of the natural resources, who safeguards the integrity of the Earth?

This question does not have a simple answer, so to avoid falling into specific cases, we will speak from the generality. In the generality of Latin America and other developing countries, women are usually the majority responsible for environmental care (Rico, 1998; Palacios, 2012; Echegoyemberry, 2017; Busconi, 2018) and by environmental care we refer to performing unpaid indirect protection work-as we will see in a later example-as well as direct protection work which is rarely paid for. Although it may sound contradictory, we are also, together with children, those who suffer most from environmental deterioration (Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres, 2003).

The above may sound like an overestimation of reality, but this can be explained by understanding that the network of care for the planet and its resources is also a network of family care, where unpaid work, such as domestic work or self-consumption labor-to give just a few examples-is of great importance for the sustainability of those who care for ecosystems in a more "direct" way. And we emphasize the word "direct" in quotation marks, not because women's work within ecosystems is only indirect work, but because the sexual division of labor has permeated even the chores of field toil. To understand this better, let's go a little deeper:

Food production is a provisioning ecosystem service, as well as a cultural and regulatory one. Today, it is estimated that 70% of the food we consume globally comes from the peasant food web (ETC Group, 2017), i.e. small-scale producers. These families that feed us are mostly women-headed-approximately 60% of farmers in the global south are women(FAO, 2001). Women who, in addition to cultivating crops, they dedicate themselves to keeping the plots free of weeds; they take care of preserving biodiversity by using their own or exchanged seeds; they ensure that the food they grow and cook is also nutritious, so in the first instance, they protect pollinators; secondly, they protect local culinary and planting traditions; and thirdly, they protect the soil (all these activities are part of direct care work). However, the work does not end there: in addition to doing all of the above, women provide for their families, i.e., because unpaid (indirect) work exists, the rest of the family can work the land, monitor the forests, or engage-in a non-metaphorical sense-in any other imaginable productive activity, most of which is paid. We call this essential good (which is autonomy over what to plant and how to do it), food sovereignty, and it is a form of protection of the planet and its inhabitants, which is almost always led by women.

Even though women continue to face serious difficulties in accessing and controlling natural resources (ECLAC, 2012), we play an indispensable role as environmental educators, preserving and sharing knowledge from generation to generation and by word of mouth. This knowledge is so vast that it ranges from where, how, and when to fish to allow population balance, to how to spatially analyze an area using Geographic Information Systems; from how to collect wild edible mushrooms without damaging the mycorrhizal network that keeps forests connected, to how to facilitate carbon offsetting processes; from the planting season for a myriad of foods, to how to communicate the urgent need to take care of our environment.

While in rural contexts, much of the above is daily work, the rest is also achieved in urban contexts. In any space, women make our voices heard, in one way or another: whether through activism, academia, fieldwork, teaching, or the more innate and sincere concern for caring for our environment. While living in the countryside has a more material impact on the care of resources, life in the cities allows us-however bittersweet this may be-to have an impact on decision-making spaces in order to seek fairer and more inclusive public policies for all, especially for these first women whose words and experiences are rarely taken into account, even when they carry with them many of the answers we need to hear.

Due to the above, the fifth goal within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to achieve gender equality, thus making our existence, practice, and thinking as relevant as anyone else's. It is impossible-yes, impossible-to think about sustainability if the social sphere is completely fragmented. Gender inequality and violence are global issues, and therefore, any environmental and social crisis anywhere in the world brings more pressure on women than on men simply because we are women.

Even though women in the city and women in the countryside live very contrasting and different realities, we all agree on projecting a better future for us all. Whether we are women caregivers and givers of knowledge; peasant women cultivators of life and protectors of biodiversity; hongueras; women who participantes in ejido/communal boards, and therefore, decision-making women for management and conservation; water providers women; women doctors and midwives; traditional cooks; fisherwomen; conflict mediators and peace managers women; scientists women; women activists and tireless fighters for environmental justice; women educators or ordinary women: mothers, daughters, sisters and friends in whose conversations always surface the need to care for the planet and its organisms, our struggle always lies in achieving a better future; one compatible with life.

We want to share with you the thoughts and experiences of the women at Toroto: women committed to fighting the climate and environmental crisis. We wanted to open with the vision of Pilar and Rocio Harispuru, co-founders of Toroto, and now finish with the experiences that the women of our team want to share.

How would you define your relationship with nature? What does it mean to you to take care of it?

"Everything is symbiotic-I recognize that to demand implies to return and when that is missing, imbalance arrives. I recognize myself as part of nature because that is where I come from; to take care of it, is to take care of myself; to protect its future and health is to protect my future and my health. Everyday I seek to learn how to live on this Earth as part of everything, not only as a consumer of resources but as part of the natural system."

María, Carbon Management Analyst

"I feel a close relationship with nature; since I was a little girl I liked to play in the mud and see all the diversity of animals, insects, and plants around me. For me, taking care of it is to some extent an obligation. As a result of my career (biology) I have learned to appreciate aspects of nature that I was not aware of before. Humans have impacted the entire earth's surface, negatively altering ecosystems. If we don't start taking care of it and feel a direct connection with nature, we will lose all the resources we get from it."

Carla, Regenerative Agriculture Coordinator

What are the challenges of being a woman and living your day-to-day life with an environmental and climate crisis happening?

"The main challenge is to be taken into account, since being a woman in an area that has mainly been dominated by men, it is hard to make your words carry weight and really contribute to reducing the speed of climate change."

María de los Ángeles, Coordinator of restoration works, germplasm, phenology, and forest nurseries.

"The same systems and social structures that have caused the climate crisis are the ones that have caused the significant gender gap we are experiencing. This is why it is necessary to recognize the fundamental role of women in decision-making, in education, and as expert professionals in different sectors at all levels. Together, women can provide effective, long-term solutions to climate change."

Gabriela, Business Development Director

"I believe that women today must continue to conquer positions in this struggle for equal opportunities. As for the environmental crisis, it seems to me that this issue is closely linked to being a woman. It is necessary to rethink as a society new ways of coexistence! Both with nature and with women."

Pilar, Human Resources Manager

What challenges have you experienced as a woman working in Toroto in your daily environmental work?

"Definitely a challenge is to be seen as a person with authority in a rural environment. You are limited to being more serious, to wear a certain type of clothing that doesn't leave not even the slightest chance for someone to get confused (because the whole project could be put at risk), being very careful about what offers you do accept, etc. Not only is it a challenge to have to justify your authority much more than a man has to, but also because on many occasions you are surrounded only by men. This sometimes creates insecurity for me, especially when my work has to be confirmed or justified later by a man in order to get things done.

In the implementation of nature-based solutions we always seek to work with people from the same ejidos, and it is almost always difficult to have women in the work crews. I attribute this to a thousand reasons, but in summary, it is clear to me that it is because in rural areas women do not have the same opportunities as men during their childhood and adolescence. Many times we have been told "Oh no, working with women it's complicated; they don't want to work", or "It's a very heavy job for women to do'', right to my face! It's hard to handle. However, I always try to remember that I am dealing with people who live a very different reality than mine so I turn the situation the other way. Fortunately, I have met many very strong women who have collaborated with Toroto, even as crew chiefs, and little by little, we hope to meet more and more."

Lucero, Operations Manager Center

"The biggest challenge for me has been to deal with people (mostly men) who are not happy with women holding managerial positions and taking orders from them.

I have had very nice experiences in the ejido assemblies, where women raise their voices and demand to be taken into account; they demand to be involved and not to be pushed aside because they are completely competent for the matter.

I am very happy to work in a company where women represent a majority and where they are valued and recognized for their abilities.."

Teresita Project Coordinator

We hope that this reading will be an invitation to reflect, to visualize our daily challenges and demands, as well as to dialogue, in order to build the world we all want, a world of equality.

References

• A, Busconi. (2018). Cuerpo y territorio: una aproximación al activismo ecofeminista en América Latina. Anuario en Relaciones Internacionales del IRI.
• CEPAL. (2012). La Sostenibilidad del Desarrollo a 20 Años de la Cumbre para la Tierra: Avances, brechas y lineamientos estratégicos para América Latina y el Caribe. Publicación de las Naciones Unidas (LC/L.3346/Rev.1)
• Echegoyemberry, N.. (2017). Identidade, gênero e direitos humanos: o papel das mulheres no cuidado da "casa comum" (meio ambiente). Revista Uruguaya de Antropología y Etnografía, 2(1), 55-70.
• FAO. (2001). Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture - A briefing guide for the successful implementation of Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture in Developing Countries and Countries of Transition. Roma.
• Grupo ETC. (2017). ¿Quién nos alimentará? La red campesina alimentaria o la cadena agroindustrial. 3ra edición.
• Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres (Inmujeres). (2003). Equidad de género y medio ambiente. México.
• Ma. N, Rico. (1998). Género, medio ambiente y sustentabilidad del desarrollo. Publicación de las Naciones Unidas (LC/L.1144)
• Palacios Sepúlveda, F. (2012). Movimientos sociales y género: la siembra feminista de La Vía Campesina. Revista Sociedad y Equidad, (4). doi:10.5354/0718-9990.2012.20943