
THIS TEXT IS AN EXCERPT FROM AN ONGOING REPORT
Ciudad de México, México
and the Basin of México
The canals of Xochimilco, located fifteen kilometers south of the Centro Histórico in Mexico City, are home to the chinampas, a network of small, rectangular agricultural islands created by the Xochimilca people around 900 CE.
The term chinampa derives from the Nahuatl phrase meaning "in the fence of reeds," reflecting the meticulous engineering behind these floating farms, formed by wooden stakes driven into the lakebed, layered with mud and organic material, and lined with ahuejote trees to stabilize the islands' edges. Staple crops like maize, beans, and squash sustained local populations. Once central to the Valley of Mexico's agricultural productivity, the chinampas now face existential threats from urbanization, ecological degradation, and climate change.
Alex Gaona, an ecologist with Humedalia, a local organization dedicated to restoring the chinampa system, navigates the receding canals in a canoe. His family has cultivated chinampas for over five centuries, but today, these traditions are under significant strain. Alex's work seeks to integrate ancestral knowledge and resistance with contemporary science to preserve the chinampas for future generations. Pointing to water levels now over half a meter lower than they once were, he highlights the alarming decline of the lake system.
The Valley of Mexico formed millions of years ago through intense volcanic activity. Eventually, the basin was sealed off, and with no natural outlet, rainwater accumulated to form a series of five interconnected lakes, including Xochimilco. Water levels in these lakes fluctuated naturally with the seasons, but over time, human intervention significantly altered their size and flow.
By constructing the chinampas, the Xochimilcas were the first humans to intervene in the lacustrine system. When the Aztecs arrived to the basin around 1250 CE, they adapted the chinampa system to build their capital, Tenochtitlán, on islands in Lake Texcoco. They also constructed a series of dikes and dams in order to separate fresh and brackish waters, and to control the lakes' seasonally fluctuating levels.
Following the Spanish conquest of Mexico, which began in 1519, colonial authorities dismantled much of the Indigenous water management infrastructure, initiating centuries of mismanagement, but they left the chinampas largely in tact. By the twentieth century, large-scale drainage projects of the Mexican State had reduced the region's lakes to a fraction of their original extent. Today, only two percent of the basin's lakes remain.
Xochimilco’s canals now largely rely on treated wastewater discharged from the Cerro de los Estrella treatment plant. This shift, initiated in the 1930s to supply water to Mexico City’s wealthy neighborhoods, has contributed to the canals’ ecological and hydrological decline, as water from the treatment plant is not always perfectly cleaned, emitting pollution into the canal system (Grabinsky, 2018). The chinampas, increasingly fragmented since the 1950s, have been partially repurposed for industrial agriculture, tourism, and recreational activities, eroding their traditional use and hindering conservation efforts.
Xochimilco's designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984 and a national park in 1992 introduced preservation standards that ultimately displaced local (and often Indigenous) farmers while permitting recreational activities like soccer fields and parties. Invasive species, such as the water hyacinth and tilapia, further disrupt the ecosystem, while failed government interventions, including the introduction of capybaras and manatees, have exacerbated the challenges.
Alex describes the sociocultural challenges faced by chinampa farmers, who are often marginalized and whose produce struggles to compete with aesthetically uniform industrial crops. This trend, driven by globalization and modern agricultural practices, has forced many to adopt chemical fertilizers, compromising the ecological integrity of the chinampa system.
Organizations like Humedalia aim to address these issues by promoting agroecological practices and educating the public on Xochimilco’s ecological and cultural importance. Visitors to these programs may enjoy meals prepared with chinampa-grown produce, but this idyllic experience contrasts sharply with the precarious reality of the farmers who sustain the system.

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Encroaching urbanization as of 2024: 1. The main section of the chinampas, part of El Parque Ecológico de Xochimilco; 2. The smaller section of chinampas; 3. The remnants of Lake Chalco
Eight kilometers east of the Humedalia chinampa is La Cienaga —'the wetland'—part of the same disappearing chinampan landscape. One can easily arrive there by taking the Metro Line 12 to its final stop, the Tláhuac neighborhood, which is one of the city's fastest growing areas. It's there that Angel Mata Juarez and Rodolfo Ruiz are diligently restoring their own chinampa.
The urban-rural transition is abrupt. The first field lies just half a kilometer from the station. One side of the road hosts cultivated land; the other, a metro train storage facility built on what was once farmland. Rodolfo expresses uncertainty about how long these fields will survive in the face of ongoing urban expansion.
Rodolfo, a law professor at UNAM who has worked the chinampas for fifteen years, describes his farming as an equilibrium between urban and rural life. His demeanor is soft-spoken and reflective; he emphasizes the importance of daily care for the earth, guiding past fields dominated by Coquia grass, a dense, impassable thicket marking the boundary between remnant, neglected brush and the carefully cultivated chinampas.
The contrast between the two is striking—the chinampas have a microclimate of cooler air, abundant trees, and fertile soil. On the surface, the landscape resembles an 18th-century pastoral painting. Water from nearby canals, pumped through rudimentary irrigation systems, sustains crops during the dry season. Rainfall takes over during the wet months. Rodolfo explains that most of the food grown here is sold at local agroecological markets in southern Mexico City.


Native ahuejote trees line the edges of each chinampa
The distribution of chinampa produce remains fragmented due to the lack of a unified organizational structure akin to the Union de Trabajadores de la Tierra in Argentina. The prevalence of industrial agriculture alienates the public from sustainable farming practices. And certification for agroecological markets demands a decade of proven adherence to agroecological methods and completion of a three-month course, further complicating farmers' access to broader markets.
Rodolfo and Angel speak candidly about the challenges facing the chinampas. Like Alex, their stories underscore a broader struggle against political and social systems that prioritize consumerism and development over ecological and cultural preservation. They stress the need for public education and structural change to reconnect society with the land.
Xochimilco today stands at a complex crossroads: ecological sanctuary, tourist attraction, Indigenous heritage site, and victim of modern neglect. The chinampas are a microcosm of the city's struggles to conserve and reintegrate eco-hydrological systems within the urban sprawl of a basin, home to over twenty-two million people.
Deconstructing the entire apparatus that manages the colonial era water infrastructure is likely impossible. Yet, continuing with Eurocentric conceptions of land relations will further imperil any significant intervention. Implementing measures that restore the chinampas can provide insight into regenerative practices that could reverberate throughout the basin.
This text is an excerpt from an ongoing report.