According to scientists, life on earth is currently experiencing the “Anthropocen Extinction”, the sixth mass extinction event since the advent of life on this planet. “The Anthropocene” is defined as the geological age where human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. According to a report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), up to one million

plant and animal species currently face extinction because of human activity. In addition to climate change, deforestation is one of the leading factors contributing to the rapid loss of biodiversity on Earth. A recent report by the University of Michigan has found that 36% of recent extinctions have been caused by deforestation. Another leading factor in the loss of biodiversity is the overdevelopment of coastal ecosystems. “Coastal ecosystems have experienced the fastest pace of increase in cumulative human impact in recent years.

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In light of this information, we are very interested in studying the different strategies that countries with an abundance of natural resources and pristine ecosystems are using to prevent deforestation in the face of economic development, population growth and a burgeoning tourism industry. We are particularly interested in exploring governmental vs. community based interventions to protect biodiversity in these ecosystems. We would like to create a project

based learning (PBL) unit called “Development and Biodiversity” for our students that is focused on how developing countries are leveraging their natural resources to create an economy based around sustainable development that preserves and protects local ecosystems while increasing economic opportunities and raising the quality of life for local populations. We would like to use the state of Oaxaca, Mexico as a case study for this unit.

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The state of Oaxaca “is the region with the greatest biological diversity in Mexico. It harbors almost half the plant species and vegetation types in the country, as well as 40% of mammal species, 63% of birds, 26% of reptiles, and 23% of river fish reported for Mexico”.2 70% of the plant species found in Oaxaca are endemic to the area. Additionally, the state of Oaxaca is home to 16 different indigenous peoples.The Oaxacan coast is also home to one of the most expansive sea turtle nesting grounds in the world. The height of turtle nesting season occurs in

the months of July and August, during the time we would like to visit. Green, Hawksbill, Leatherback and Olive Ridley Turtles all come to the Oaxacan coast to lay their eggs. We would like to visit the National Mexican Turtle Center that was created to research and protect the sea turtle species that breed on Oaxacan beaches. The Turtle Center does this by collecting eggs to study and nurture until they hatch. The organization is partially funded by offering

experiences to tourists where they can help release the turtles into the wild. We would love to experience this!

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We are also interested in exploring Huatalco and Chacahua National Parks. These parks work to preserve the Pacific tropical dry forests that predominate Huatalco and the mangrove ecosystems that make up Chacahua National Park. The tropical dry forests of Huatalco have been designated as one of the ten most vulnerable forest ecoregions in the world while the mangrove forests in Chacahua are considered to be a keystone species for the coastal ecosystem. We are interested in speaking with locals in the towns that surround these National Parks so we can understand how their lives have been impacted by the establishment of these protected areas.

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We want to be able to speak fluently about these incredibly interesting ecosystems with our students. We also want to help our students understand the difficulties that communities in  developing countries (where Mia’s ELL students largely come from) face around making land use decisions that directly impact their people and the surrounding biodiversity. We strongly feel that we will only be able to achieve this goal if we immerse ourselves in the environment and culture of an area like Oaxaca. The knowledge we gain through this experience will serve as a catalyst for us to create learning experiences that help our students develop an understanding  of the importance of taking action to preserve local communities and maintain the intact ecosystems we still have. The conversation around how economic development influences a region’s biodiversity is very nuanced and we think it is important to experience that tension first hand to be able to understand it on a level where we feel comfortable enough to teach it.

Important land use decisions are also made on a daily basis in Boston and we want our students to understand that this is both a local and global issue. Traveling abroad to explore this issue will help us bring it back home. Many of the questions we would like to answer for ourselves on this self designed professional development trip are similar to the questions we will pose to our students when we develop our PBL units around this experience. They are listed

below:

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• How and why were Huatalco and Chacahua protected from development, unlike many other coastal ecosystems in Mexico?

• How have the establishment of these protected areas impacted local populations, both positively and negatively?

• How do local communities play a role in managing protected areas?

• How have the economies of communities surrounding these protected areas been impacted by their creation?

• The people in this region of Mexico have traditionally eaten turtle eggs. How has the implementation of the turtle protection plan impacted local food traditions?

• How can we develop connections with people that we could ask to talk to our students via zoom about how they have been impacted by the creation of these National Parks and the Turtle Center.

 

Our goals for this fellowship are based around the questions we have posed above.

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Goal #1: We want to immerse ourselves in local culture so we can understand how the emergent understanding that biodiversity loss is one of the greatest threats facing humanity plays out in a developing economy. We want to explore the different sides of this issue with our students.

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Goal #2: We want to better understand the web of life that makes up the mangrove forests, coastal lagoons, cloud forests, and tropical dry forests of Oaxaca. We want to use this knowledge to strengthen our teaching practices.

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Goal #3: We want to explore the interaction between economic development and the protection of biodiversity. We will use this exploration to create a PBL unit where students get to take on the role of various stakeholders in the community and decide how to manage their “local ecosystem”. We would be able to base the stakeholder personas off of different people we meet during our travels (tourism board, government officials, restaurant/hotel owners, ranchers, farmers, business owners, families, park rangers... etc.)

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General timeline

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If we receive this fellowship, we plan on traveling through Oaxaca for the bulk of summer. Our five year old daughter will join us on the journey. My wife is fluent in Spanish and I am also able to communicate in Spanish which would help make our trip easier. We would fly to Oaxaca in Mid-July and return home at the end of August. We’d plan on making our home base in Puerto Escondido. This location is centrally located within two hours of the National Mexican Turtle Center, Huatulco National Park and Chacahua National Park. We would spend several

days at each of these destinations to fully explore the area.

 

If we receive this fellowship, we plan on informally interviewing business owners and members of the local community to understand how the establishment of these parks have  impacted the surrounding towns. We are particularly interested in learning about how their way of life has changed over the past twenty years as tourism has emerged as a driving economic force in the region. We want to use local guides to explore the parks and learn about the local

flora and fauna from their perspective. In my Environmental Science class, I would be interested in using these interactions to create stakeholder roles for my students so they can participate in a discussion around the impacts of coastal development from several different viewpoints. I’d hope to make strong enough connections in the community to ask the people I meet to be guest speakers with my students on zoom while we complete our PBL unit on “Development and Biodiversity.” If we are awarded this fellowship it will advance our own and our students’

understanding of the power that communities have to support and protect the biodiversity of our local ecosystems. Ultimately, it will help us teach our students how the direction of economic development in a region plays a powerful role in determining the long term health of the surrounding environment.