Mexico City’s Unesco-listed chinampas, or ‘floating gardens’, in the southern district of Xochimilco, are a network of artificial strips of farmland built on shallow lakes. The practice of farming on staked-out raised beds divided by canals has its origins in ancient pre-Aztec agriculture, but it was the Aztecs who developed this method of cultivation into an extensive network in the Valley of Mexico. Over centuries, drainage, flood control, urbanisation and the climate crisis destroyed much of these waterways, leaving only a few oases for wildlife and migratory birds

The Indigenous community who depend on these waters are called chinamperos, and they work within La Chinampería, the term for the area but also their way of life, one they fear could soon vanish. Farming methods, culture and respect for nature and the environment are all part of it. To Felipe Barrera Aguirre, whose chinampero heritage stretches back centuries, it signifies even more: ‘La Chinampería is life itself – the origin of our culture, the origin of the heart of Mexico. If La Chinampería had not existed, Mexico would not be the Mexico we know’

Barrera Aguirre and his daughter, Mixtli Barrera Fernández, at their family’s chinampa, the strip of land they farm. ‘If these problems are not fixed, our history, my family’s history, is going to end. Apart from losing this historical memory, the city itself would also be lost because there would no longer be water,’ he says. ‘The opportunity to have this land so rich, so fertile, to produce food would also be lost, and we would be talking about a possible collapse of Mexico City. But we still have time’

Barrera Aguirre and Mixtli tend to their farm. Other members of Barrera Aguirre’s farming collective have opened the first chinampa school, offering courses in agroecology, culture and history, cuisine and science-backed traditional medicine. It is hoped that students will learn not just to be farmers, but to become chinamperos and future guardians of La Chinampería

Barrera Aguirre and Mixtli visit Laguna de Tezhuilo (water mirror), where springs once filled the chinampas with water that was clean enough for people to drink straight from the canals. The community still holds rituals and celebrations in these sacred lagoons, which at one time were accessible only on special occasions, to preserve the water quality and protect wildlife. They are now visited by increasing numbers of tourist boats and kayakers on sunrise tours

Mixtli hopes to combine her degree in biology with the traditional skills passed down from her father to work on conservation and restoration projects. ‘If the chinampas disappear, it is just a reflection of this general mindset in societies, this western belief that nature or spaces are at the service of human beings and nothing more. I can’t imagine a world where there aren’t chinampas, but that’s why I’m here – to ensure that doesn’t happen’

Dawn in the ecological reserve of Lagunas Reserva Ecologica, north of the chinampas, looking south towards the predominantly Indigenous neighbourhood of San Gregorio Atlapulco. The waters have become an increasingly vital resource for Mexico City, replenishing the dwindling underground aquifers that have almost run dry, while cooling the city streets above by an estimated 2C (3.6F). The network also hosts rich ecosystems in an area where much of the natural environment has been lost. Every hectare of chinampa sequesters 110 tonnes of carbon a year

Due to a lack of green spaces in the capital, large sections of the wetlands, which lie north of the chinampas, have been converted into recreational facilities for sports, including football, basketball, tennis and golf, but lie empty on most weekdays

The Cuemanco bridge cuts across the north-west section of the wetlands. Despite opposition over the environmental impact, the construction of this six-lane bridge was approved in 2020

Xochimilco is a bustling Indigenous district on the southern edge of Mexico’s capital, fed by canals

Canals that once carried produce to the centre of Mexico City begin to disappear at the northernmost point of the wetlands

Although building is banned in the chinampas, illegal housing is common, which leads to rubbish, wastewater and sewage being dumped in the canals. Signs of habitation here are the thin black tubes carrying drinking water between homes, breaching the water’s surface, while electric cables span overhead. Development sometimes starts with polytunnels, which become more permanent agricultural buildings. Some inhabitants are also fleeing poverty and violence elsewhere

For most Mexican and foreign visitors, the chinampas are a novelty tourist destination, somewhere to visit at weekends to drink and party, while cruising on the canals. They are often unaware of the waterways’ other functions, or the struggles faced by the Indigenous community. While tourism brings money into the local economy, the pollution has severely degraded water quality

Colectivo Ahuejote is a local organisation set up in 2017 to reactivate chinampera agriculture as part of a programme to ensure food security for Mexico City. Its co-founder, Raúl Mondragon (left), explains his motivation for collaborating with chinamperos such as Ernesto Reyes Perez. ‘He’s young and curious, eager to explore and discover how to achieve a fully sustainable chinampa,’ says Mondragon. ‘Experimenting with eco-technologies, like solar power plants for irrigation systems or water filtration systems, is interesting and it could be a role model for the Chinampería’

Ernesto Reyes Perez holds volcanic rock from a water filtration system he built in collaboration with Dr Rodríguez Vazquez, a bioengineering professor working with local farmers and businesses to improve water quality in the canals. While traditional chinampero agriculture is organic, to achieve organic certification, Reyes Perez needed to remove the chemical and plastic pollution caused by modern farming methods also present in the chinampas, particularly in the flower industry

Paola Cervantes, an environmental biologist, is part of a team of recent graduates from universities across Mexico City who monitor critically endangered axolotl salamanders, who are placed in purpose-built underwater cages throughout the chinampas. Run by the Ecological Restoration Laboratory of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the project works with chinamperos to reintroduce these amphibians to the area as part of efforts to restore water quality

The chinampas are recognised as a UN globally important agricultural heritage system and, with Lagunas Reserva Ecologica to its north, a Ramsar wetland of international importance under the Mexican government’s protection. Some estimates suggest that if the area was restored and adequately managed, it could provide millions of Mexico City’s residents with organic produce

Slender ahuejote (Bonpland willow) trees cast shadows across tightly packed chinampas on the edge of the Lagunas Reserva Ecologica. Their canopy provides shade for workers, and their slender roots form the outer structure of the chinampas. The canals allow access and a supply of water and nutrient-rich sediment that make chinampas so productive

Running directly from San Gregorio Atlapulco to the central market in Xochimilco, Avenue Nuevo León is packed with homes, shops, businesses and a canal running almost its entire length. Such canals are coming under multiple pressures as the city envelops them. Although a large volcanic filtration system has been installed at this section, which the municipal workers in green are maintaining, the stench of pollution is intense

Local beekeeper and chinampero Sergio Castillo Cerraldi drives through the Lagunas Reserva Ecologica to show where his family’s hives are kept. Despite its protected status, old tyres, plastic and debris are scattered around, and the whole eastern section has been scorched by fire. Castillo Cerraldi suggests this was caused by people leaving rubbish, including smashed glass. When asked who maintains the ecological reserve, he says it is ultimately left to the community

Amalia Salas Casales, known to those close to her simply as abuelita (grandma), is a spokesperson and activist who has spent much of her life defending the chinampas. She says she is motivated by the positive force of nature and her connection to it, and believes in the importance of respect for what you put into your body and considering what you give to the world. This project was partly funded by Creative Scotland