Oaxaca's Eroded Desert Hills Rebuilt by Hand: 25,000 Hectares in 25 Years

The Mixteca Alta in Oaxaca is one of Mexico's worst-eroded regions, where bare rock and gullies replaced soil. An alliance of Chocho-Mixtec communities has restored land through unpaid communal work (tequio), digging trench-terraces and berms to hold water and soil before planting trees such as pines. The Government of Oaxaca credited the alliance with restoring more than 25,000 hectares over 25 years, as reported in August 2026, while a 2022 Mongabay report counted more than 20,000 hectares across 22 to 25 communities. San Juan Bautista Coixtlahuaca alone has restored at least 2,000 hectares since about 2000. In 2026 the federal forestry commission CONAFOR was reported to be backing a further 7,000 hectares.