Urban sprawl begins to swamp old canals

Mexico's cash-strapped government can hardly cover the cost. Yet past cases of corruption have left international donor bodies wary about dedicating funds to Xochimilco. UNESCO officials, for example, say privately that they fear future cash injections could be used to line the pockets of current functionaries.

Still, a handful of projects are already under way to try to save the area.

In one zone, trucks are removing rubble that was dumped as landfill to make way for other housing projects. It's a costly and time-consuming process – and brings no guarantee the area will ever return to its earlier state.

Another project seeks to rebuild chinampas the way the Aztecs did – using reeds and mud from the canal bed to create rich, undulating gardens. Trees known as ahuejotes are planted around the edge of the garden, and their roots eventually lock the site in place.

Aztec farmers slathered the straw beds with rich canal mud, producing as many as five crops a year on the same tiny plot. Nowadays, many local farmers have given up the slow, back-breaking process of dredging canal mud with canvas shovels, preferring to use fertilizers, which eventually exhaust the soil.

"Most people don't bother to use the mud anymore. They just put down chemicals," says farmer Anastasio Santana Delasco as he spreads wet earth on his crops. "I don't agree. You can't count on chemicals. With mud, the land always produces."

To make matters worse, locals also have given up caring for the ahuejote trees, leading to deforestation and rampant erosion that's crumbling chinampas across the protected zone.

"In the past, the people who lived and farmed here used to care for the trees themselves," says Sebastian Flores Farfan, a historian and scientist. "Not anymore. Now it's the district government that has to do it."

Biologist Uriel González Monzon is worried about another recent development: the spread of a parasite plant that's killing the ahuejotes. The parasite inserts itself on the branch of a normal tree and grows off a tumor-like bulb. Its roots feed off the tree, sprouting huge branches that eventually starve the ahuejote.

Dr. González is overseeing a complicated process to cut infected branches off hundreds of thousands of trees that line the chinampas. "There are some trees which have to be cut back almost to the trunk for the gravity of the infestation," he explains at one site where workers used machetes to hack off infected branches. "But this tree has the advantage of being able to grow back quickly. It has a great capacity for regenerating its branches."

Scientists and local officials alike say projects like these won't succeed without significant outside help. Other plans aim to rescue hundreds of rare plant and animal species, some of which exist only in Xochimilco. There are also programs to stop local residents from dumping sewage in the canals and to start projects to fight tourist litter.

"This region was named a World Heritage Site in 1987 precisely because it is the last example of the how the entire Valley of Mexico looked in the pre-Hispanic era," says district leader González. "This isn't just for our residents. Xochimilco is unique in all the world."

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