Martha Isabel Ruiz Corzo

Martha Isabel "Pati" Ruiz Corzo (born 17 January 1953) is a Mexican environmentalist. She is the founder of the Sierra Gorda Ecological Group, which has successfully led grassroots efforts to conserve the Sierra Gorda in central Mexico since 1987. In 2013, she was named a Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Early and personal life

Martha Isabel Ruiz Corzo was born on 17 January 1953 in Mexico City. She grew up in a wealthy family in Santiago de Querétaro in the central Mexican state of Querétaro. She is most often called "Pati", a nickname derived from the childhood nickname "pata" that her sister called her. For 16 years, she taught music at the John F. Kennedy School in Querétaro. She married an economist named Roberto Pedraza Muñoz (born 1950) and had two sons, Roberto ("Beto") and Mario.

However, Ruiz Corzo eventually grew dissatisfied with modern city life. She attributed family health problems to urban pollution and said she felt "suffocated" by upper-class social norms. Seeking a simpler life, the Pedraza Ruiz family moved back to nature in 1984 in the forested mountains of Pedraza Muñoz's home region, the Sierra Gorda in northern Querétaro state.

Environmental career

Ruiz Corzo came to prominence for her activism to conserve the diverse ecosystem of the Sierra Gorda. By the 1980s, it was threatened by mining, logging, poaching, littering, water pollution, uncontrolled wildfires, and other issues.

In 1987, Ruiz Corzo and her husband Pedraza Muñoz founded a nonprofit organization, the Sierra Gorda Ecological Group (GESG, Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda), to promote sustainability in the region. As the group grew, it attracted support from the Governor of Querétaro Enrique Burgos García and earned financial backing from many international groups, such as the World Land Trust and the Global Environment Facility. Ruiz Corzo served as the inaugural director of the reserve for 14 years. Ruiz Corzo often fought private and public interests such as the national electric company, which sought to expand electric lines in the reserve despite a ban in the protected area. Ruiz Corzo resumed leading GESG around 2009, and continues to campaign at local, national, and international levels. The Ecologist magazine wrote in 2016 that Ruiz Corzo "manages to speak to large audiences without fear and she almost always ends a speech by singing".

Awards

Various organizations have recognized Ruiz Corzo for her activism, including two awards from divisions of the United Nations: Champions of the Earth (2013, from the UNEP) and the Wangari Maathai Forest Champion Award (2014, from the UNFF).