Chicuarote Chili Rescue

The Chicuarote Chili Rescue is a biocultural conservation and circular economy project developed by Santuario Ajolote in Xochimilco. Conserving the axolotl means conserving the territory that sustains it, and conserving that territory requires communities to live from it with dignity. The Chicuarote chili is part of Xochimilco's biocultural heritage — its seeds, genetic diversity, and the chinampa knowledge passed down through generations. The project seeks to prevent the loss of this variety through seed rescue, agroecological cultivation, processing, and commercialization, generating an economic cycle that returns value to the product and the territory.

Xochimilco faces a complex problem: loss of chinampas, water deterioration, abandonment of agricultural practices, and loss of biodiversity. When a family stops farming: agriculture is lost → knowledge is lost → genetic diversity is lost → landscape is lost → the ecosystem that sustains the axolotl is weakened. Traditional varieties like Chicuarote are threatened because their conservation depends on continued cultivation. The best way to conserve a seed is to make it relevant again in the economic and cultural life of the community.

Three fundamental reasons:

The axolotl cannot be conserved exclusively in a laboratory. Its survival depends on conserving and restoring Xochimilco's ecosystem. Chicuarote production contributes to this strategy: it keeps chinampa agriculture active, generates economic incentive to conserve the chinampa, reduces pressure on the ecosystem through agroecological practices, and protects the biocultural landscape. Chicuarote Chili → Chinampa → Producer → Local economy → Territory conservation → Axolotl habitat.

The project does not start from commercial seeds. It starts from material conserved by Xochimilco's own families. Santuario Ajolote gathered eight seed banks from traditional chinampa families — the project's genetic base. But the goal is not simply to store them, but to keep them alive through a complete productive cycle. The seed produces food. Food produces a product. The product generates income. Income allows continued cultivation. And cultivation conserves the seed.

From seed recovery to international commercialization.

The project can be represented as an interconnected cycle where conservation stops depending exclusively on donations.

The project generates simultaneous benefits across multiple dimensions.