Impact Spotlight

Energy, food, and water security for 250 people

30 households connected to solar water pumps and electrical systems

Solar technician training for 8 Seri women

About

The Comcaac, also known as the Seri Indians, are an indigenous people living in coastal desert mountains near the Gulf of California in Northern Mexico. For over a thousand years, they have survived and thrived under extreme desert conditions as hunters, fishers and gatherers. They continue to speak their language and practice traditional livelihoods while adapting to modern life.

Borderlands Restoration Network is a longtime partner of the Seri community, and has created an intergenerational apprenticeship program combining traditional ecological knowledge with modern science. Graduates of the program are the next generation of Seri leaders, dedicated to protecting the Comcaac’s territory and natural resources.

“We conceive of an economy as more than a monetary based system, and foremost as a system of exchanges based on reciprocity and relationship”

— Borderlands Restoration Network

HF Partnership

Honnold Foundation has partnered with Borderlands Restoration Network to install a solar water pumping system for the town of Desemboque. The Honnold Foundation has also provided Borderlands with a dedicated Technical Advisor to provide an expert perspective on solar installation in order to ensure the project’s success.

The system will consist of a network of interconnected pipes and solar panels that will bring power and water to public buildings and homes. Panels will be surrounded by an agro-voltaic garden that will increase food security and access to fresh produce, and simultaneously act as a cooling mechanism for the solar panels.

The water and PV system will be managed and maintained by three Seri women, previously trained as solar technicians at Barefoot University in India. These women educate the community on maintenance and repair, and recruit/train local students to serve as solar technician assistants. The project is accompanied by a culturally relevant education program that highlights how using the energy of the sun has long been a part of the Seri way of life, and connection to the natural world.