Mexico's exhibition "Echoes of the Earth: Economy and Ecosystems"

BIOFIN Mexico, along with the National Commission on Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) and the German Development Agency (GIZ), developed a temporary exhibition called “Echoes of the Earth: Economy and Ecosystems” in the Economy Interactive Museum (MIDE, for its Spanish acronym). The objective is to recognize the value and role of biodiversity and its environmental services in economic and social development. It also recognizes the importance of human well-being on biodiversity and the environment.

This exhibition is also an effort to contribute to several national and international commitments, such as the National Biodiversity Strategy (ENBIOMEX), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In fact, Katyna Argueta, Resident Representative a.i. of UNDP Mexico mentioned that the "Sustainable Development Goals 14: Life Below Water and 15: Life on Land are the base of our existence and well-being, since all the economic processes depend on the natural capital. These SDGs can be accelerators to contribute to other goals such as climate action, food security, water, energy, health and poverty reduction"

The exhibition is shaped around three key messages: 

1. Biodiversity is essential to all the processes that occur in our planet, as well as for our well-being 
2. All economic processes depend on nature 
3. To conserve and sustainable use biodiversity requires the efforts of all society

Through a conceptual and interactive tour of Mexico's ecosystems, that include digital games, maps, puzzles and videos, visitors learn about the importance of biodiversity to the economic processes, the value of natural capital and the relevance of the environmental services to development and society's well-being. Additionally, visitors will have the opportunity to know about successful cases of conservation, sustainable use and even restoration in an interactive map. 

The link between nature, economics and culture is emphasized by a part of the exhibition called "Nopal cósmico" or "Cosmic Cactus", where there are images of how biodiversity contributes to economic development but also an inspiration for the cultural background that we have. For example, how some of our pre-hispanic traditions and cultural legends were based on nature (maize, bees, rain, volcanoes, etc.). There is also a game regarding the monetary value of the ecosystem services that Protected Areas provide. 

BIOFIN's objective is to implement finance solutions for biodiversity. In this sense, the exhibition is part of BIOFIN's strategy on mainstreaming biodiversity in sectors in which biodiversity was not explicit. The fact that the exhibiton is presented on the Economy Museum is a step in the right direction, since they are accepting that the natural capital is a fundamental part of the economy, which is a conversation that is only recently taking place. Additionally, BIOFIN Mexico will use the exhibition as a place to sensibilize investors before pitching them impact investment projects, as well as having a series of panels and talks open to general public, which will be contributing to some of the NBSAP objectives. 

The exhibition will be available until January 2020, and on average the museum attracts 250,000 visitors per year.