By Rebekah Ward | Communications Officer - PCI Media Impact
On the evening of September 3 2016, the Guardians of the Mist stole the hearts of an unlikely audience: a group of seasoned environmentalists and curious scientists attending the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii.
Occurring only once every four years, the World Conservation Congress is one of the few pivotal international meetings where conservation authorities and decision-makers within the scientific, governmental and non-profit communities come together.
Far from their usual audiences in Chiapas, the Guardians were brought to the Congress as the headliner to launch the #NatureForAll Movement – a budding community that is helping those who aim to preserve nature to ignite deep connections with nature among new audiences. The Mexican theater troupe does just that: listening to the story of Jaguara and the wise words of her leafy companion Mr. Ceiba prompted the groups in attendance to identify with the forest and its animal population.
Ana Valerie Mandri Rohen, one of the pivotal leaders who brought playwright Hiram Marina to the Cloud Forest and inspired his work on Guardians of the Mist, explained how the troupe is using theater to build a bridge between the precious rainforests and the Mexican people.
“Since only 60 people are allowed to visit the protected area each year, we faced a real barrier in connecting audiences with the forest so that they would want to protect it,” Ana Valerie explained. “So we brought small groups of ‘champions’ to the rainforest, in the hopes that these celebrities would be able to share the experience with their audiences. Hiram, a playwright by training, fell so much in love with the forest that he decided to write this play.”
The play’s typical audiences in Mexico, both young and old, are important ingredients of the ultimate protection of the forest. But in order for the precious flora and fauna to thrive, it is also crucial that the international community recognizes the value of this protection. By presenting to a packed house multiple times at the World Conservation Congress, the theater troupe was able to directly convey the importance of the forest’s conservation to more decision makers in the span of a few days than the number of visitors who are able to step foot in the forest itself in an entire year.
The magic of costume and theater successfully transformed the launch of the #NatureForAll Movement. The Guardians of the Mist not only inspired audience members to use storytelling and characters to create change in their own communities; they also reached the hearts and minds of a group of seasoned conservation professionals to understand the ecosystems of Chiapas with a new lens. Convincingly conveying both urgency and empathy, the play surprised conference attendees in its ability to capture their lasting attention.
“Countless people came up to #NatureForAll staff members after the performance to ask about the play itself, and about the rainforests of Chiapas,” said #NatureForAll Pavilion Coordinator Jeeva Jacob. “I was surprised by how much they internalized – not only about the play as a tactic for connecting people to nature, but about the ecosystem that it aimed to protect.”
Thousands of miles from Chiapas, Mexico, in front of an audience of environmentalists, the Guardians of the Mist still had a profound effect on its spectators – driving their curiosity, and ultimately their likelihood to engage in conservation of the Mexican cloud forest.
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By Graciela Leal | Latin America Program Manager
By Graciela Leal | Program Manager
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