Culture, traditions, and natural resources of Mexican lakes under the influence of anthropogenic pressures and climate change

Indigenous peoples and local communities play a vital role in conserving inland water ecosystems and their resources through their cultural and spiritual values embedded in geographic, sociopolitical, and economic contexts. The Central Mexico lakes along the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt harbored important pre-Hispanic cultures that hybridized during the Spanish conquest, evolving into modern Mexico and changing how lakes were valued. The terrestrial Spanish ways of life were inimical to the pre-Hispanic indigenous lacustrine culture. After the conquest, various actions were carried out to drain the lakes for urban growth and to provide agricultural land. The result has been a decline (e.g., Lake Cuitzeo, Michoacán) and, in some extreme cases, the near disappearance (e.g., Lake Texcoco, Mexico City) of once extensive waterbodies. Unsustainable use of resources, unsympathetic spatial planning (anthropogenic impacts), and climate change to warmer/drier conditions have all placed additional pressure on the inland ecosystems. Nonetheless, as presented here, the pre-Hispanic lacustrine cultural knowledge and traditions persist locally in some locations, having been perpetuated by Indigenous peoples’ traditions and habits.