Isaías Navarrete Chino
Community of Origin: Kuruxi Manure/Tuxpán de Bolaños, Jalisco
Degree: Forestry Engineering
University: Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo
Scholarship Recipient: 2018-2021
Isaías Navarrete Chino is a forestry engineer who graduated from the Autonomous University of Chapingo and was part of the first generation of scholarship recipients from our Wixarika Scholarship Fund. He was a recipient of the scholarship from 2018 until 2021. In 2019, he received the prestigious Jalisco State Youth Prize for his studies in forestry. Since graduation he collaborated with the Wixarika Research Center on agroforestry work, worked from 2022 to 2023 in Baja California for the National Forestry Commission of Mexico, and later in 2025 in Michoacán. In the Fall of 2025, Isaías began his graduate studies in Socio-enviornmental Studies at the prestigious FLACSO institute in Ecuador.
I was born in San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlán, a remote Wixárika community in the mountains of Jalisco. My parents, campesinos with little formal education, worked as agricultural laborers to support our family. As children, my siblings and I cared for each other at home while attending school, because our parents had to work far away to provide for us.
Education has always been both a challenge and a dream. With determination and the support of scholarships, I became the first Wixárika student admitted to the prestigious Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, where I earned a degree in Forest Engineering. Along the way, I learned Spanish, earned academic honors, served as a student representative, and was awarded the State Youth Prize for academic achievement.
Since graduating, I have worked on forestry and conservation projects across Mexico, most recently with the National Forestry Commission (CONAFOR) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO–Mexico) on the GREENMEX project to strengthen ecosystems and rural livelihoods after the pandemic.
But my journey is not complete. To truly serve my community and contribute to creating policies that protect both forests and people, I need to deepen my knowledge of the social dimensions of the environment. That is why I have been accepted to begin a master’s program at FLACSO–Ecuador this October, 2025."
