A Forest First for Mexico City
Mexico City is home to over 22 million people — and now, to the country’s very first native pocket forest.
Planted in Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl on the outskirts of CDMX, Neza Forest marks a major milestone for SUGi. Not just because it’s our first forest in Mexico, but because of what it represents: a greener future, growing from one of the city’s overlooked corners.
0
Trees
0
Square Meters
0
Native Species
The forest is situated in an area that was once the site of Lake Texcoco — a saline lake where the Aztecs had their capital Tenochtitlan — and more recently served as the city’s dumping ground. Today, the neighborhood is densely populated, with more than a million residents and limited access to green space. Scorching heat and environmental degradation have long defined daily life.
Neza Forest offers a different path forward.
To meet the challenges of the high-salinity site, our forest makers got creative. They chose 25 native, salt-tolerant species, from resilient cacti to coral trees, that are uniquely suited to thrive in these tough conditions.
A carefully layered planting approach - featuring canopy trees, shrubs, and ground cover - creates a self-sustaining ecosystem that supports local wildlife, provides a vital green refuge for the community, and mitigates the urban heat island effect. This natural buffer improves air quality and promotes overall community well-being.
The planting brought together hundreds of local residents, who joined us to transform the land and create a new space for life to take root.
This forest isn’t just our first in Mexico. It’s also the start of something new: Neza Forest is a pilot, with plans to scale the project across the neighborhood. Pocket forest by pocket forest, we’re helping the residents of Mexico City reimagine what urban life can look like when people and nature grow side by side.
Neza Forest
Neza Forest will be situated on the urban periphery of Mexico City, in a neighborhood that once formed part of the ancient, now long-gone Lake Texcoco, and later became a dumping ground for the city’s waste. Today, this area is home to over a million people, many of whom live in marginalized communities. It suffers from a scarcity of green spaces and is one of the most affected by the urban heat island effect in the city.
The local university, with its deep commitment to sustainability, is enthusiastic about playing a key role in this project. Its dedicated Sustainability program will not only support the establishment of the forest but will also ensure its long-term maintenance and care.
