International Book Fair of Guadalajara

We carry out this project under a bilateral cooperation between cultural and environmental organizations from the UK and Mexico. The objective is the implementation of a sustainability plan based on the British Council's Circular Culture manual to be applied during the 2023 edition of the Guadalajara International Book Fair with special emphasis on the FIL Children's area.

This involves the development of a sustainability strategy for FIL Guadalajara that considers the three axes of sustainable development, highlighting the actions that contribute to reducing the environmental impact of the organization of the event and inviting the public to be part of the solution. 

The plan includes the following indicators:

• Environmental - carbon footprint, waste generation and water volume.

• Economic - hiring of local businesses, jobs generated and economic spillover.

• Social - training, people impacted, accessibility, inclusion and equity.

Audience reach was 357,000 people and more than 80,000 impacts on social media during the past two editions of the fair.

The project started in Egypt, specifically at the 27th edition of the United Nations Climate Change Summit that took place in Sharm El Sheikh from 6 to 18 November 2022. At the summit, which is the most important in the sector worldwide, two interviews were filmed with young people who imagined a few years ago how they could positively impact the sustainable development of their communities and are now doing so through their daily work at COP27. 

Subsequently, two activities took place at the Guadalajara International Book Fair, which was held from 26 to 4 December 2022. One of them was the presentation of the Circular Culture programme by Lorena Martinez, representative of the British Council, and the symposium "Imagine until we make it" focused on children, with the participation of the musician Caloncho, the writer Tanya Huntington, the activist Pablo Montaño and the moderation of Jackie González.