The population of Sánchez Magallanes and surrounding areas in Tabasco, Mexico, is assisted by UNESCO and Eni México, together with state and federal institutions, to revegetate dunes with native plants and rehabilitate the coastline, severely affected by erosion.
More than 45 men and women from the communities of San Rafael, El Alacrán (Manatinero), as well as Arjona and the 1st and 2nd sections of Sinaloa participated in a series of workshops to provide inputs and build the coastal dune restoration plan for Sánchez Magallanes — to be implemented by the community — and to select the sites where nurseries for the reproduction of plant species will be established to strengthen these natural barriers.
The workshops provided information on the results of the coastal erosion vulnerability assessment in the Santa Ana sandbar area, the feasibility study for coastal dune restoration, and the cartographic studies carried out — a process coordinated by UNESCO with the technical support of the Juárez Autonomous University of Tabasco (UJAT) and the Autonomous University of Carmen (UNACAR). Community members also conducted a collective analysis of strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats (SWOT).
There has never been a program on the ecological system. It is very good. There have always been doubts, but now, going forward. I think we are going to recover some of what was lost […], of the living things.
Jesús Martínez, from the 1st section of Sinaloa.
The actions are part of the “Dunas Vivas” (Living Dunes) project implemented by UNESCO and Eni México, in collaboration with different state and federal institutions, as a nature-based response to the coastal erosion process that has affected both ecosystems and the infrastructure and livelihoods of the communities living between the sea and the lagoon systems.
What I have learned is to look at my town with new eyes. Let’s rise up! […] Precisely because we deserve it.
Silvia Moreno, traditional cook from Sánchez Magallanes.
As part of the workshops, UJAT provided technical information on the upcoming action plan, including the environmental impact assessment, and aspects related to the revegetation zones to contribute to the formation and stabilization of dunes and the community area where native plants will be reproduced, in accordance with the prior scientific vulnerability and feasibility study. Plants include: Amaranthus greggii (Gregg’s amaranth or Yucatecan amaranth), Canavalia rosea (sea bean or bay bean), and Commelina erecta (Whitemouth dayflower).
Ejidal assemblies will be held to share the results of the workshops and establish agreements for their follow-up. UNACAR, together with UNESCO, will provide training to community members on nursery operations, revegetation techniques, and monitoring to form community brigades that will care for and transplant the plant species.
Representatives from nine national and state secretariats and commissions related to the environment, natural resources, water, and the navy, as well as representatives of the Municipality of Cárdenas, visited the proposed revegetation sites with UNESCO and its technical team.
Dunas Vivas is part of a series of interconnected actions formulated through participatory processes to reduce disaster risks in Tabasco. The comprehensive program by UNESCO and Eni México includes: technical support for the development of the Water Security Plan for the Mezcalapa-Samaria Sub-basin, the strengthening of Tabasco’s Early Warning System — which includes the collaboration of local media and journalists — as well as the revitalization of Sánchez Magallanes through the management of its cultural and natural heritage by its own population.
read more: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/communities-tabasco-take-lead-recovering-coastline-affected-erosion?hub=701
