Mexico experiments with adapting to climate change naturally — and on the cheap

Jason Margolis in PRI.org: When we hear about climate change, “adaptation" is one word that usually finds its way into the conversation. But it's a term that means different things in different parts of the world.

For southern Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala, adaptation means experimenting with the best and most cost-effective ways to prepare for stronger tropical storms and hurricanes. The area has long been one of the most susceptible spots on the planet and, as ocean temperatures rise, climate scientists predict storms will grow more intense. In fact, there are indications that the number of category 4 and 5 hurricanes is already increasing.

Residents from the small community of Valdivia — in the southernmost Mexican state of Chiapas along the Guatemalan border — know all too well about the destructive potential of intense storms. All that’s left today of the town are shells of concrete buildings amidst the weeds. In 1998, Tropical Storm Javier swept across Chiapas and literally wiped the community of 4,000 off the map.

I met Joel Garcia Vasquez grazing his cows in front of the ruins of a church. He said the church served as a refuge during the storm. He and others huddled on the rooftop when the river, about a mile away, flooded. Garcia said the water was about 10 feet high for 10 days. Thirty residents died and another 50 or so bodies floated by from upstream, by his rough count.

When it was all over, rather than rebuild the town, the government helped the people of Valdivia start over on higher ground. They named the town Nuevo Valdivia, or New Valdivia. I asked Vasquez how he feels grazing his cows among the ruins of his childhood home. His answer took me by surprise.   “The new town is a little better because we’re getting more help from the government,” he said....

A river ferry in Valdivia, 2012, shot by CristianDiaz, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Chiapas Villagers to California Air Resources Board: “We say NO to REDD plus”

A reaction to REDD+ from Chiapas, Mexico, via Climate Connections: We are an indigenous and peasant community who lives in the heart of the region called “Selva Lacandona” (Lacandon Rainforest). We live from and with Mother Earth, struggling to exist as a culture and struggling against the historical exploitation, dispossession, discrimination and neglect to which we have been subjected for centuries.

For us who live on this land, the respectful and harmonious coexistence with nature and with the other indigenous communities that inhabit the forest is critical. But the promotion of REDD plus in our state, which the government is doing without ever consulting us, is causing conflict between our peoples, because in practice it benefits some and on the other side tries to dispossess us and criminalize the lifestyle of those who truly dedicate ourselves to live and coexist with the earth and are not in favor of the mechanisms of REDD plus as a solution to climate change. By failing to consult us, our human rights are violated as well as international agreements such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We do not conceive life without our Forest, she has fed and healed us, our grandparents have lived here and we also want our children to live there. We do not want to give up the memory and the struggle of our ancestors to exist as indigenous peoples. Our road ahead is the earth and our way of life is communitarian and we want you to respect us.

As rural people that we are we know that the climate is changing and that we need to do something to ensure the life of this planet which includes not only the human species, but we believe that the way of REDD is not the indicated one. We are and have always been poor indigenous people and yet we do not need the money from any government or company to preserve the environment because we understand that it is the responsibility of all who live on this planet to care for it and protect it. Putting a price on trees and forests is violating a sacred principle of respect for nature and violates the sovereignty of our country. It is to integrate our Forest into a model that has been the main cause of climate change. It is not possible to extinguish the fire with more fire, we do not want the Forest to be turned into a business of trees and biodiversity.

For the life of our mother earth and the people we say No to REDD plus.

Attentively, Francisco Hernández Maldonado, Representative (Comisariado Ejidal) of the Community Amador Hernández

A small dugout canoe in the Lacandón village of Lacanjá, Chiapas in 2001. Shot by Philkon Phil Konstantin, who has released the image into the public domain