“If the mangroves disappear, so will San Crisanto — that’s how big the risk is”: Wetlands of a Coastal Lagoon Ecosystem and Local Adaptation to Climate Change

Abstract

The Yucatan coast (Mexico) contains Ramsar sites of socioecological importance, but also faces problems, such as hurricanes, that increase its vulnerability. The frequency and magnitude of these threats increased, partly due to climate change, necessitating strengthened local adaptation strategies that incorporate the socioecological context and needs of wetland inhabitants. Thus, this study’s objective was to analyze responses to climate change by members of the port town San Crisanto (Yucatan) to learn about their perceptions and the actions they take when faced with hurricanes and their impacts. The study used a qualitative phenomenological methodology, working with 23 participants who witnessed three intense hydrometeorological events. As an ejido (unit of communal land tenure) in possession of land and resources, its members maintain the mangroves and manage them as a strategy of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA). They support their actions with local socioecological knowledge of their territory and place-based attachment to the lagoon ecosystem that provides their livelihoods, but there also persist several practices requiring attention, such as filling floodable areas with waste, which damages the local population and ecosystem. We conclude that the ejido collective is relevant to ecosystem protection and recommend that EbA strategies be documented and strengthened in order to tend to the human population and the wetlands themselves in the face of climate change.