Governance for Ecosystems based Adaptation:

Cahoacán River Basin

IIn the state of Chiapas, in southern Mexico, we find the Cahoacán River basin, which has a surface area of approximately 283.4 km2.

It is shared by five municipalities: Cacahoatán, Tapachula, Tuxtla Chico, Frontera Hidalgo and Suchiate.

Including the total population of each municipality, the Cahoacán river basin has 488,786 inhabitants. Its most important economic activities are agriculture, fishing, cattle raising, ecological tourism, services and commerce. The main products are coffee, cocoa, mango, papaya, corn, beans, soybeans, bananas, rambutan, sesame, watermelon, melon and oil palm.

As a consequence of climate change, droughts and heatwaves have been registered more frequently, which has reduced the availability of water for agriculture and has favored the development of rust, the most destructive coffee disease.

CHIAPAS

Area:283.4 km2MEXICO

74, 415 km2

Extensión territorial del

Estado de Chiapas:

74, 415 km2

Chiapa’sterritory

Area:283,4 km2

Location

Area:283,4 km2

Location

488,786POPULATION

5,217,908POPULATION

Population

CAHOACÁN RIVER SUB-BASIN

STATE OF CHIAPAS

(Considering the total population of each municipality).

INDIGENOUS PEOPLESMam Ethnic group

488,786HABITANTES

5,217,908HABITANTES

Población

SUBCUENCADEL RÍO CAHOACÁN

ESTADO DE CHIAPAS

(Considerando la población total de cada municipio).

PUEBLOS ORIGINARIOSGrupo étnico Mam

488,786POPULATION

5,217,908POPULATION

Population

CAHOACÁN RIVER SUB-BASIN

STATE OF CHIAPAS

(Considering the total population of each municipality).

INDIGENOUS PEOPLESMam Ethnic group

GUATEMALA

MEXICO

Go

vernance

No. 03SERIES 3

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Therefore, an increase in extreme weather events such as storms and hurricanes is expected, which will favor the occurrence of landslides and plagues. For example, Hurricane Stan, which struck the region in 2005, has been one of the most damaging to the population, causing loss of crops and livestock, damage to housing structures and negative effects on the local economy.

Despite the prevailing need to adopt adaptation measures, a number of factors hinder action, such as, 1) the limited knowledge of communities and local governments regarding climate change and the importance of conserving and restoring ecosystems to be able to adapt; and 2) ineffective coordination between local communities and those responsible for developing adaptation policies at a regional, state and national level.

In this context, the Project AVE (Adaptation, Vulnerability and Ecosystems) has worked on 1) raising awareness among different actors about climate change and the benefits of conservation and restoration of ecosystems for adaptation, 2) implementing actions for ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA), 3) generating evidence on the effectiveness of the EbA, and 4) providing accompaniment to the Ejidos for the preparation of their adaptation strategies and the reactivation of the Climate Change Advisory Council of Chiapas. This is part of an escalation strategy that seeks the incorporation of EbA measures into adaptation plans and programs at different levels of government.

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Strengthening governance structures in ChiapasThe Advisory Council on Climate Change was created by the Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Act in the State of Chiapas in 2013, as part of a broad institutional infrastructure to develop, implement and evaluate the adaptation policy and mitigation of climate change in the State, which is the State System of Climate Change.

The State System of Climate Change is a multilevel and multisectoral platform composed of:

a) The Inter-Secretarial Coordination Commission on Climate Change

b) The Advisory Council on Climate Change

c) The Ministry of the Environment and Natural History

d) The holders (“leaders”?) of the Federal Delegations

e) The Municipal Presidents

f) Representatives of the State Congress

The Inter-ministerial Coordination Commission for Climate Change is responsible for developing the adaptation policy and mitigation in the face of climate change. For its part, the Chiapas Advisory Council on Climate Change is the permanent consultative body of the Commission which is the platform for public participation in decision making in this area.

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The Advisory Board has the power, among others, to:

• Recommend the Commission carry out studies and adopt policies, actions and goals intended to face the adverse effects of climate change.

• Promote social participation, informed and responsible, through public consultations determined in coordination with the Commission.

• Formulate policy proposals on climate change to the Commission, the Secretariat and the Under-secretariat.

Se entiende entonces que el Consejo Consultivo puede ser una It is understood then that the Consultative Council can be a key institution to improve communication and coordination between local communities and those responsible for developing adaptation policies at a state level. The Council could provide the Commission with the experiences and evidence of EbA benefits, which could be incorporated into a series of adaptation policies.

It is worth mentioning that despite its importance, the Council remained inactive since its constitution in 2014. The AVE Project, in coordination with the Ministry of Environment and Natural History of the State of Chiapas, promoted its reactivation in the year 2017 through the renewal of the Board members.

The integration of specialized working groups has also been promoted, among them the Adaptation Group, which considers various technical issues related to adaptation, including the benefits of the EbA in facing climate change and food security.

At the same time, the AVE Project has promoted the implementation of EbA measures by members of the La Azteca, Conquista Campesina and Alpujarras ejidos. Dialogues and exchanges of experiences were also organized, for example, the Meeting of Natural Solutions and Local Governance for Adaptation to Climate Change, whose objective, in addition to raising awareness of the EbA approach, was to disseminate information on legal and policy frameworks that facilitate the integration of EbA measures and public participation.

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Results• The EbA approach has been internalized by the

members of the La Azteca Ejido, so they actively support the implementation of forest conservation and restoration actions as adaptation measures.

• The Consultative Council is now active and has a Working Group on Adaptation, which promotes the EbA approach.

• The Consultative Council held a public consultation on the State Strategy for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), which has benefits for the EbA when establishing actions for forest conservation.

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Scaling• At local level, the Ejido La Azteca has a Local Strategy for

Sustainable Development under Climate Change.

• At sub-national level, the Monitoring and Evaluation Methodology (M & E) of EbA and food security was presented to the Adaptation Working Group. This tool is intended to be useful for the exercise of the Council functions, for example, to prepare studies analyzing the EbA compared to other options, to recommend the Commission to promote EbA in public policies.

• IUCN actions in the binational basin contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

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Clean Water and Sanitation. In the integral management of water resources through cross-border cooperation

Life of Terrestrial Ecosystems.

Climate Action. In the integration of climate change measures into national policies, strategies and plans

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Challenges and next steps

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The Climate Change Advisory Council of the State of Chiapas could be a space where ejidos or other local governance structures of natural resources present their vulnerability studies and their EbA priorities, in order to be considered in the formulation and implementation of the state policy on climate change. However, in order to take advantage of this opportunity, communities need to be aware of the existence and functioning of the structure, as well as the benefits that participation can entail in order to improve their capacities to adapt to climate change.

Governance for EbA: Definition

Governance for adaptation to climate change refers to the norms, institutions and processes that determine how power is exercised and responsibilities are distributed, and how decisions are made to moderate potential harms, take advantage of beneficial aspects or resist the negative consequences of climate change, making use of solutions based on nature. This model of governance must be flexible, multidimensional, participatory and ecosystemic.

The norms and institutions, as well as the decision-making processes, are essential to address the various social and environmental problems that contribute to socio-ecological vulnerability to climate change. Therefore, the AVE project seeks to improve governance for the EbA (see the Governance booklet).

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AuthorsFelipe Arrevillaga, Didier López and Lorena Martínez Hernández.

About the AVE projectThe AVE project: Adaptation, Vulnerability & Ecosystems seeks to scale the Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) approach through the strengthening of capacities to address climate change, the articulation of political, legal and institutional frameworks and the gathering of evidence on their multiple benefits to increase resilience and reduce the vulnerability of people and nature. Its implementation is carried out since 2015 in six Mesoamerican countries (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama) with the support of the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety (BMU) of Germany, and executed by the Environmental Law Centre and the Regional Office for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean (ORMACC) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and in coordination with member organizations and partners such as the Honduran Environment Foundation and VIDA Development, the Salvadoran Ecological Unit, the Natural History Society of Soconusco, the Talamanca Caribe Biological Corridor Association and the Trinational Commission of the Trifinio Plan.

More information: http://www.iucn.org/node/594 - Contact: ebagovernance@iucn.org

About IUCNIUCN is a membership Union composed of both government and civil society organisations. It harnesses the experience, resources and reach of its more than 1,300 Member organisations and the input of more than 10,000 experts. IUCN is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.

International Unionfor Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Regional Office for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean (ORMACC) San José, Costa Ricaormacc@iucn.org

www.iucn.org/ormacc

Environmental Law Centre (ELC)Bonn, Germany

ELCSecretariat@iucn.org

www.iucn.org/law