As part of the National Environmental Restoration Program 2025-2030the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) expects to restore and decree 10 Marine Prosperity Areas in the Gulf of California.
Within the Sea of Cortés Region actions are also envisaged for the restoration of the Bay of La Pazthe Upper Gulf of California and Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reservethe macroalgae forest in Baja California, the Sonora River and the Marismas Nacionales Biosphere Reserve in Nayarit and Sinaloa.
By presenting the PNRA in the Mexico's Ecosystem Restoration Summit, Alicia Bárcena Ibarraholder of Semarnatthe urgency of reversing the degradation of the marine and coastal ecosystemsvital to the fishingthe carbon sequestration and the ecological balance.
"Restoration is the key to what we can do: restoration and conservation as two ways of combining this strategy because Mexico is a megadiverse country," he said, "Mexico accumulates 12% of global biodiversity, we have more than 180 ecosystems that we have to protect and care for."
The PNRA is a national strategy that will guide, during the next five years, the recovery of degraded ecosystemss in Mexico, especially in marine areas, forests, mangroves and watersheds.
Bárcena Ibarra emphasized that this program is a mandate for environmental justice, land regeneration and community well-being.
He emphasized that for the first time a humanistic ecological and environmental policy is being promoted, in line with the principles of the new federal administration.
Priority areas and targets to 2030
These are the goals established by the PNRA:
- Restore 5% of the degraded area of coastal and marine ecosystems by 2025, and reach 30% by 2030, with priority to mangroves.
- Contribute to the national goal of zero net deforestation by 2030.
- Restore 800 hectares of urban parks and forests by 2025 and 1,500 hectares by 2030.
- Contribute to the restoration of four priority watersheds by 2030: Tula, Lerma-Santiago, Atoyac and Sonora River, as well as two dams with restoration decrees: Endhó and El Zapotillo.
- Restore 26,000 hectares of forest ecosystems by 2025 and 100,000 hectares by 2030.
- Implement in the 100% of the restoration actions community systems for environmental surveillance and monitoring, strengthening the governance of the territories.
- Restore and designate 10 impaired sites in the Gulf of California as Marine Prosperity Areas by 2030.
- Contribute to the reduction of 35 % of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) by 2030.
A systemic, social and participatory approach
The PNRA was built on the basis of a multi-stakeholder participatory process involving more than 100 institutions and organizations from civil society, indigenous peoples, Afro-Mexican communities, state authorities, academia and business representatives.
With five strategic lines of action, the program proposes a restoration with an environmental and humanistic approachThe main objectives of the project are: institutional multilevel coordination, attention to structural causes, strengthening of local capacities and participatory community monitoring.
Marina Robles GarcíaThe Undersecretary of Biodiversity and Environmental Restoration, said that restoring ecosystems is also restoring our ability to live in harmony with nature.
He added that this strategy contributes directly to the fight against the climate changeThe recovery of ecosystems that capture large amounts of carbon, such as jungles and mangroves.
From civil society, representatives of WWF Mexico, WRI Mexico y Reforestamos Mexico agreed that the PNRA is a platform of co-responsibility, but to achieve results it is necessary to move from design to execution, with sufficient financing, clear technical criteria and participation from the territory.
"If we want it to work, we must move from design to action, with real financing, clear technical criteria and the participation of those in the territory," said Ernesto Herrera Guerra, of Reforestamos Mexico.
María José Villanuevadirector of WWF Mexicosaid that the program has the potential to be an axis of transformation if inclusion is guaranteed and the most vulnerable territories are prioritized.
The PNRA is a firm step towards a policy of ecological restoration that seeks to respond to the climate crisisregenerate degraded territories and improve the well-being of communities. The challenge now will be to transform this roadmap into concrete actions in the field, with the participation of society as a whole.
Source: Semarnat
