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Pitch

Execute a reforestation and education program with the children participation in elementary schools of the Chautengo´s Lagoon, Guerrero.


Description

Summary

Mangrove forests are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world, generating high biomass productivity that they export to neighboring ecosystems such as sea grasses and coral reefs and offer a huge amount of ecosystem services, however, these forests are one of the more threatened by the intensive use of its wood, mining and construction for tourism purposes.

The Mitla-Chautengo lagoon system has been diminished through time in an alarming way, from 1979 to 2010, 60% of the mangrove area was reduced.

The objective of this reforestation program is to generate an understanding of how to conserve the mangrove from the participation of the community, promoting environmental education. The main reforestation program will be supported by three subprograms in order to guarantee its success and continuity, an environmental education program for community members, cleaning of canals and the setting up of a nursery to generate seedlings. The understanding of reality in the form of socio-ecological systems strengthens the relationship between society and nature. In the processes of conservation of the environment it is essential to know the current conditions of the ecological and social dimensions, but above all to transmit it to our peers to originate chains of knowledge that lead us to sustainable development.

Encouraging children's participation in the processes of environmental restoration is essential if the future success of environmental programs is going to be guaranteed. The new knowledge societies can not miss the intense flow of knowledge, creativity and innovation that children can bring to human development. It is not foreseeable that the new societies of the future will squander the high energetic value of their new generations, and the predictable thing is that they are socially nutritious from an early age.


What actions do you propose?

The proposed actions will be divided into two dimensions, social and ecological, these will be combined for the conservation of the mangrove with the intention of mitigate the impact of climate change on the small coast of the Mexican Pacific. The ecological actions will begin with an environmental evaluation led by the interdisciplinary group of experts (members and collaborators of Tlali AC). The environmental assessment will be governed by the current and historical description of the biotic aspects of the flora and fauna of the mangrove; and abiotic as the physical, chemical and hydrodynamic factors of the body of water of the Chautengo lagoon to locate the areas at risk that require reforestation of the mangrove.  the data obtained will be supported in such a way that we can contrast the ecological data with historical cultural patterns in order to propose a range of logical alternatives for the solution of socio-ecological problems, mitigating the climate impact with community participation. The actions of environmental evaluation will be supported by the epistemic scheme proposed by the Chilean Carlos Matus named "Situational strategic planning", a tool for environmental planning processes.

At the beginning of the first series of reforestation work, the acquisition of suitable plants is essential, with preference being given to local producers. To supply healthy and vigorous plants that our reforestation and maintenance campaigns require, we will rely on the management and installation of a community nursery garden with an annual capacity of thirty thousand red mangrove plants (Rhizophora mangle) with high quality standards, and thus achieve sustainability as plant inputs for reforestation.
 

With regard to the social dimension, the intervention with the population of  Chautengo lagoon  will be carried out from the methodological perspective of community work.
Community intervention is not only a proposal that is made for the community, nor in the community, it is rather a process that the community plans, conducts and evaluates. Martínez Canals says that assuming this perspective establishes the difference between the conception of community "intervention" and community "work".

The target population is divided into three groups:

1. Elementary and junior high school student population of the Chautengo lagoon

2. Parents  

3. Local volunteers.
A survey will be applied to the three groups, whose objective will be to measure the impact of the program in which the social conception of the mangrove and the body of water will be investigated, the culture that shelters it and the opinion of the population regarding the current situation thereof.

Although there will be educational processes in all the groups, the effort will be mainly focused on the elementary and junior high school student population of the Chautengo lagoon and as part of the educational workshops focused on this group, an initial / final evaluation will also be applied to evaluate previous and after the workshops knowledge in which the addressed topics will be: mangrove uses, relationship between mangrove and water body, mangrove-dependent species, assets and services that come from the mangrove, and spatial and empathic perception of the mangrove.

The educational process will be developed in workshops; in which the students will recive elementary knowledge about the basic structure of the mangroves, tools for the improvement of mangrove conditions in general, specifications of the local mangrove, awareness of the current situation of the mangrove, action options in the local mangrove and practices of field with a planting workshop for the reforestation of the local mangrove.
As a result of the educational process focused on the elementary and junior high school students of the Chautengo lagoon, a selection process will be carried out of the most enthusiastic and well-informed students of the subject so that they become speakers in the "Information Forum of importance and ecological and social strategies for the Laguna de Chautengo "; In this forum the selected students will present the acquired knowledge and importance of the work in the lagoon for parents, local volunteers and the school sector.
In this forum, hard data of the state of Laguna de Chautengo will also be presented and work groups will be formed for the temporary employment program.

In order to carry out the reforestation actions, it is proposed to create a temporary employment program for local inhabitants, in which labor training will be given to the volunteers obtained from the "Information Forum of importance and ecological and social strategies for the Laguna de Chautengo "

addressed to parents, adults and general population. The temporary employment program will be divided into: training, cleaning and preparation of the work area, planting of mangrove, rehabilitation of the hydrological system (cleaning of canals) and subsequent maintenance of reforestation. These activities will be carried out in 5-hour work days.

Prior to the work days, the areas to be reforested will be identified and quantified considering factors such as: topography, tides, fresh water contributions, soil type, etc. The activities that make up the temporary employment program are briefly described below.

1. Training: in a session the workers will be trained in order to have the necessary skills for the correct identification of possible problems to be corrected and to carry out in an appropriate way to the planting of plants in the area previously selected by the team of professionals (biologists and agronomists) collaborators in the project.

2. Cleaning and preparation of the work area: taking into account how clean and accessible is the place to reforest, cleaning work of pastures or beating, since these must be eliminated to avoid competition, or when floating the wood obstruct growth of the plants. The planting work is also facilitated if the place is clean.

3. Planting: it is considered approximately 2 hectares of planting per village, an area where about 2000 plants will be planted manually in the chosen area.

4. Maintenance: Once the plant has been established in the field, it will be necessary to periodically monitor its development in order to prevent, and even solve, some of the following problems:

a) Some change in the condition of use of the site as the presence of livestock. This will require taking preventive measures (fencing the reforested site) or corrective (repair the fence or report the matter in the town assembly).
b) Changes in the environmental conditions of the site, such as invasion of pastures or other plants, which will have to be plated and / or weeding so that they can not compete with the sowed plants
c) Mortality of plants due to lack of water, drastic changes of salinity and temperature. In these cases it can be replaced plants, apply watering if possible and reduce heat stroke covering the plants with palm leaves.

In order to evaluate the results of the project, an impact analysis plan will be executed with various biotic and abiotic indicators, which will be previously monitored, during and after the reforestation according to the mangrove maintenance program, the data will allow us to determine the success of this project for the conservation of the mangrove.


Who will take these actions?

The key players that will drive the success of this program are the professional team of Tlali A.C. and the school sector of the localities, complemented with two social services of two Biology interns from the Autonomous Metropolitan University Xochimilco Unit (UAM-X) that will grant their social service to acquire the title of Graduates in Biology (with the support of professor-researcher Jaime Matus Parada).

The role of Tlali A.C. Due to its social work trajectory in the communities surrounding the Chautengo lagoon will be, centralize the relationships of the stakeholders present in the system to focus efforts on the conservation of the red mangrove. This civil organization is the link between the professionals; educational institutions; local, state and federal authorities; population in general and international organizations. The success will reside in the receptivity that presents the school sector that receives the courses of environmental education. The role of the school sector will be to form teams that are capable of transmitting the environmental knowledge acquired in the course to the general population.

The local authorities play a role of order, also local authorities will be trained and aware about the environment so that they increase their observation in compliance with environmental regulations.

The authorities of the primary and secondary educational institutions will provide a safe space where the students feel comfortable to recive the environmental education course, planting techniques and seedling monitoring. They serve as a link with other community actors such as parents and local volunteers.

The UN is a key actor to achieve this idea, since it can support the project with training, knowledge, motivation,human, social and economic capital.

With this support, the required infrastructure can be acquired to consolidate the environmental program with community participation.


Where will these actions be taken?

The activities are scheduled to be implemented in the local elementary schools of six communities of the Chautengo´s lagoon, Guerrero which is located in the small coast of the Pacific ocean, in the coordinates 16.6167 latitude, and -99.1167 longitude, this place count with 3,4000 Ha of extension. The lagoon its provided by Nexpa and Copala rivers, which belongs to Florencio Villareal and Copala townships. The six communities of those two townships who have direct contract with the lagoon are: Llano de la barra, Las Peñas, La Fortuna, Chautengo, Tamarindos and Pico del Monte. The lagoon is type III, it is an internal barrier platform. Depressions flooded in the internal margins of the continental border, which surround terrigenous surfaces in their internal margins with mangrove vegetation to which they protect from the sea sandy barriers produced by currents and waves. The age of the formation of the barrier dates from the establishment of the current water level, within the last 5,000 years.

The seasonal cycle influences the periodic opening and closing of the mouth of the mangrove, which remains open, generally, from June to January. The moment of opening depends, fundamentally, on precipitation concentrating in a few days at the beginning of the rainy season.

The people of these region are predominantly afro-mexican and they inhabit Mexican territory for more than five centuries without the complete recognition of their rights in the Constitution.

The townships in which we will work have a total population of 34,479 inhabitants, making an average between both townships we have that 39.2% have finished elementary school, 22.1% with junior high school, being this , the highest educational level of the population; 42.55% suffer from moderate poverty, while 35% suffer from extreme poverty, and 15.6% are alliterated.

The Chautengo lagoon from 1979 to 2010 reduced 60% of the mangrove area.

 


What are other key benefits?

Approximately 70% of the captured organism of the sea realize part of their life cycle in a mangrove or lagoon coastal zone; It Works as a flue-rain-water-regulator that reduce the inundations effects, stabilize the coast zones against erosion, protect the littoral against the hurricane winds and other climatological events of big impact; The mangrove has a relevant roll as irreplaceable source of reassure for a lot of rural oblations in the tropics. The mangrove woods are one of the most important and productive ecosystems in the world, they generate their productivity that export toward the surrounding ecosystem like sea grasses, coral reefs5, this Woods help in the formation of the floor, breeding sites, refuge, nesting and the feeding of a lot of species, enrich coastal Waters, they protect the hurricane coast line, they provide shadow in the beach, sustain fisheries and they work like environment lungs that produce oxygen, assimilating the CO2.6


What are the proposal’s costs?

BUDGET TRAINING

Salary per weekly coach =€500.00  ( 11,500.00 mxn ) * 7 workers = € 3,500.00

transportation  €100.00 ($ 2,300.00 mxn) * 7 workers = € 700.00

travel expenses € 100.00 ($ 2300.00 mxn) * 7 workers = € 700.00

  • Total € 4,900.00

BUDGET IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAM Reference costs in pesos per hectare for the flood or land-sea transition zone MANGLAR according to the official newspaper of the federation July 31, 2014

2,608.35 € (59,992.49 $ mxn) * 2Hectares * 6 communities = subtotal € 31,300.00

of the nursery for the production of 30,000 plants per year for maintenance of the reforestation program € 7,826.00 (180,000.00 $ mxn) subtotal € 7,826.00 

  • total € 39,126.00


Time line

In Mexico by 2020 the temperature will increase between 0.6º C and 1º C and by 2050, an increase between 1.5º C and 2.3º C is forecast. The reforestation of the mangrove will influence as thermal regulator, it is expected to decrease these forecasts.

In the short term, the coastline will be covered with mangroves, stabilizing the soil, protecting it from erosion; at this time the mangrove will be able to protect the coast from mild tropical storms, the water retention capacity will increase so that the possibility of flooding will be reduced; will generate new habitats for endemic species and will enrich the flora and fauna. The children's sector will have the opportunities to know and be part of the reforestation processes, it will be a generation marked by leadership and decision making.

In the medium term, the halting of hurricane energies will be reinforced; the primary and secondary production of the lagoon will be increased, strengthening the economy of the region, as well as the quality of life. For this stage, a large number of animals originating from the lagoon will have returned, which are of ecological and economic importance.  The children's sector will now be the generation that will have decisions firmly aimed at sustainable development, will be characterized by transmitting to its descendants knowledge in conservation and exploitation. The culture of mangrove care will follow.

In the long term, with the monitoring and appropriate constancy, the biogeochemical cycles that regulate the energy flow of matter in the system will be stabilized. The temperature will be regulated and the mangrove will absorb a large amount of CO2 that will help reverse the impacts of global warming, and the aesthetic value will increase considerably, motivating tourists to leave an economic spill in the place.


Related proposals

We were able to observe a large number of related projects that are or have participated in Climate Colab, however, our project is innovative in including children as a fundamental part of the project.

Reforestation Olympics https://www.climatecolab.org/contests/2015/other-developed-countries-climate-action-plan/phase/1309360/proposal/1321820

In 2015 they propose an international reforestation challenge, however, their registration is incomplete. Towards adaptation in Costa Rica. Small farms resilience to climate chang https://www.climatecolab.org/contests/2017/absorbing-climate-impacts/c/proposal/1334381

Small farms are of great impact in food production, but community production of forest plants can impact climate change.

Blue-Green Revolution Project: Replanting Mangroves, Protecting with Insurance

https://www.climatecolab.org/contests/2017/absorbing-climate-impacts/c/proposal/1334362


References

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