In a sample of collective action and resilience, the settlers – together with civil society organizations as Greenpeace Mexico and Our future– They presented a community proposal to meet and prevent the displacement that, according to the World Bank, can lead to the fact that Three million people leave their homes in Mexico around 2050.
Pablo RamírezGreenpeace activist, which accompanies El Bosque since 2019 when it demanded to be recognized as displaced until its relocation in November 2024, emphasizes that Mexico is going through a key moment to take this step.
“We are in a very important and quite unique political situation, an opportunity to advance public policy instruments that allow you to address this problem, which is very serious,” he says.
The activist points out that Mexico must present its climatic commitments in the next United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP30)to be held from November 10 to 21, 2025 in Brazil and in 2026 the first will be prepared National Adaptation Plans.
The case of El Bosque, insists, should serve as an example not to repeat errors and guarantee fair processes. “We have been very emphatic that these plans must include the voice of the community, their ways of life, education, health, older adults. It is not just about building homes,” he says in an interview.
(Photo: courtesy Greenpeace)
Ramírez emphasizes that, although the community managed to have new homes, the relocation process was incomplete: health, education or employment services were not guaranteed.
The case of El Bosque shows that relocations cannot stay in delivering houses. These are lives, identities and subsistence modes that must be guaranteed fairly and dignified. ”
Pablo Ramírez, Greenpeace.
He adds that Mexico is also in the face of the historical opportunity to become one of the first countries to officially incorporate internal climate displacement in its national policy and do justice to thousands of people who, like the inhabitants of El Bosque, have lost communities, assets and territories because of this phenomenon.
In Mexico, the phenomenon of forced displacement for environmental causes lacks full recognition in the national legal framework.
Although there are the General Law of Victims and the Law on Internal Forced Displacement, both focus mainly on contexts of violence and insecurity. In this way, the displacement derived from droughts, floods, hurricanes or the increase in sea level is not specifically contemplated or with differentiated care mechanisms, although there is already the General Law of Climate Change.
The community proposal presented on September 2 seeks just closing that void. With the participation of communities, academia and government instances, it proposes to articulate the existing instruments and create new mechanisms that guarantee the human rights of affected persons.
(Photo: Jesús Almazán)
Among the central axes are the creation of a National Protocol for Inter -Institutional Coordination, differentiated responses depending on whether it is slow evolution or sudden events, and the active participation of communities in decision -making, with special attention to women and young people.
