A participatory process to design climate change adaptation measures for the Carmen-Pajonal-Machona Lagoon system in Mexico

Abstract

The participatory process described is part of a project for the design of climate change adaptation measures to be implemented in the Carmen-Pajonal-Machona coastal lagoon socio-ecosystem, situated in the Mexican state of Tabasco. Since these measures should be implemented and managed by the local communities impacted by climate change, they were designed based on the active engagement of the local communities, international, national and local institutions, academics, i.e. on knowledge provided by local stakeholders. The project was organized around a set of different activities, a multidisciplinary effort drafted to create synergies among researchers of the Consortium. Two workshops were designed and organized as part of this. The first workshop’s (March 2015) aim was to elicit local knowledge on impacts and vulnerabilities, and ideas on what measures are needed to address them. Impacts and vulnerabilities identified in the first workshop and in the diagnostic were used to identify measures adequate to address climate and anthropogenic changes in the lagoon socio-ecosystem. The preliminary list of measures identified was refined through the second workshop (June 2015), in which participants provided qualitative information needed to identify the five most promising measures to address impacts using a multi-criteria decision support system: Mulino Decision Support System (mDSS).