Launch of the Mexico National Chapter

The Mexico National Chapter of the Global Mangrove Alliance was launched at the Second Mangroves of the Americas Congress in Mérida, Mexico on October 13, 2022. The event brought together the organizers from WWF-Mexico, TNC-Mexico, WRI-Mexico, Wild Coast, and Conservation International-Mexico. A panel event introduced the Chapter and a half day workshop took place the following day.

This chapter will be nested within the Coastal Marine Working Group of the Mexican Alliance for Ecosystem Restoration (AMERE), whose first meeting was also held during the Congress. AMERE is led by WWF, World Resources Institute (WRI), and Reforestemos México.

It is increasingly clear that national and local stakeholders will be the catalyst in implementing improved management, conservation, and restoration of mangroves. National Chapters are the exciting new pathway forward that the Global Mangrove Alliance will use to activate that catalyst and move towards our goal of Halting Loss, Restoring Half, and Protecting Double of mangrove ecosystems globally.

Conservation around Mexico is already in progress at local, regional, and national levels. The Mexico National Chapter of the Mangrove Alliance will provide an opportunity for all groups working in mangrove conservation to come together under a common vision and generate national attention while still focusing within their own niche towards 2030 restoration, biodiversity, and climate goals.

In addition to conservation, “work with the people and for the people” was repeated throughout the launch events. Mexico’s coastal communities are closely tied to the benefits the mangrove ecosystems on both the Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean and Pacific coasts provide and the National Chapter is dedicated to incorporating community perspectives and leadership into long-term goals and management. This will be done by linking social issues with environmental issues when financing projects, strengthening policies, and implementing conservation objectives. 

Now that the Chapter has launched, next steps are to design the governance and a work plan for the National Chapter and the AMERE Coastal-Marine Working Group. This will happen in the upcoming days, where the stakeholders will participate in a workshop to start drafting the work plan. Future activities could include the development of national tools or products like a restoration agenda for Marismas Nacionales. More information will be shared as plans develop.

If you are interested in joining the Mexico National Chapter of the Global Mangrove Alliance, contact Pilar Jacobo at pjacobo@wwfmex.org

Learn more about our National Chapters initiative in our 2022 The State of the World’s Mangroves Report.