MexicoInfrastructure · Sea level rise
Faced with rising sea levels and coastal erosion in El Bosque (Tabasco), the youth organization Nuestro Futuro A.C., made up of young women, accompanied the community legally and socially in the process that culminated in 2024 with the first official climate relocation in Mexico: 51 families were moved to safe homes. The case positioned climate displacement on the national and international adaptation agenda.
Faced with rising sea levels and coastal erosion in El Bosque (Tabasco), the youth organization Nuestro Futuro A.C., made up of young women, accompanied the community legally and socially in the process that culminated in 2024 with the first official climate relocation in Mexico: 51 families were moved to safe homes. The case positioned climate displacement on the national and international adaptation agenda.
Mexico faces high climate vulnerability due to floods, droughts, heat waves, extreme events and rising sea levels. The coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico concentrate risks due to erosion, loss of territory, flooding and exposure of communities with a high dependence on ecosystems and local livelihoods.
Reduce the exposure of El Bosque families to increasing coastal risks through dignified and planned relocation, accompanied by community, legal and institutional processes that recognize climate displacement as an adaptation and climate justice issue.
The measure includes legal and community support, documentation of impacts and testimonies, monitoring of the relocation process, regularization of housing, dialogue with authorities and use of the case to promote climate displacement to be incorporated into public adaptation policies, including the NDC and the National Adaptation Plan.
51 relocated families and more than 200 people from the fishing community of El Bosque, in Centla, Tabasco, directly affected by the loss of their homes due to coastal erosion and marine flooding.
Nuestro Futuro A.C., made up mostly of young women, has legally supported the relocation of El Bosque. Community youth leaders have also emerged that defend their rights and participate in national and international advocacy spaces, such as the IACHR and ADAPTAMX.
The relocation of 51 families from El Bosque reduced their exposure to coastal erosion. There are still 10 families outside the registry and the delivery of deeds is pending. The legal, psychological and community support has been positively valued and, through workshops and focus groups, has made it possible to identify new needs. The experience has also contributed to advocacy spaces such as ADAPTAMX to build the national adaptation policy.
Nuestro Futuro A.C. (camila@nuestrofuturo.mx). Website: https://nuestrofuturo.mx/
Mixed
The Forest faces coastal erosion, recurrent flooding and progressive loss of territory and homes in the coastal area of Centla, Tabasco. These impacts have made the safe permanence of families in their place of origin unfeasible and have generated a case of climate displacement associated with rising sea levels and extreme events.
Mexico has a climate policy framework with the General Climate Change Law, the National Strategy and its NDC 3.0. Its adaptation priorities include reducing vulnerabilities and protecting ecosystems, with financing and institutional coordination challenges in vulnerable communities. In this framework, El Bosque was the first community in the country officially recognized as displaced by climate change.
The measure brings together the community of El Bosque, public authorities responsible for the relocation (CONAVI and SEDATU) and civil society organizations such as Nuestro Futuro A.C., which accompany the legal, community and advocacy process. The community contributes testimonies and needs; authorities execute institutional responses; and civil society documents, accompanies and promotes public policy changes.
The process was facilitated by community organization, public visibility of the case, legal support and pressure to obtain an institutional response. Among the conditions are the lack of a clear policy on climate displacement, the complexity of coordinating authorities, the uncertainty about families outside the registry and the challenges of a dignified and sustained relocation.
In addition to reducing physical exposure to coastal risk, the measure strengthens community organization, makes climate displacement in Mexico visible, generates learning for other coastal communities and opens a public discussion on adaptation, housing, territory and climate justice.
The experience can guide planned relocation processes in other coastal communities exposed to erosion, flooding and sea level rise. To be replicated, it requires risk diagnosis, community participation, public budget, inter-institutional coordination, legal certainty on land and housing, and post-relocation monitoring.
Sustainability depends on relocation ensuring safe housing, basic services, livelihoods, community integration and legal certainty. It also requires institutional monitoring after the transfer, community participation mechanisms and resources to care for pending families or new climate impacts.
More than Just Housing: Human-rights-based Planned Relocation Lessons from El Bosque, Mexico: https://researchinginternaldisplacement.org/short_pieces/more-than-just-housing-human-rights-based-planned-relocation-lessons-from-el-bosque-mexico/ ; Community of El Bosque achieves first steps towards its relocation, but there is concern for families who are outside the registry: https://nuestrofuturo.mx/comunidad-de-el-bosque-logra-primeros-pasos-para-su-reubicacion/ ; The new life of the first climatically displaced people in Mexico (El País): https://elpais.com/mexico/2026-04-05/la-nueva-vida-de-los-primeros-desplazados-climaticos-de-mexico.html