Componentes de un sistema efectivo de adaptación al cambio climático: lecciones de las comunidades forestales de México

Abstract

Mexico faces the need and commitment to establish national programs for adaptation to climate change, including provisions to ensure water resources and agriculture, and protect areas affected by drought and desertification. Because of this, today agronomic science and technology face a new challenge that forces us to rethink the paradigms followed in the past: How to prepare for the unexpected? How to anticipate what never ever happened?. Mexico has very high-level experts in adapting to change: Indigenous and peasant communities that have developed mechanisms to adapt to new situations. The experience of the Comaltepec Chinantec community, along with other communities in Mexico and other countries, sheds light on how climate change national programs for adaptation can be designed, including provisions to ensure water resources and agriculture, and protect areas affected by drought and desertification. The systems and mechanisms used by indigenous communities for adapting to several types of change should be a central component of any National adaptation strategy, if it seeks to be successful.