Description and objectives:

In July 2020, the cooperation project, between Mexico and Germany, "Sustainable Development of Coastal Urban Regions through the Integration of Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity" (BIOCITIS) began for a period of three years. Urban coastal wetlands are under constant pressure and vulnerable to the effects of climate change. They suffer from degradation due to various human interventions, such as expanding urban development, inadequate waste management, expanding tourism, population growth and others. Poorly managed urban wetlands have a significant impact on the health of surrounding communities.  The provision of ecosystem services for the entire urban population, such as recreation, drinking water, food provision, is often threatened, making the conservation and restoration of urban wetlands a high priority. 

Our contribution:

• Detailed implementation plan for all the stages.
• Rapid assessment of relevant wetlands (laguna Bacalar, laguna la Sabana, Arroyo Moreno, and San José del Cabo Estuary) based on current available literature, inputs from regional advisors and considering inputs provided by the project for the 3 territories.
• Implementation of workshops to train and build capacity of local communities, NGOs, public sector and relevant economic sectors for the conservation, protection and monitoring of wetlands, as well as financial and legal mechanisms for its preservation.
• Identifying strategic locations for the conservation, restoration, and protection of wetlands in each region.
• Implementation of at least one pilot action per territory in coordination with the other actors identifies and according to the governance scheme. The use of Nature based Solutions and/or Green Infrastructure is a must.
• Develop a coordination plan and a governance scheme between private and public sectors, including universities, research centers and non-profit organizations for the conservation, restoration, and protection of wetlands.
• Implement an environmental education campaign to enhance the awareness and trigger behaviour change of local community, public sector and private organizations on the relevance of urban wetland and its ecosystem services and encourage them to take action. Coordinate actions with the diffusion area of the BIOCITIS project.
• Advise and suggest improvements on the actions being implemented by partner organizations in the wetlands. The works implemented for this consultancy must consider and complement current actions implemented to avoid duplication of efforts.
• All actions developed and implemented must have a long-term vision that will contribute to guide and order the environmental and urban integration of the region, from the perspective of mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
• Mainstream the importance of urban wetlands and its ecosystem services into the planning processes and relevant sectoral policies and instruments.