Fostering a participatory process for ecological restoration of mangroves in Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve (Tabasco, Mexico)

Ecosystem restoration is becoming an urgent global priority to recover degraded areas, especially in tropical regions. Social participation is fundamental for the success of restoration processes, but it needs to be better documented. This article describes a participatory mangrove restoration process developed with two local communities inhabiting Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve (PCBR) in Tabasco, Mexico. Both communities, El Palmar and Tembladeras, rely on numerous ecosystem services provided by mangroves, and the premise of the project was to closely involve them in all phases of the restoration process. During the planning phase, dialogue with PCBR authorities and the participating communities allowed us to: (1) assess local needs and interests to determine the project's viability; (2) perform social and ecological diagnostics; and (3) make decisions regarding restoration actions. With technical accompaniment, community members themselves executed restoration actions during the implementation phase. In El Palmar, people reforested an area equivalent to 160 ha with 17,038 propagules of Rhizophora mangle. In Tembladeras, they manually cleaned 4,942 m of natural channels to reestablish water flow dynamics across 34.7 ha. These activities were done in parallel with four training workshops for community members focusing on ecosystem services, ecological restoration processes, and monitoring techniques. With guidance from the project team, community members conducted initial monitoring of restoration actions four months after implementation. The local communities' participation in all stages was fundamental to promoting an integral and sustainable restoration process of the socio-ecosystem and fostering greater awareness of the full range of services mangroves provide.