By Diego Cubillas
El Bosque, Mexico, Sep 4 (EFE).- The fishing community of El Bosque, in the oil-rich state of Tabasco, has been officially recognized as Mexico’s first group of climate refugees, after the sea swallowed more than a kilometer and a half (0.93 miles) and a half of coastline and forced residents to relocate, locals told EFE on Thursday.
The turning point came in 2007 when an oil platform accident spilled crude along the Tabasco coast.
Residents hired to clean up the oil noticed that the sea was creeping closer.
“We hardly visited the sea; we went to the river because it was nearer. The sea was 20 minutes away, about a kilometer and a half,” said community spokesperson Guadalupe Cobos Pacheco.
“When we cleaned the oil, we realized some old trees were gone. That’s when the coast began to disappear, and then it reached our homes,” he added.
By 2017, the ocean destroyed houses in the village’s front row. Year after year, it consumed the school, shops, and more homes.
In 2021, with the help of scientists and environmental groups, residents learned they were facing “accelerated coastal erosion” linked to climate change and nearby oil plants.
Organizations like Greenpeace Mexico believe an unregistered underwater pipeline, built to transport oil from offshore to refineries, altered Atlantic currents and worsened erosion.
Building a new life in “El Nuevo Bosque”
Most families have now resettled 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) inland in a settlement they call El Nuevo Bosque.
51 of the original 60 families live in modest houses there.
For weeks they survived without electricity or running water, until they dug their own wells and secured basic services. But the challenges remain deeply personal.
Araceli Coto, a widowed mother of two, lost her husband in an accident while he was taking their daughter to school. “Now I have to work, fight, and travel back to El Bosque with fishermen to keep going,” she said, lamenting that the authorities have offered no help.
Her daughter Areli, like many of the 14-school-aged children in the community, initially questioned why they had to leave.
Classes now take place in the back of a truck, with one teacher for all grades.
“It was painful to lose everything we had achieved,” said teacher Isabel Mallo, noting that many children miss school to help their parents fish.
First climate displacement policy proposal
This week, Greenpeace and the NGO Nuestro Futuro AC joined El Bosque residents to present Mexico’s first community-driven public policy proposal on climate displacement.
The initiative calls for prevention mechanisms, planned relocation strategies, and climate justice rooted in human rights.
“This sets a historic precedent,” said the groups, stressing that millions more Mexicans are vulnerable to climate-driven displacement.
Experts warn that by 2050, under worst-case scenarios, 3.1 million Mexicans may be forced to move within the country due to climate change. EFE
dcb/seo/mcd
