Land-use planning and financial innovation to increase Mexico’s resilience to climate change

The impacts of climate change threaten the livelihoods of Mexican small farmers. Therefore the project promotes adaptation, restoration and conservation of rural landscapes to increase their resilience and to ensure food security and local income. It helps small farmers in the states of Campeche, Tabasco, Chiapas, Jalisco, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Puebla, Hidalgo and Tlaxcala to adapt and to increase their production. Ecosystem-based adaptation strategies include sustainable production and integrated land use planning approaches that equally take into account food, forest, biodiversity and climate change. Innovative finance mechanisms support this process. The project also promotes land use management policies at national and sub-national level to help Mexico to achieve its goals in the areas of SDGs, NDCs and biodiversity.

Project data

Countries: Mexico
IKI funding: 21,457,627.03 €
Included preparation phase: 21,457,627.03 €
Duration: 10/2022 till 09/2028
Status: open
Implementing organisation: World Resources Institute (WRI)
Political Partner: Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER) - Mexico

National Forestry Commission (CONAFOR) - Mexico

National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC) - Mexico

Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT)- Mexico
Implementing Partner: Centro de Transporte Sustentable de México, A.C. (WRI México)

GAIA (Grupo Autonomo para Investigacion Ambiental)

Inter-American Development Bank (IADB / IDB / BID)

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) – Regional Office for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean (ORMACC)

Natura y Ecosistemas Mexicanos (Natura)

The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA)
Online: https://wrimexico.org/our-work/projects/saberes

https://saberesmx.org/

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State of implementation/results

The implementation of the Climate Change Adaptation Plans (PACC) continues in the ten project states. During this period, the organization Natura Mexicana (NATURA) was officially included in the consortium, and activities began in the Lacandona region of Chiapas.
Collaboration with the state governments' Ministries of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Environment continued during this period. Currently, discussions are underway with the governments of Hidalgo and Michoacán to establish working groups on climate change adaptation for small rural producers within their Intersecretarial Climate Change Commissions, following the example set by the state of Tlaxcala.
WRI is currently working with the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Rural Development of the Government of Jalisco to implement an initial pilot project on adaptation in agriculture and livestock. The project focuses on improving producers' resilience and the recovery of aquifers in priority regions of the state. This pilot is expected to generate information and experience to help design a state-level financing mechanism to scale up these activities throughout Jalisco.
IIASA released the first version of the SAbERES App. So far, it has only 130 registered users, and the consortium is discussing how to boost its use among organizations and small producers. Usage of the app is expected to increase during 2026, promoting the implementation of EbA (Ecosystem-based Adaptation) practices in the project regions and contributing to data collection from field activities.
The review of the Smallholder Adaptation Capacity Index by third parties has been completed, and its publication is scheduled for October. Currently, discussions are underway with the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC), the Ministry of Environment (SEMARNAT), and the Ministry of Agriculture (SADER) to consider its implementation at the national level as a tool to monitor changes in the adaptive capacities of small rural producers. Its implementation is also being considered with the governments of Tlaxcala and Michoacán.
Training activities for producers through the Learning Networks are ongoing, along with the monitoring of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) practices through demonstration plots; the implementation of the Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS); the Social and Environmental Action Plan; and the Gender, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan. Additionally, governance experiences are being systematized across the five territories defined in 2024 by the consortium in Oaxaca, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, and Michoacán.

Latest Update:
12/2025