World · Latin America · 1 hr ago
Families relocated from Mexico’s El Bosque struggle to rebuild their lives
Mexico moved 51 families from El Bosque to a new neighborhood called Nuevo Bosque in November 2024.
El Bosque is a small fishing community in Tabasco, where coastal erosion and storm surges had damaged or swept away more than half of about 100 homes.
Rising seas and flooding forced residents to leave the coast, and authorities said the new inland site should be safe from flooding for around 30 years.
But fishing was central to residents’ income and community life, and the move has made it harder to fish and maintain social ties.
Many relocated residents are grieving lost livelihoods and routines, even as they are grateful for their new homes.
Residents excluded from the move still do not know why they were left out.
Mexico relocated 51 families from the climate-ravaged fishing community of El Bosque to a new neighborhood inland in November 2024.
Two years later, residents are struggling with economic, social and cultural losses after moving away from the sea.
Coastal erosion and storm-surge flooding had damaged or swept away more than half of the roughly 100 homes in El Bosque.
Residents wanted to move closer to the coast so they could continue fishing, but authorities said the area could be flooded again within a few years.
Some residents were not included in the relocation and still do not know why.
- Who
- Residents of El Bosque, including 51 families who received homes in the relocation.
- What
- Families moved to Nuevo Bosque and are struggling to adapt to life away from the sea.
- When
- The new neighborhood was inaugurated in November 2024. The article was published two years later.
- Where
- From El Bosque, in Tabasco, southeast Mexico, to Nuevo Bosque on the outskirts of Frontera, 7.5 miles inland.
- Why
- Coastal erosion and storm-surge flooding damaged or swept away homes. Authorities said the area residents wanted to move to could flood again within a few years.
El Bosque residents
Authorities
Relocation location
El Bosque residents
Residents wanted to move closer to the coast so they could continue fishing every day.
Authorities
Authorities said the coastal area would likely be flooded again within a few years.
El Bosque became the first community in Mexico to be recognized as displaced by climate change.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged to relocate residents after a media campaign and administrative claims by environmental justice organizations.
Nuevo Bosque was inaugurated, and 51 families received purpose-built houses.
Two years after the relocation, residents were still struggling to adapt to its economic, social and cultural losses.
- Families rehoused
- 51
- Distance inland
- 7.5 miles
- New neighborhood
- Nuevo Bosque, on the outskirts of Frontera
- Homes damaged or swept away
- More than half of roughly 100 homes
- Relocation inaugurated
- November 2024
1 source
What people are saying
In El Bosque I would garrulear every day, but then the sea took everything,
We are grateful, but I am still grieving,