Tag: Yucatán

A focus on the social, economic and environmental co-benefits of sustainable energy has been positioned as a tool at a local level, in order to highlight the positive effects of sustainable energy, not only in mitigation and adaptation to climate change, but also in other benefits such as job creation, savings and increased well-being for communities.

This is why, in an alliance between the Deutsche Gesell­schaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH through the project Enhancing the Coherence of Climate and Energy Policies in Mexico (CONECC) together with the Yucatan Government, through the Secretariat of Economic Development and Work (SEFOET) and the Secretariat for Sustainable Development (SDS), the study “Co-benefits: Employment Opportunities and Local Benefits of Community Participation in Renewable Energy Projects in Yucatan was presented. The objective is to provide public policy makers and other relevant stakeholders with methodological tools to quantify the co-benefits of sustainable energy in the state’s social, economic and climate agendas.

At the presentation event, Marita Brömmelmeier, Resident Director of GIZ in Mexico; the Secretary of Sustainable Development, M.I.A. Sayda Rodríguez Gómez and Juan Carlos Vega Milke, SEFOET Undersecretary of Energy, shared welcome messages, acknowledging the effort put into the report, since it contains relevant information to promote compliance with the state’s climate goals, taking into account social opportunities for communities. It was mentioned that the study positions the state as a benchmark on the road to the energy transition, inviting other sectors to join the change and thus reap the benefits generated from future projects.

The director of the CONECC project, Jonas Russbild, reiterated the wish to continue working on the quantification of co-benefits to obtain inputs that trigger social narratives around the implementation of climate policies as tools for local and national development.

The study presented highlights that, under an ambitious scenario of clean energy deployment, Zero Carbon Transition, 247,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs could be created in renewable energy projects, saving 133 billion pesos under a net metering scheme in Yucatán by 2050.

Additionally, Mirelle de Fátima Segovia Martín, from the Energy and Industrial Headquarters of the Under-Secretariat of Energy in Yucatan, commented that for the state, the analysis of the multiple benefits of sustainable energy facilitates the implementation of actions that allow the reinforcement of unity and hand-in-hand work with other state governments in the region and the inclusion of other key actors in the energy transition –as well as obtaining concrete data and transmitting results to enhance the participation of all actors.

Through co-benefits, actions and alliances can be triggered to strengthen local climate action and a people-based energy transition.

To learn more about the results, we invite you to download the complete study:

The presentations used in the event can be consulted through the following links:

GIZ MX / Elaboración Laguna Centro

Traditional knowledge about the observation of the natural environment is deeply entrenched in the Mayan communities of the Yucatan Peninsula. These ancestral observations inform the decisions of communities in southern Yucatan about the annual agricultural cycle, in a process called Xook K’iin (“the day count”). Throughout January, farmers take note of climate conditions and types of insects and birds, and they observe their behavior; according to parameters passed down through generations, they can decide if it will rain soon, if the season will be abundant, and how long it will last. This allows them to decide how much to sow and what kind of seeds to use.

On February 19th, the 2020 Xook K’iin workshop from the Chacsinkín region took place, where representatives from 6 communities met up to share observations, discussing implications and deciding what will happen in the region during this current agricultural cycle. Men and women participated in the discussion process, filling in an observations grid at their worktables, which was then presented at the plenary session in the Mayan language.

Like many regional meetings, the Xook K’iin workshop ended with a ceremony to thank the ancestors for helping them to produce accurate observations and make good decisions.

The IKI IBA project was invited this year to observe the Xook K’iin as part of a collaboration led by the Guardianes de las Semillas (Guardians of the Seeds) in the south of the Yucatan, an organization dedicated to conserving the cultural and biodiversity values of the Mayan cornfields in the region.