The importance of social capital for performing participative restoration projects: practice-based knowledge of two contrasting indigenous communities in Mexico

Abstract

AbstractSocial capital is a theoretical construct that proposes scenarios where values such as cooperation, communication, and confidence among people can create an ideal environment for the solution of socioecological problems, reducing participative projecttransaction costs and guaranteeing their long-term permanence. For its part, ecological restoration, known as “the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed”, is gaining momentum, because the General Assembly of the United Nations declared that 2021–2030 will be a “ The Decade on Ecosystem Restoration”. However, several authors consider necessary to include the human dimension in the restoration projects, since social participation of local people can ensure their permanence over time. In this regard, this study comprises the cumulative knowledge and learning acquired through thecoordination of two participatory ecological restoration projects in two poor traditional indigenous communities of Mexico, with contrasting levels of social capital. One project, was carried out in La Montaña region of Guerrero state- “Landscape Restoration in the Xuajin Me´Phaa Non Governmental Organization Territory”. Another project was carried out in Cuentepec region in the Morelos state - “Barrancas del Río Tembembe Environmental Restoration Station”. The main lesson to be learned was that, before starting a participatory restoration project, it is necessary to know that the magnitude of social capital existing in a community exceeds a certain critical mass, to ensure an effective social participation and make its long-term success possible.