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Because of its vulnerable situation, the city of Motozintla (Chiapas, Mexico) is exposed to the risk of hydrometeorological disasters. Both the rains of 1998 and Hurricane Stan in 2005 caused a great deal of damage and many casualties. The authorities responded by imposing structural measures in the xelajú River and by resettling families from risk areas. Creating the new neighborhoods of Milenio and Vida Mejor reconigured the space by disrupting social networks and redistributing risk. We expose some of the implications of the resettlement, emphasizing the need for applying participatory policies and for adapting the disaster recovery programs to the local context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gender, environment, and development approach proposes the study of women's fights and obligations toward natural resources, as well as institutions and property relations that govern the access to such resources within specific socio-environmental contexts. From this viewpoint, this paper studies the fishing activities of native women and men from Veracruz, Mexico, focusing on two processes: the gender construction of the fishing arts and the gender socialization in fishing activities. This paper shows that both processes make women specialize in certain water resources, which are important to securing feeding to their communities. An environmental policy with a gender perspective will be able to visualize woman roles in food provisioning, and to strengthen their control over the resources they currently manage, based on the environmental knowledge women have about them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]