Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve, Tabasco

Environmental awareness

From 2002 to date

The Casa del Agua is located at Km. 12.5 of the Frontera-Jonuta Highway, in the municipality of Centla, in the state of Tabasco. It was inaugurated in 2002 with the objective of promoting values in society for the conservation, protection, and sustainable use of our planet’s natural heritage and, in particular, the importance and ecological, cultural, and economic values of the wetlands of the Grijalva-Usumacinta watershed.

Since the beginning of its operations, the Casa del Agua has become the pivot of all ENDESU projects in the area and the most important effort in the state of Tabasco in the field of environmental education and conservation outreach, as well as an example in the country for the operation of an environmental interpretation center.

This center covers an area of 11 hectares on the right bank of the confluence of the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers, with a public service area that includes 1,000 meters of trails, three exhibition classrooms, a training classroom, an observation tower, 8 restored hectares and a plant nursery to produce native plants from the lower watershed.

The Casa del Agua offers workshops for students of all school levels, communities, families and company employees. Educational and outreach materials have been generated and presented in various forums, taking the Casa del Agua experience to other venues.

Institutions of higher education use the Casa del Agua to strengthen knowledge in their careers in biology, ecotourism, and natural resource management. In addition, it has become a space for coordination, organization and training, functioning as a venue for specialized courses, community and work meetings between different social sectors and government areas. For the local and national tourism sector, it is one of the “must-see” places in Tabasco.

Six tourism service organizations have been organized, trained, and registered around the Center, in which more than 50 families participate. The plant nursery annually produces 100,000 plants of native wetland species that support restoration actions within the RBPC and along the banks of the Usumacinta River.

Its infrastructure has proven to be a model of construction in the face of hydro-meteorological shocks and has become a practical example of learning and restoration in wetlands, recovering its 11 hectares and biodiversity of flora and fauna and influencing another 200 hectares around it.