Xalapa, the Mexican city using forests to fight climate change

The Mexican city of Xalapa is surrounded by cloud forests that not only harbour stunning flora and fauna, but also provide crucial services to the city and its 580,000 people. Due to climate change, fluctuating temperatures and rainfall patterns are destabilising the mountain slopes around the city, leading to frequent landslides and flooding in the urban areas below. Local authorities are now turning to natural solutions. The cloud forests around the city regulate the flow of water and prevent landslides and erosion by holding the soil together. This approach of using nature to adapt to climate change is called ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA).