Laguna Milagros is one of those places that feels alive the moment you arrive. As I’ve written before, some landscapes carry their stories quietly, long before we learn how to listen. At dawn, lagoon waters mirror the sky, soft and still, while just beneath the surface freshwater currents travel toward the Lagoon of Seven Colors, Bacalar. These two ecosystems breathe together. Their health is shared. Their future is collective.
That deep sense of interconnectedness is the foundation for ReFi Horizons Milagros, a three-day regenerative gathering taking place December 4 to 6, 2025 at La Embajada Universal. The event brings together scientists, innovators, local guardians, entrepreneurs, and community voices to explore what regeneration looks like in practice across the Milagros-Bacalar lagoon system.
Learning from those Caring for the Lagoon
On Friday, December 5, the gathering opens with a day dedicated to learning from those working directly with the land and water. The program includes innovation talks, a panel of regional entrepreneurs from the Mayma accelerator program, and presentations from community-led initiatives focused on restoring balance in the lagoon.
Speakers include Dr. Rubén Darío Góngora of INIFAP, Dr. Héctor Hernández Arana of ECOSUR, Ing. Amb. Nidelvia Guadalupe Anguas Ambrosio of PROFEPA, Marco Jericho of mision boyada, Avishta O’Kelard, author of Don Lito Talks, Alika Santiago Trejo of Colectiva K-luumil X’ko’olelo’ob, Giuseppe Corral of Pitaya Permaculture Solutions, and others contributing to restoration efforts through research, culture, policy, and community action.
Milagros brings together these voices from diverse disciplines to highlight the shared responsibility of protecting these precious ecosystems. Community-led regeneration, scientific insight, cultural wisdom, and practical stewardship all contribute to the collective understanding of how to protect an ecosystem as complex and fragile as Lagunas Milagros and Bacalar.
ReFi (regenerative finance) adds another important layer by creating transparent and community-centered ways to fund, verify, and scale ecological restoration, helping ensure that local efforts receive the long-term support they need.
Planting the Roots of Regeneration
On Saturday, December 6, participants will join lagoon stewards to plant native white and red mangroves along the Milagros waterways. Mangroves are the quiet architects of coastal resilience. They stabilize shorelines, filter water, shelter biodiversity, and help ecosystems recover from stress. Planting them is an act of long-term care. For ReFi Tulum, whose work has always been rooted in hands-on action, planting them is a natural extension of its mission: regeneration that begins on the ground, with the community, seed by seed.
Joining this day of action is Jimi Cohen, founder of Treegens and Guinness World Record tree-planting champion.
His presence brings a global dimension to the movement, especially as communities around the world prepare for World Environment Day and the growing momentum behind the goal of planting 1 Billion Trees in 1 Day. As he shared, “Every mangrove we plant is a step on the journey toward 1 Billion Trees in 1 Day. Milagros is building momentum toward World Environment Day, and this community is showing how regeneration grows when people plant with intention.”
Regenerative Models that Support Real Impact
Throughout the weekend, participants will explore approaches to regenerative tourism, transparent impact tracking, and blockchain-based funding models designed to sustain ecological work long-term. These tools help communities quantify and verify impact, attract support, and ensure that ecological restoration is measurable and equitable.
This is where regenerative finance, or ReFi, becomes essential. ReFi shifts traditional models by aligning economic incentives with environmental health, creating pathways for restoration work to be funded, rewarded, and publicly verified. It’s a model that looks toward the future, transparent, participatory, and rooted in tangible outcomes.
Local innovators are helping shape this vision. Petgas, for example, demonstrates circularity by transforming plastic waste into fuel, creating economic value while reducing environmental burden.Within a stunning natural bio-reserve, XHO Bacalar brings an exclusive regenerative waterfront community model that supports conscious, low-impact tourism in the region.
A Movement Rooted in Place
ReFi Horizons Milagros is part of a growing regional movement that centers community-led ecological care, cultural revitalization, and innovative regenerative models. From Mayan women’s collectives to permaculture practitioners, environmental researchers to local impact entrepreneurs, the gathering highlights how many people are already working for the future of the lagoon.
Milagros makes something clear: regeneration doesn’t belong to one discipline, one institution, or one organization. It grows through relationships, between people, between ecosystems, and between the past and the future.
Join the Movement
ReFi Horizons Milagros takes place December 4–6, 2025 at La Embajada Universal.
Registration: https://luma.com/rj3d7v7v
ReFi Tulum: https://refitulum.io
Media contact: [email protected] | @refitulum
