The next head of the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), Alicia Bárcena, called for addressing the root causes that prevent the country's environmental progress during an event at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
“The central problem we have today is the development model. It is a neoliberal, extractivist and inequitable model of development. Until we address the root causes, we are not going to make enough progress,” said Alicia Bárcena about the political strategy to address environmental problems in Mexico.
Bárcena met on September 20 at the Graduate Unit of the UNAM, in Ciudad Universitaria, for the presentation of the Socio-Environmental Agenda 2024, a diagnosis made by researchers from the UNAM and specialists from civil associations, which addresses problems and proposals in water, mining, forests, oceans, biodiversity, energy, food self-sufficiency and waste.
One week after taking office, the next head of Semarnat gave a preview of her national restoration and remediation strategy, whose main points will be to address pollution in the Lerma - Santiago rivers, in Jalisco; Tula, in Hidalgo; Atoyac, between Tlaxcala and Puebla; and Sonora and Bacanuchi, in Sonora. As well as the restoration of mangroves, active reforestation, the participation of the energy sector and the mitigation of climate change.
According to Bárcena, this is a “humanistic ecological and environmental policy” that considers points from “preventing and repairing environmental damage with social participation” to “large infrastructure projects must incorporate criteria and environmental value from their design and throughout their useful life”.
“If we don't have an economic, social and environmental strategy, we can't make much progress,” Bárcena said. He added that in order to achieve this, Semarnat has significant challenges, in particular, he recognized the impact that the cuts in the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador have had.
“First, it's an institution that lost 40% of its budgetary resources. From 2018 to date, all areas (dependencies related to the environment) lost an average of 40%, except Conagua (National Water Commission), but Conagua was not dedicated to environmental issues,” he said.
Mariana Boy Tamborrell, the next head of the Federal Attorney's Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa), was also present at the presentation of Agenda 2024.
The official acknowledged during her participation that Profepa has a debt in terms of access to environmental justice, which has been increased by the lack of budget.
“One of the most important ways to effectively address these issues is through strong institutions. And an important task is to recover the budget that had been exercised in previous years to perform the functions optimally,” said Boy Tamborrell, in line with Barcena.
Some of the actions that his new management will take include changing the work model to move from being an administrative unit to “a true instance of the administration of justice”. He also spoke of increasing inspection and surveillance with strategic points for a greater presence in the territory.
Among other points, he highlighted the incentive with new certifications for the forestry and fishing sector, based on sustainable management, which also serve as an incentive for the national and international markets. As well as not allowing impunity for polluting sectors, increasing the participation of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples, and maintaining transparency in access to information on such actions.
The Socio-Environmental Agenda 2024
For several weeks now, the Socio-Environmental Agenda 2024 was handed over to Alicia Bárcena and Mariana Boy Tamborrell to contribute to a diagnosis and proposals for solutions. The diagnosis was coordinated by Leticia Merino, a researcher at the UNAM, and Cecilia Navarro, a specialist in the Cambiémosla Ya collective.
Each chapter addresses a problem. In the case of water, the main contaminated bodies of water in Mexico, such as the Sonora River or the Atoyac basin, as well as the commercialization of water assets in the Conagua operation, are exposed.
The biodiversity chapter highlighted the importance of pollinators to maintain the ecosystem services needed by the planet. While on the subject of forests, the problems of illegal logging linked to drug trafficking were addressed, as well as the importance of communities in sustainable forest management.
Finally, the mining and energy chapters emphasize the environmental disasters committed by the companies in charge, as well as their impacts on access to water or the lack of transparency in their operations.
“I share all the concerns that are expressed in the document (Socio-Environmental Agenda 2024) and I recognize all the value of the work they did. It will be a very valuable input for the work we will be doing,” said the future head of Profepa.
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