Environment And Development In Mexico

In light of the power strategies in play in the new geopolitics of economic and ecological globalization, there is need for critical analysis of how the agenda of sustainable development is being conceived, shaped, and implemented. This volume considers issues of equity and development in the US-Mexico border region?and highlights the fact that regions at the juncture of the industrial and developing worlds most clearly illustrate the problems inherent in current economic paradigms. Jane Clough-Riquelme is a regional planner with the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). Her work focuses on borders planning, including tribal liaison and binational and interregional planning with neighboring jurisdictions. Nora L. Bringas Rabago is research professor in the Department of Urban and Environmental Studies, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, in Tijuana.CONTENTS: Testing the Limits of Equity and Sustainable Development in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands?the Editors. The Johannesburg Summit: Implications for the Americas?E. Leff. Toward Sustainable Development in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region?J. Friedmann. Cross-Border Regionalism and Sustainability: Contributions of Critical Regional Ecology?K. Pezzoli. Rethinking Urban Ecologies: Cultural Barriers to Sustainable Development??L.A. Herzog. Urban Structure and Social Segregation in Tijuana?T. Alegria. Counting the Environment In: Considerations of the Risk of Hazardous Maquiladora Waste?K. Kopinak. Social Vulnerability and Disaster Risk in Tijuana: Preliminary Findings?N.L. Bringas R. and R.. Sanchez R.. Environment, Poverty, and Gender: Using and Managing Environmental Resources in a Tijuana Colonia?R. Gaxiola Aldama. Acquiring Knowledge and Improving Environmental Policy: A Binational Agenda for Civic Organizations?B. Verduzco Chavez. Environmental Justice and San Diego County Tribes?M.C. Miskwish. Youth and Educating for Sustainability on the Border: Imagining the Future Citizens of Baja California?A. Monsivais and L. Silvan. NGOs, Environment, and Gender in Tijuana?S. Lopez Estrada. Accessible Information Technology for Equitable Community Planning?A.H. Lam, L.M. Norman, and A.J. Donelson. Cross-Border Policy Collaboration in the San Diego?Tijuana Metropolitan Area: Where Do We Go from Here? ?J. Clough-Riquelme. Equity and Justice in Binational Environmental Policy?Stephen P. Mumme. Looking Ahead: Equity in the U.S.-Mexico Border?R.L. Bach.

This book provides an essential overview of sustainable development research in Mexico. It discusses the empirical research methods and findings, as well as practical initiatives and projects being pursued in Mexico and other countries in the region. Although a number of Mexican universities are now conducting high-quality research on matters related to sustainable development, there are few publications that offer a multidisciplinary overview of research efforts for a broader audience. This book addresses that gap in the literature, providing researchers at Mexican universities – including those from other countries working in Mexico – with an opportunity to present their work, i.e. curriculum innovations, empirical work, activities, case studies, and practical projects. As such, it fosters the exchange of information, ideas and experiences, successful initiatives and best practices.

The book focuses on the impact of energy policies on fossil fuel use, environmental quality, and economic growth in Mexico for the next 20 years. It examines the Mexican energy sector and its link to international trade, government revenues, economic welfare and environmental pollution. It also develops a Computable General Equilibrium model of the Mexican economy, paying attention to the energy sector and its links with other aspects of the aggregate economy.

An examination of how Latin America, originally viewed by outsiders as a storehouse of natural resources which could be translated into wealth, was not "sustained" in developmental terms in the colonial period. Her ambivalent relationship with the developed world is analyzed to the present day.

This study empirically tests the environmental kuznets curve hypothesis and the pollution haven hypothesis for Mexico during the period 1985 to 1999. Consistent with the peer-reviewed literature, this study finds no empirical support for these theories for the case of Mexico. This study will show that on a national level, a number of environmental conditions worsened in Mexico despite the rising incomes that many predicted would trigger reductions in environmental degradation. However, this has not occurred because dirty industry in the U.S. flocked there. Rather, environmental degradation worsened because the Mexican and U.S. governments did not instate adequate environmental policies that would have coupled environmental benefits from economic integration.

In this highly acclaimed book, now available in paperback, Joel Simon vividly describes the environmental crises facing Mexico today, from the smog-choked shantytowns of Mexico City to the decaying coral reefs off the island of Cancun to rural villages impoverished by the overuse of chemical fertilizers that ruined the land. Deftly combining historical research with extensive personal interviews, Simon describes the failed development policies that have caused such environmental destruction and reveals the crucial links between Mexico's environmental pollution and the social anti economic problems that threaten its political stability. Richly detailed and provocatively argued, Endangered Mexico transforms our understanding of the challenges Mexico currently faces.

Approximately 4.1 million people live in the three states of the Yucatán Peninsula: Quintana Roo, Yucatán, and Campeche. Some 30 municipalities are in a coastal territory of almost 2,000 linear kilometers, from the oil fields of the Gulf of Mexico to the world-renowned beaches of Cancún, just north of the second-largest barrier reef in the world. The peninsula's natural assets also include notable Mayan temples. With poverty far from eliminated, and with economic development opportunities beckoning in agriculture, manufacturing, and hydrocarbon development, the region is under growing risks from environmental hazards. Oil spills, hurricanes, coral bleaching, extreme flooding, and erosion have all been experienced in this region over the past decade. Based on preliminary identification of environmental priorities, Opportunities for Environmentally Healthy, Inclusive, and Resilient Growth in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula explores selected topics that aim to inform decision making in the region. A general context of integrated coastal zone management is used to explore issues, constraints, and potential solutions, and the role of geomorphology is examined with a view to identifying how shore management plans can contribute to improved coastal management. Economic studies find that the main environmental health risks in the peninsula result in more than 1,000 premature deaths every year and in more than 9.36 million days lost to illnesses. These risks generate substantial economic losses, representing 2.2†“3.3 percent of gross regional income. Scenarios relating to the economic cost of extreme weather events generate similar levels of damages: 1.4†“1.5 percent of GDP in 2020 and 1.6†“2.3 percent of GDP in 2050. A social accounting matrix examines the social and environmental interconnectedness to the various parts of the economy, and an institutional analysis considers the mandates of existing institutions in the states, and of the contribution that regulatory measures may make to environmentally sustainable development without undermining economic growth prospects.

'Free Trade and the Environment' examines the impact of international economic integration on the environment, taking as a case study the experience of Mexico, as it transformed itself from one of the most closed economies in the world to one of the mostopen.