Programme description

Title: Urban-industrial environmental management in Mexico
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Mexico
Partner: Mexican Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT)
Overall term: January 2010 to December 2019

Context

Mexico's strong economic growth in recent years has brought with it a multitude of environmental problems. Different kinds of emissions are polluting the soil, the water and the air. Almost 30% of municipal waste and 80% of hazardous waste are still disposed of improperly. So far, only a small number of the country's thousands of contaminated sites have been assessed. Of these, just 30 have actually been rehabilitated.

Although, compared with the rest of Latin America, Mexico has exemplary environmental legislation and well-developed environmental protection strategies, these are not being adequately implemented, especially at local level. This is due to a lack of technical and management capacities as well as recurrent difficulties in the financing and sustainable operation of the necessary infrastructure. Moreover, there are not enough incentives for the private sector to get involved in environmental management. Environmental awareness is only just beginning to take hold among the general public and political decision-makers alike.

Objective

Urban-industrial environmental management has become more effective, especially with respect to waste management and the revitalization of contaminated sites.

Approach

In January 2010, GTZ (since January 2011 GIZ) began working together with KfW Entwicklungsbank (Financial Cooperation) and integrated experts from the Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM) to find sustainable solutions for urban-industrial environmental protection. This builds on the project Solid Waste and Contaminated Site Management, which GTZ (now GIZ) developed in Mexico between April 2005 and December 2009 on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The range of activities has now been extended to cover resource efficiency, reclamation of contaminated land, and environmental instruments. Another new inclusion is the cross-cutting theme of climate protection, which provides common ground for interactions with GIZ's energy programme in Mexico.

The programme is pursuing several courses of action to achieve its objective:

1) It is helping municipalities, federal states, the environment ministry and other public institutions, as well as business associations and academics to exchange information and share experiences by strengthening existing networks and hosting information visits.

2) The performance of institutions at federal, state and municipality levels is being enhanced. The programme is helping to improve their organisational structures, operability and institutional capacities. It provides training and advice on relevant subjects.

3) The programme is developing appropriate environmental management instruments at policy level. Here, GIZ is promoting the standardised collection and application of data from the waste management sector, the further development of the SISCO brownfield information system, and innovative ideas such as material flow management.

Cooperation with the private sector also plays an important role, with public-private partnerships being established to promote innovative approaches to the management of waste and contaminated sites. As a well developed emerging economy, Mexico also provides excellent scope for triangular cooperation projects. These can be used to transfer to other countries in the region the experiences GIZ has gained together with the Mexican partners.

The programme is cooperating, among others, with the following local partners:

• Mexican Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT)
• Mexican Ministry of Social Development (SEDESOL)
• Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA)
• National Institute of Ecology (INE)
• Center for Education and Training for Sustainable Development (CECADESU)
• Environmental ministries of selected Mexican federal states as well as their national association (ANAAE)
• Environmental administrations of selected Mexican municipalities, and their federal associations.