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Untitled Document
Geography
 Mexico
is located at the confluence of two of the world's most important biogeo-graphic
zones, the nearctic and the neotropical. This border region allows the coexistence
of plants and animals of the two subcontinents, as well as from the presence
of many endemic species. This, associated with a wide spectrum of environmental
conditions from North to South places Mexico among the planet's five richest
nations in terms of species, endemisms and ecosystems.
With a total land area of 1.953.162 km2,
distributed on both sides of the Tropic of Cancer, and no less than 11.953 km
of coasts, Mexico is essentially a mountainous country (65% of its land area
lies above 1000 m altitude). Its variety of climates span from very arid to
humid tropical: 56% of the national territory (in the north and center) is under
very arid, arid or semi-arid conditions, while the coastal highlands and plains
of the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and Yucatan Peninsula (37%) enjoy a subhumid
climate, and the remaining 7% - in the southern state of Chiapas - tropical
conditions.
Mexico is home to about 10% of the world's
vascular plants (26,000 species, more than 40% of which national endemics),
hosts the segond largest number of reptile species (717 - 52% endemics), occupies
the fifth position in mammal (450 species - 65% endemics), the fourth in amphibian
(284 species - 60% endemics), and the tenth in bird (1,074 species - 10% endemics)
diversity.
National Context
Mexico's natural resources are exploited
with little consideration for sustainability: some figures hint at a deforestation
rate superior to a million hectares per year due to illegal logging, agricultural
expansion (including uncontrolled burning) and land invasions. The protection
of wildlife still suffers from serious legal gaps, although wildlife management
programs are progressively emerging in different parts of the country.
The confusion caused by some of the laws
and regulations governing the use of natural resources, associated to a mostly
inconsistent implementation, have brought many species on the brink of extinction.
The major challenge of conservation nowadays lies in strengthening the technical
capacity necessary to manage these complex land use patterns (generally at the
level of rural communities), in providing administrations the means needed to
ensure an effective control of extractive activities and to set up rigorous
monitoring systems.
National System of Protected Areas
The Mexican National System of Protected
Areas (SINAP) was created in 1983 and ratified in 1996 by the "Ley General
de Equilibrio Ecológico y Protección al Ambiente" (Law of
the Environment), an instrument designed to place the country's most biodiverse
and ecologically important areas under legal protection status. Encompassing
a broad range of management categories, the SINAP is under the jurisdiction
of the Comisión
Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP), a deconcentrated
body of the Secretaria de Medio
Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT), one of the key players in the
implementation of the country's biodiversity conservation strategy. Besides
this role, the CONANP is responsible for the execution of the Regional Sustainable
Development Programs, which principally emphasize on poverty reduction and assistance
to rural communities.
In the past four years, 53 new protected
areas have been incorporated to the SINAP, totaling more than 10 million ha,
or about 60% of the entire surface under protection. However, in spite of significant
progress and achievements, remaining deficiencies, such as an insufficient budget,
weak interinstitutional coordination and a very limited operational, infrastructure
and human resource capacity, have led to repeated conflicts between development
and nature conservation programs in and around protected areas.
In order to achieve the world standard
of 10% of national territory under legal protection, CONANP's principal goals
is to secure the protection of approximately 25 million hectares of land by
the year 2006. As much as it would mean a significant achievement for the country,
this will also imply an increased responsability for the administration to ensure
the effective management and implementation of these natural areas.
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