Water, Water Everywhere, Nor Any Drop to Drink

As Mexico enters a crucial phase of environmental and socio-economic decision-making, experts from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and other academic institutions have sounded a clarion call through the Socio-Environmental Agenda 2024: Diagnoses and Proposals. This sweeping document underscores a sobering reality: the nation's persistent environmental crises have not only endured but, in many cases, have deepened. The agenda lays out critical reforms across water management, biodiversity protection, forest conservation, energy transition, pesticide regulation, and waste management—each anchored in the need to promote sustainability, justice, and transparency in public policy.

At the heart of this effort is Leticia Merino Pérez, researcher at the UNAM Institute for Social Research and coordinator of the agenda. Alongside Cecilia Navarro, leader of the advocacy group Cambiémosla ya, Merino Pérez presents an ambitious but urgent blueprint to reverse Mexico's deteriorating environmental health. Their collaboration brings together decades of environmental research and policy expertise, reflecting the collective concerns of Mexico's foremost environmental scholars.

Water

Water—Mexico's most essential resource—has become both a symbol and victim of mismanagement and corporate overreach. Omar Arellano Aguilar, a professor and water specialist, champions a transformative overhaul of Mexico’s water governance framework. The current National Water Law, riddled with loopholes favoring corporate interests, would be replaced by a General Water Law. This new legislation would end the sale of water concessions, which have commodified a vital resource at the expense of rural communities and smallholders.

Beyond legal restructuring, Arellano Aguilar advocates for metropolitan-scale initiatives to tackle systemic water leaks and combat the illegal siphoning of water resources. These efforts aim to ensure water sustainability for Mexico’s most vulnerable populations, while also restoring ecological balance through eco-hydrological restoration programs that would reimagine water management as an eco-centric, rather than purely economic, endeavor.

Mexico’s once-vast forests have been steadily shrinking under the pressures of industrial agriculture, livestock farming, and rampant urbanization. Enrique José Jardel Peláez, researcher from the University of Guadalajara, paints a dire picture: deforestation rates have slowed since the peak of 946,000 hectares lost annually in the 1970s and 1980s, but they remain alarmingly high. The expansion of commercial agriculture and megaprojects, including tourist developments and infrastructure schemes, continue to drive biodiversity loss.

Jardel Peláez offers a set of proposals that prioritize the Federal Law of Environmental Responsibility. This would be fortified to hold mega-project developers accountable for the ecological damage they cause, shifting the narrative of development to one that is rooted in sustainability. Addressing deforestation and biodiversity loss requires not only stronger regulations but also a cultural shift towards valuing ecological preservation as integral to national development.

Pesticides

Mexico's relationship with pesticides is emblematic of how regulatory loopholes can endanger both public health and biodiversity. María del Coro Arizmendi Arriaga, director of FES Iztacala, highlights a worrying trend: pesticide use in Mexico has steadily increased since the 1980s, in part due to policies that emerged from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The COFEPRIS catalog, which tracks pesticide authorizations, ballooned from 183 substances in 2016 to 204 by 2023—a troubling indication of regulatory leniency.

Arizmendi Arriaga calls for the establishment of a General Law on Pesticides, which would include robust mechanisms for public oversight, strict limitations on pesticide use in public health campaigns, and greater citizen involvement in comprehensive vector control strategies. In short, this proposal is not just about curbing pesticide use; it seeks to reimagine pest control in a way that is environmentally sound and rooted in community participation.

As the global conversation shifts towards renewable energy, Mexico remains tethered to fossil fuels. Beatriz Olivera, director of EnGenera, points out a startling statistic: in 2022, 87% of Mexico's energy matrix was still dependent on fossil fuels, with natural gas and oil accounting for the majority. Despite a growing awareness of the environmental and economic costs of fossil fuel reliance, Mexico's energy transition remains sluggish.

Olivera’s recommendations focus on reducing the environmental impacts of energy extraction and distribution, while simultaneously advancing local renewable energy projects. By emphasizing energy efficiency and minimizing waste during energy transformation, Mexico could achieve significant gains. The shift from a fossil fuel-dominated matrix to renewable energy is not just an environmental necessity; it is also a strategic move to ensure long-term energy security and economic stability.

Mining

Mexico’s mining sector, long hailed as a driver of economic growth, is now under scrutiny for its outsized environmental footprint. Despite the growth in mining production, Manuel Llano, director of CartoCrítica, notes that the industry’s contribution to national GDP has shrunk from 15.32% in 2018 to just 7.72% by 2023. The ecological costs, however, continue to escalate.

The 2023 Mining Law marked a watershed moment in the fight against exploitative mining practices. Still, Llano argues that further reform is needed: water use by mining operations must be tightly regulated, concession durations shortened, and environmentally destructive techniques like open-pit mining banned outright. These reforms would ensure that mining no longer operates as an unchecked force undermining local ecosystems and communities.

Waste management represents another glaring area where Mexico's environmental policies have faltered. Nancy Merary Jiménez Martínez, from the UNAM Regional Center for Multidisciplinary Research, highlights the explosive growth in urban waste generation—an increase of 42.6% over the last two decades, despite the General Law for the Prevention and Integrated Management of Waste.

Jiménez Martínez proposes the creation of a National Information System to guide decision-making on waste reduction and valorization. She also calls for stricter regulation of packaging and “ecological” labeling, which too often misleads consumers into thinking they are making environmentally responsible choices when they are not. The road to effective waste management lies in clear, enforceable standards, robust public education campaigns, and sustained government oversight.

Policy

At the crux of these proposals is a shared recognition of the need for a humanistic ecological policy—one that prioritizes the well-being of citizens and ecosystems over corporate profit. Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, frames the Agenda’s objectives as part of a broader mission to reclaim Mexico's natural resources from the grip of neoliberal extraction models. Her vision aligns with the overarching goal of the Socio-Environmental Agenda 2024: to strike a balance between environmental sustainability and social justice, ensuring that Mexico's future generations inherit not just a thriving economy, but a thriving planet.

The Agenda's contributors underscore a critical point: environmental degradation in Mexico is inextricably linked to social inequality. Tackling deforestation, pollution, and resource overexploitation will require addressing the entrenched power structures that perpetuate these crises. Thelma Castro Romero, vice president of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, echoes this sentiment, advocating for the integration of environmental and social justice within the nation's policymaking processes.

Mexico stands at a pivotal moment, with the Socio-Environmental Agenda 2024 serving as a roadmap to a more sustainable and equitable future. But achieving these goals will require more than just technical fixes—it will demand a concerted effort to rethink Mexico’s development paradigm, placing the health of its people and ecosystems at the forefront of national policy. In the words of the Agenda’s architects, now is the time to act decisively, lest we find ourselves addressing an irreversible environmental collapse.