Social Communication General Direction

Mexico City, 16 ^th December, 2005
Press Bulletin 137/2005

THE CDHDF PRESENTED ITS SPECIAL REPORT ON THE VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT TO A HEALTHY AND ECOLOGICALLY BALANCED ENVIRONMENT DUE TO THE DETERIORATION AND THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CONSERVATION AREAS IN THE FEDERAL DISTRICT.

The loss and degradation of natural conservation areas in Mexico City is a growing threat to present and future generations. Their damage represents a great risk for the implementation of the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment, stressed MA Emilio Álvarez Icaza Longoria, president of the Federal District Human Rights Commission (Spanish initials – CDHDF), when he presented the Special Report on the Violation to the Right to a Healthy and Ecologically Balanced Environment due to the Deterioration and the Disappearance of Conservation Areas in the Federal District, at the Franz Mayer Museum. This document was compiled by the CDHDF on the basis of official information provided by a number of authorities in Mexico City, specialists on the matter, and the Commission’s own investigation.

In the presence of officials from the Federal District Government, local deputies and civil society representatives, Álvarez Icaza pointed out that the urban occupation rate of conservation areas has grown at a rate of between 350 and 495 hectares per year. This is equivalent to 350 professional football pitches. He stated that during the last 40 years, the urban land of the capital city has grown 315%, this phenomenon has affected land for agricultural or forestry purposes.

The Special Report highlights the fact that the main threats for conservation areas in the capital city are: irregular human land occupation; the elimination of natural vegetation to set up agricultural cultivation; illegal lumber jacking; the extraction of top soil to be sold as ‘hill soil’; pollution through drainage; refuse dumps; and disorderly recreational activities. It also points out that, according to a number of governmental institutions, there are 804 irregular settlements in conservation grounds in Mexico City. A little over 59 thousand families occupy a surface of 2,400 hectares on conservation areas, 20% of which are located on high risk areas on top of ravines or beside river-beds. The loss of conservation areas, in de-forested basins like the one in Mexico City, prevents the water from filtering through to the sub-soil. This is a very serious problem, since 70% of the water supply for the capital city comes from the aquiferous system.

Moreover, Álvarez Icaza insisted that in Mexico City is set “one of the most complex environmental contexts in the world, where the natural situation of the basin, as well as the social and economic dynamics, have led to a series of environmental consequences that threaten the very feasibility of the city”.

Delimiting the sphere of competences among the authorities responsible for applying the law for environmental matters is necessary and cannot be delayed further, he added. “A correct co-ordination among federal authorities, the Federal District Government, the delegations and surveillance bodies, would get rid of the lack of authority and the institutional omission that speculators, professional invaders and political groups take advantage of, in order to commercialise and use as residential land areas that are considered protected”, he said.

At the same time, the city’s Ombudsman considered that it is important that the authorities and society recognize that the joint construction of a healthy and ecologically balanced environment is the right of humanity, and that it is one of the most adequate ways to make way for a sustainable development. He added that this human right to information and to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment has already been recognized as such at an international level, and in our country in Article 4^th of the Political Constitution of the United States of Mexico.

He reminded the audience that over the past four years, the CDHDF has been developing its Human Rights and the Environment Programme (Spanish initials – Prodehuma). With this the Institution has been helping substantially with the care of the environment as well as obtaining strong savings on office stock, such as the use of paper and other resources. This, he stated, ratifies the fact that the CDHDF is an ecologically responsible Institution.

Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, the Federal District Secretary for the Environment, was present at the presentation of the Special Report on the Violation to the Right to a Healthy and Ecologically Balanced Environment due to the Deterioration and the Disappearance of Conservation Areas in the Federal District. She was there in representation of the Chief of Government of the DF. The official considered it important that the CDHDF raises society’s awareness on environmental issues and, especially, on the loss and degradation of conservation natural areas in Mexico City. “This helps to develop a civil commitment. Conservation areas cannot be rescued, unless the people who live in urban areas are committed to doing so”, she said.

Sheibaum pointed out that the capital city’s water-bearing layer is being exploited at double the rate of its full capacity, and this is partially due to the loss of conservation areas. Because of this, the official called upon political parties and the candidates for the municipal chieftaincies so that they include in their campaigns the topic of rescuing the areas that give the city a valuable environmental service. She pointed out that the loss of conservation areas signalled in the Special Report is not complete, since in a number of cases this was due to a change in use of the land, from forestry to agriculture. She suggested that institutions such as the CDHDF or the Attorney for the Environment and Territorial Regulation (Spanish initials – PAOT) establish evaluation mechanisms for the programmes the local Secretary for the Environment conducts.

Enrique Provencio, PAOT’s official, called upon municipal and central authorities to recognize the item of environmental damage reparation with compensatory actions, as well as by applying severe sanctions to those who violate legal dispositions of the General Programme for Ecologic Order (Spanish initials – PGOE). Similarly, he asked them to improve juridical dispositions on the matter, both in the penal and civil sphere, since this is the area where there has been a longer delay in dealing with the matter in the Federal District.

Moreover, he urged them to strengthen their work for the protection of conservation areas and on other matters vital for environmental health that exists in the metropolitan area. This is because “the protection of natural reserves is crucial to improving environmental services which are vital for Mexico City”.

The PAOT official affirmed that the CDHDF’s Special Report shows how the protection of human rights covers other issues as well. These had been considered as belonging only to the environmental sphere, up to very recent times.

On a similar note, he stated that it is important to detect, in a timely manner, the problems of conservation areas. This is so that municipal authorities can better exert their duties in order to prevent the development of irregular settlements in time and to offer housing alternatives to the inhabitants.

The Special Report

Alejandro Delint García, Second Investigator of the CDHDF, made a reference to the content of the Special Report. He stated that this document is made up of seven chapters: “Justification and consequences of this Special Report”; “Human right to a healthy environment”; “Socio-environmental diagnosis of the political delegations in the Federal District with conservation areas”; “Factors which affect and degrade the forests and the conservation areas in the Federal District”; “Legal framework for conservation areas in the Federal District”; “Implications of the deterioration and loss of conservation areas for human rights for the citizens of the Federal District”; and “Conclusions”.

Delint pointed out that, according to the document, the ecologic degradation of the city is a historic consequence of political and social development schemes, which led to one of the highest population density rates here in Mexico City.

He established that the reasons behind the Special Report were: the potential risk faced by the city’s inhabitants; the constant degradation of environmental services supplied by conservation areas in the DF - which implies an important deterioration in health and social wellbeing - and the population’s preoccupation caused by illegal land occupation.

Due to the above, he stated that the Commission accepts the commitment to take part in the environmental conservation and the preservation of living and health standards. This is so citizens will be protected and not feel vulnerable and exercise their human rights freely.

He highlighted the need to have an integral, legal, social, economic and political view of the human right to a healthy environment. He confirmed the CDHDF’s commitment to the matter of cross-politics. Moreover, he affirmed the importance of raising awareness among the population, so that it participates in this environmental crisis “which can no longer be considered as an ecologic problem but has developed into a social calamity that affects the life, safety, health and the future of human beings”, he concluded.

The Special Report highlights that if the present situation is worrying, future projections are even more so. If things were to continue as they are at the moment, we will soon see the city in an environmental crisis even more severe than the one it has gone through, which will also affect neighbouring or far-away regions. This report was compiled based on official information supplied or published by a number of authorities in the DF, specialised in the subject and with direct investigation by the CDHDF.

The document also shows that, according to the PGOE, 240 hectares are deforested every year alone. If this were to continue, in 5 years’ time a forest surface equivalent to the Desierto de los Leones National Park would be lost.

With regards to Protected Natural Areas (Spanish initials – ANP), which are areas protected more strictly due to their biological wealth, 47% of their original surface has been lost to change in land use or urban occupation. On these lands 145 illegal settlements, 25 quarrying excavations, and 35 centres used as warehouses or processing of non-authorized forestry products, as well as 100 refuse dumps have been located.

The Federal District Human Rights Commission considers that this situation of natural surface loss in general causes an imminent environmental risk and a violation to the human right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment. This has taken place along with a strong deforestation process, serious problems with the fragmentation of the ecosystem, and the threat of the disappearance of wild flora and fauna.

An important number of environmental services provided by these areas to the urban region of the city are being affected by the degradation or loss of conservation areas. These are: returning water to the aquiferous system; the absorption of polluting agents in the atmosphere; the deterioration of the scenery; the loss of natural habitats for the rich bio-diversity which still exists in the region; and the micro-climatic regulation.

The CDHDF recognizes that an important effort has been made by the local government and other organizations to defend conservation areas. Also, it believes that one of its main objectives consists in ensuring the protection of fundamental rights for the present and future generations. This is the reason why, from its beginning, the current administration has established actions to supervise, respect, observe and promote the human right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment, as strategic work policies.