| | |  Editorials | Environmental 
Mexico: Green Areas to the Highest Bidder
 Emilio Godoy - Inter Press Service
go to original
March 13, 2010
 |  | Cities keep growing, and natural areas keep shrinking. Not enough importance is put on natural areas in urban planning
- Iván Zúńiga |  | | |
Mexico City - Activists in Mexico complain that the deforestation threatening the environmental health of Mexico has been accentuated by the granting of public areas to private companies.
A recent case involves a plan by the government of the state of Nuevo León to hand over 26 hectares next to the La Pastora park in the city of Monterrey to FEMSA, the largest soft drink and beer company in Mexico, whose brewery division was acquired by Dutch brewing company Heineken in a deal in January.
The land is to be used to build a football stadium with a capacity for 50,000 people.
The plan, backed by the government of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, has run up against opposition from environmentalists, who are preparing for a lengthy political and legal battle.
"There is a policy of handing over public spaces to companies. The stadium will pollute the park's forest. We are not opposed to the project itself, but they should find a place where it won't affect the environment," Denise Alamillo, a member of the Citizens Collective in Defence of La Pastora, a coalition of local NGOs, told IPS.
In September, FEMSA and then Nuevo León governor José Natividad González of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) announced the construction of the stadium as part of a project called the Gran Parque Ecológico La Pastora (La Pastora Great Ecological Park), with an investment of 200 million dollars.
La Pastora is a park in the municipality of Guadalupe, within the city of Monterrey.
FEMSA is to be granted the land in usufruct for 60 years, after which the stadium would revert to the state.
Nueva León Governor Rodrigo Medina of the PRI, who succeeded González, did not modify the plans for the stadium when he took office in October.
A favourite visiting spot for Monterrey residents and tourists alike, the 108-hectare La Pastora park, on the banks of the La Silla river, is made up of a zoo, a large forest of oaks, cypress and poplar, a lake, ponds and waterfalls, cultural attractions like a typical village and art galleries, as well as restaurants and souvenir shops.
The Citizens Collective in Defence of La Pastora also criticises the size of the area to be used for what will be the home stadium of the Rayados of Monterrey football club, Mexico's current champions.
By contrast, the Azteca Stadium in the Mexican capital, which has a capacity for 105,000 spectators, is located on just six hectares of land.
The environmental groups apparently scored a point with the mid-February decision by PROFEPA, the federal environmental prosecutor, to suspend work on the project because the clearing of the forests on the terrain was carried out before the endeavour had a permit from the Secretariat (ministry) of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT).
But the decision did not dispel environmentalists' concerns. "The state government has put too much of an emphasis on supporting construction (of the stadium). We have no confidence in the suspension by PROFEPA, because it goes no further than slapping on a fine," said Alamillo.
The environmental assessment study for the project, carried out by a consultancy firm hired by FEMSA-Heineken and presented to the environmental authorities, identified 46 specific adverse impacts that construction of the stadium would have, and only eight beneficial impacts.
The extensive report notes that the vegetation in the area will be removed, and most of the land will be paved over and covered up. It also says 1,068 trees will be planted and 19,250 square metres of the grounds will be covered by gardens and landscaping.
According to Mexico's laws on ecological balance, protection of the environment and sustainable forestry development, companies must present SEMARNAT with technical and environmental impact studies.
"Cities keep growing, and natural areas keep shrinking. Not enough importance is put on natural areas in urban planning," Iván Zúńiga, spokesman for the Civil Mexican Council for Sustainable Forestry (CCMSS), told IPS.
FEMSA-Heineken, meanwhile, said the suspension of the project came on top of "a series of events that are outside of our control, which call into question the continuity of our participation in the project until appropriate conditions, which are not within our sphere to generate, allow it," the firm said in a statement.
In its February report "Millennium Development Goals: Advances in Environmentally Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean", the Economic and Social Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) warned that deforestation was growing in the region.
Latin America and the Caribbean lost some 69 million hectares of forest from 1990 to 2005, equivalent to seven percent of the total forest cover, which is double the global average deforestation rate, the regional United Nations agency reported.
Mexico, where around 500,000 hectares of forest are cut down every year, has 173 natural areas covering a total of more than 25 million hectares and including 67 national parks, 40 biosphere reserves and 35 areas where the flora and fauna are protected, according to the government's National Commission on Protected Natural Areas.
Nueva León Governor Medina told reporters that "the studies I have seen by the company as well as the explanations I have received from the Secretariat of Sustainable Development itself indicate that the area (where the stadium is to be built) is very well cared for, and that it is a project that will be beneficial to both the surrounding municipality and the city."
The urban development commission in the Nuevo León state legislature decided to conduct its own independent study to gauge the extent of the project's environmental impacts.
"The site was selected on the basis of availability of land, accessibility, size and availability of services, taking into account that said lot is found in an urbanised area and that no ecosystem will be affected," the company's environmental assessment study says.
Zúńiga complained that "the importance of maintaining buffer zones around environmental areas is not well understood. And the consequences are not measured when natural disasters and other problems occur."
In another case, the government of the northwestern state of Sinaloa is planning a complex that will include hotels, two golf courses and two marinas in an area near fragile wetlands. Environmental groups say the project does not meet environmental standards.
"We have to keep a close watch to make sure states and municipalities take care of green spaces," SEMARNAT Secretary Juan Elvira told the press. |
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us