Mexico

Reducing the footprint of growth requires a focus on three key issues: a) transforming urban areas into greener, more efficient, resilient, and socially inclusive cities,... Show More + better able to capture the economic benefits associated with urbanization; b) ensuring sound management of the brown environmental agenda to provide the conditions for continued sustainable economic green growth while preventing and minimizing negative impacts and risks for human health and the environment; and c) promoting energy efficiency in housing, transport, urban infrastructure, and waste management to enhance the sustainability and competitiveness of the Mexican economy. Show Less -

To ensure sustainable and optimal use of its common property natural resources, Mexico will need to strengthen its focus on enhancing stewardship in three key sectors-forests,... Show More + water, and energy resources. The key objectives include the following: 1) identifying options that would contribute to Mexico's climate agenda and build social resilience through forest management; 2) ensuring economically efficient and environmentally and socially sustainable water management to promote 'green' growth in the context of water scarcity and climate uncertainty; and 3) assessing the impacts of declining oil and gas reserves and the role of renewable energy as an alternative and cleaner source. Forests can play an important role in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) and other forest-related activities could account for almost 20 percent of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that Mexico could achieve by 2030. Although much remains to be done, Mexico has become a global leader in forest management. Allocation of resources among the various programs is not optimal. Reforestation efforts have obtained modest results despite receiving 38 percent of Mexico's forest investments in 2011 (US$486 million). The capacity to monitor investments is lagging compared with the scale of the programs. Show Less -

A climate change vulnerability index in agriculture is presented at the municipal level in Mexico. Because the index is built with a multidimensional approach to vulnerability... Show More + (exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity), it represents a tool for policy makers, academics and government alike to inform decisions about climate change resilience and regional variations within the country. The index entails baseline (2005) and prediction (2045) levels based on historic climate data and future-climate modeling. The results of the analysis suggest a wide variation in municipal vulnerability across the country at baseline and prediction points. The vulnerability index shows that highly vulnerable municipalities demonstrate higher climate extremes, which increases uncertainty for harvest periods, and for agricultural yields and outputs. The index shows at baseline that coastal areas host some of the most vulnerable municipalities to climate change in Mexico. However, it also shows that the Northwest and Central regions will likely experience the largest shifts in vulnerability between 2005 and 2045. Finally, vulnerability is found to vary according to specific variables: municipalities with higher vulnerability have more adverse socio-demographic conditions. With the vast municipal data available in Mexico, further sub-index estimations can lead to answers for specific policy and research questions. Show Less -

Mexico is one of the most promising yet untapped areas for wind energy development in Latin America, with wind energy potential conservatively estimated at more than... Show More + 40 GW. However, until 2008, its development had been slow by global wind industry standards. This was due both to lack of adequate financial incentives for private developers and investors, as well as various issues with the existing regulatory framework and policies relating to wind energy. La Mata La Ventosa is a 67.5MW wind farm in the state of Oaxaca that is expected to produce about 290 GWh of electricity annually and to sell power to four Walmart local retail stores under Mexico's 'auto supply framework'. Show Less -