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Media Release

CEC Council Session on 14–15 June to focus on youth and sustainable communities and ecosystems

Participate at the meeting in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico, in person or via webcast

Montreal, 28 April 2016—On 14–15 June 2016, Rafael Pacchiano Alamán, Mexico’s Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), will host United States Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and Canada’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna, in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, at the 23rd annual Regular Session of the Council of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of North America.

This year’s Council session will focus on the role of youth within the work of the CEC, in particular on ecosystems and climate change, and supporting sustainable communities.

The Council, which is the CEC’s governing body and is composed of cabinet-level environment representatives from Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America, meets each year in regular session on its agenda for environmental cooperation in North America.

The 14–15 June Council meeting in Tuxtla Gutiérrez will include a public session featuring the three environment ministers, CEC Executive Director César Rafael Chávez, and Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) Chair Lindsay Brumwell.

On 14 June, JPAC  will host a public forum on biodiversity and climate change, with invited experts from the three countries. JPAC is composed of 15 citizens, five from each country. It advises the Council and ensures public participation, openness and transparency in the actions of the CEC.

Both events will be open to the public free of charge and will be webcast live at http://www.cec.org/webcast.

Register today

Public participation at the Council’s open session and the JPAC forum is free of charge. Limited financial assistance is available for travel and lodging and may be requested before 13 May 2016.

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About the CEC

The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) was established in 1994 by the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States through the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, a parallel environmental agreement to NAFTA. As of 2020, the CEC is recognized and maintained by the Environmental Cooperation Agreement, in parallel with the new Free Trade Agreement of North America. The CEC brings together a wide range of stakeholders, including the general public, Indigenous people, youth, nongovernmental organizations, academia, and the business sector, to seek solutions to protect North America’s shared environment while supporting sustainable development for the benefit of present and future generations

The CEC is governed and funded equally by the Government of Canada through Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Government of the United States of Mexico through the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, and the Government of the United States of America through the Environmental Protection Agency.

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