| Montreal, 30/07/2009 – On 16 July 2009, the Asociación Fuerza Unida Emiliano Zapata en Pro de las Areas Verdes, A.C. (the “Submitter”), filed a submission before the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation ("CEC"). The Submitter asserts that Mexico is failing to effectively enforce its environmental laws with respect to the conservation and protection of Los Remedios National Park, in Naucalpan, State of Mexico.
Previously, on 9 November 2006, the Submitter filed a submission asserting that a real estate company was carrying out illegal construction activities at Los Remedios National Park. On 20 March 2008, the Secretariat determined to proceed no further with SEM-06-006 (Los Remedios National Park).
In SEM-09-003 (Los Remedios National Park II), the Submitter states that the park was created by presidential decree, on 15 April 1938, and in 1995 the park administration was ceded to the State of Mexico and the Municipality of Naucalpan. The Submitter also asserts that federal, state and municipal authorities are required to develop a management program to protect and conserve the park, and as of today, the program has yet to be fully established. The Submitter provides information regarding the alleged irregular partitioning of the park area, and further maintains that the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Secretaría del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales) has unjustifiably held that a 1970 presidential decree that created a housing zone had implicitly, though partially, superseded the 1938 presidential decree, even though—the Submitter underlines—it “does not correspond to the same area” as the 1938 decree.
The CEC Secretariat is currently reviewing SEM-09-003 in order to determine whether it meets the criteria for submissions set out in Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, "NAAEC".
Articles 14 and 15 NAAEC include procedures allowing private parties to make submissions to the CEC Secretariat asserting “that a Party [to the NAAEC] is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law.” The CEC has published the Guidelines for Submissions on Enforcement Matters explaining these procedures.
In appropriate cases, and upon instruction from the CEC Council, the CEC Secretariat may examine a submission further and develop a factual record.
For more information, please visit the CEC’s Citizen Submissions on Enforcement Matters webpage. |
