Commission for Environmental Cooperation

Summary of the matter addressed in the submission:

The submission asserts that Mexico is failing to effectively enforce its environmental laws, including the Sustainable Forest Development Act and the Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection Act, to prevent illegal logging and forest land use change in the municipality of Cuautla, Jalisco, Mexico.

The submission asserts that Mexico is failing to prevent illegal logging that is occurring to clearcut forest land and alter land use for avocado cultivation. The submission alleges that Mexico is failing to effectively enforce procedures for changing land use from forest land to agriculture. The submission maintains that the process established in the law was not followed with regard to an area known as “Los Amoles” in Cuautla, Jalisco, and that people entered the land illegally, cut down trees in this area without authorization, transported the wood, and sold the wood commercially, resulting in deforestation and land use change, as Los Amoles is allegedly being converted to an avocado plantation.

Due to security concerns, confidentiality regarding authorship of the submission was requested.

Names and citations of the environmental laws in question:

The submission cites provisions from the General Act on Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection (Ley General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente) as well as the General Act on Sustainable Forest Development (Ley General de Desarrollo Forestal Sustentable) and its regulations.

Submitter(s):

Names withheld pursuant to Article 16(1)(a) of the ECA