SEM-13-001
The Council voted not to instruct the Secretariat to prepare a factual record.
Status: Closed
According to the submission, "the Mexican government is authorizing various construction projects and tourist real estate operations in ecologically sensitive areas."
The Submitters assert that the development of four large tourist resorts in the Gulf of California are causing significant impact to the Bay of La Paz, the El Mogote nesting area, the Cabo Pulmo coral reef and the Marismas Nacionales wetland, and that proper environmental impact assessment and permitting procedures were not followed, among other alleged environmental law enforcement failures. The Submitters maintain that the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales) is failing to enforce the Ramsar Convention as well as provisions from the General Law of Ecological Equilibrium and Environmental Protection (Ley General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente LGEEPA) and its Regulations on Environmental Impact Assessment, the General Wildlife Law (Ley General de Vida Silvestre) and Official Mexican Standards applicable to wetlands protection and endangered species.
In its response, Mexico states that that the Secretariat should not have considered resolutions to the Ramsar Convention because these do not meet the definition of environmental law. Mexico considers that since the environmental impact assessment permit was revoked for the Cabo Cortés project, there are no grounds for developing a factual record concerning it, and that a pending proceeding on the Paraíso del Mar project should partially terminate the process with respect to the submission.
Mexico also maintains that, with respect to the CIP Playa Espíritu, Entre Mares, and Paraíso del Mar projects, Semarnat enforced provisions applicable to the preparation of environmental impact statements (manifestaciones de impacto ambiental), which included consideration of best available information, assessment of cumulative and residual impacts, technical opinions from other agencies, protection of mangrove species, and conservation of protected species. In its response, Mexico also considers the applicability of sustainable forestry laws, the Ramsar Convention, the World Heritage Convention, and enforced corrective measures against the Paraíso del Mar project.
Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention); Articles 34, 35, and 35 bis of the General Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection Act (Ley General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente—LGEEPA); Articles 13, 24, 36, 44, 57, 58, and 59 of the Regulation to the LGEEPA respecting Environmental Impact Assessment (Reglamento de la LGEEPA en materia de Evaluación del Impacto Ambiental—REIA); Articles 5 paragraph II and 60 ter of the General Wildlife Act (Ley General de Vida Silvestre); Mexican Official Standard NOM-022-SEMARNAT-2003 Establishing the specifications for the preservation, sustainable use, and restoration of coastal wetlands in mangrove zones; Mexican Official Standard NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2001 Environmental protection- Native species of wildlife in Mexico - Risk categories and specifications for their inclusion, exclusion, or change - List of species at risk.
Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense; Centro Mexicano para la Defensa del Medio Ambiente; Natural Resources Defense Council; Red Ecologista por el Desarrollo de Escuinapa; Amigos para la Conservación de Cabo Pulmo; WiLDCOAST; Sociedad de Historia Natural Niparajá; Greenpeace Mexico; Los Cabos Coastkeeper; Alianza para la Sustentabilidad del Noroeste Costero; SUMAR. Represented by: Sandra Moguel, Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense; Sarah Burt, Earthjustice
Submission - Submission authored by Submitter(s) on 11/04/2013
Acknowledgement - Communication to Submitter(s) authored by Secretariat on 11/04/2013
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 29/11/2006
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 23/10/2007
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 15/07/2005
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 06/06/1995
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 01/08/2011
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 08/08/2007
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 30/07/2007
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 12/05/2010
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 12/11/2010
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 16/10/2003
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 22/02/2013
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 20/08/2012
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 08/10/2008
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 25/11/2009
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 24/08/1938
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 22/01/2013
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 09/08/2010
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 09/02/2011
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 24/01/2011
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 05/09/2012
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 13/08/2003
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 21/01/2003
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 10/04/2003
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 17/07/2009
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 04/07/2012
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 04/02/2012
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 18/05/1999
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 18/05/1999
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 14/01/2013
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 02/08/2012
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 16/06/2010
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 18/02/2008
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 20/08/2012
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 30/12/2003
Determination - Secretariat Determination under Article 14 (1) authored by Secretariat on 24/05/2013
Submission - Submission authored by Submitter(s) on 16/08/2013
Acknowledgement - Communication to Submitter(s) authored by Secretariat on 19/08/2013
Annex - Other document authored by Submitter(s) on 16/08/2013
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 06/08/2012
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 05/11/2011
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 27/10/2011
Annex - Other document authored by Mexico on 09/03/2004
Annex - Other document authored by Submitter(s) on 12/07/2013
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 24/03/2012
Annex - Other document authored by Submitter(s) on 09/07/2012
Annex - Other document authored by Mexico on 04/08/2009
Annex - Other document authored by Individual or entity named in Submission on 09/08/2010
Annex - Other document authored by Mexico on 03/08/2010
Annex - Other document authored by Mexico on 28/01/2013
Annex - Other document authored by Submitter(s) on 18/10/2011
Annex - Other document authored by Submitter(s) on 28/06/2013
Determination - Secretariat Determination under Article 14 (1) and 14 (2) authored by Secretariat on 12/11/2013
Party Response - Response from the Party under Article 14 (3) authored by Mexico on 24/02/2014
Other Documents - Communication to Submitter(s) authored by Secretariat on 26/02/2014
Notification - Other document authored by Secretariat on 16/05/2014
Recommendation - Secretariat Notification to Council under Article 15(1) authored by Secretariat on 05/09/2014
Resolution - Council decision concerning the development of a Factual Record authored by Council on 19/05/2015
Other Documents - Council decision concerning the development of a Factual Record authored by Council on 19/05/2015
Other Documents - Council decision concerning the development of a Factual Record authored by Council on 19/05/2015
