Save Mexico's Coral Reefs!

The Veracruz Reef holds great significance for local habitants and the country’s marine environments. Serving as a protective barrier against storms and hurricanes, it is also a vital source of income for around 15,000 people engaged in fishing and aquatic tourism. 

In 2016, residents of Veracruz filed a lawsuit to safeguard their human right to a healthy environment. The basis for the lawsuit was the fragmented environmental impact assessment of the Veracruz port expansion, which hindered their understanding of the actual and final impacts on the Veracruz Reef. AIDA provided legal support by submitting an amicus brief to the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice, offering additional information and perspectives to aid an informed decision. 

In February 2022, the Court unanimously declared the environmental permits for the project as illegal. The Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources was then tasked with reassessing all aspects of the port expansion, using the best available scientific information to identify the real impacts on the Veracruz Reef. 

However, in December 2022, the environmental authority authorized the expansion of the Veracruz port, disregarding the criteria set by the Supreme Court. More concerning was the complete disregard for the opportunity of public participation provided by the environmental legislation itself. 

In response, AIDA and partners are actively engaging in media advocacy and academic discussions to inform decision-makers, particularly the District Court responsible for ensuring compliance with the ruling. We are emphasizing the pivotal role these decision-makers play in transforming social and environmental realities. AIDA is also advocating for the participation of the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty that safeguards wetlands, as an expert witness and observer in the ongoing judicial proceedings. 

In addition to our work in Veracruz, AIDA is also taking action to protect the Mesoamerican Reef -the most significant coral reef barrier in the western hemisphere thatsupports a vibrant marine ecosystem and species of great commercial value, such as the Pink Snail (Lobatus Gigas). Nearly two million people directly depend on the resources extracted from the reef. However, the application of environmental legislation and existing policies has been insufficient in ensuring the protection of the Pink Snail. 

To address these issues, particularly in Mexico, AIDA submitted a citizen petition to the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation. This international authority, established within the trade agreement between Mexico, the United States, and Canada, seeks a response from the Mexican government regarding the actions taken (or not taken) to fulfill its obligations. These obligations include issuing fishing regulations, generating and systematizing scientific information for evaluating queen conch stocks, conducting inspection and surveillance, and creating adaptation plans for flagship species and their habitats, with a focus on climate change. 

AIDA will continue to provide technical support to partners and decision makers, to ensure the advancement of the protection of these two key reef systems.  

Links:

• AIDA

The Mesoamerican Reef 

The Mesoamerican Reef, which is the most significant coral reef barrier in the western hemisphere and extends over 1,000 kilometers, spans along Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. Today, the uncontrolled coastal development, anthropogenic interventions, and degradation of ecosystems over wide extensions of these coasts are among the greatest threats to this region. 

To address these issues (particularly in Mexico), AIDA sent a statement to the United States Trade Officer for the Environment and Natural Resources, informing them that a coalition of NGOs and communities are preparing and submitting a citizen petition to the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation–an international authority created within the trade agreement between Mexico, the United States, and Canada–to obtain a response from the Mexican government on the actions it is taking (or failing to take) to comply with its obligations to generate public policies that promote much-needed adaptation.   

Cabo Pulmo 

At the end of February 2023, AIDA participated in the strategic planning of the Cabo Pulmo Vivo Coalition, a group of civil society organizations and communities concerned about the protection of the Cabo Pulmo coral reef in Mexico’s La Paz, Baja California Sur. In this event, AIDA presented its experience coordinating and participating in various coalitions in the hemisphere.  

Furthermore, despite the existence of a Special Climate Change Program in Mexico, with strategies and actions for communities and ecosystems to adapt to changing climate conditions, these lines of action have not yet been implemented in marine ecosystems. For instance, local governments are obliged to create and publish climate change adaptation plans for the fishing sector, which are long overdue.   

AIDA is crafting a strategy with academics, communities, and other NGOs to advocate for local government in Baja California Sur to raise awareness and design an adaptation plan for climate change focused on the fishing communities in Cabo Pulmo, one of the most productive regions in the Sea of Cortez and one of the best-managed protected areas in Mexico. 

Veracruz 

AIDA is advising the Commission on Natural Protected Areas to support the listing of the Veracruz Reef System National Park in the Montreux Record in order to receive technical and financial assistance for its restoration. This is a mechanism of the Ramsar Convention–an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources–with which AIDA has a long and successful history. 

Additionally, AIDA is also participating in the creation of the Veracruz Reef Corridor Network, together with civil society organizations, academics, and communities in the Gulf of Mexico. Our proposal is to promote communications and actions that protect the bio cultural heritage around the reef. 

Links:

• https://aida-americas.org/es/prensa/suprema-corte-de-justicia-ordena-proteger-los-arrecifes-y-humedales-veracruzanos

The Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) is the most significant coral reef barrier in the western hemisphere and extends over 1,000 kilometers along the coastlines of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. Uncontrolled and intense coastal development, anthropogenic interventions, and degradation of ecosystems over wide extensions of these coasts are among the greatest threats to the MAR region. While all four countries have made concerted efforts to manage, conserve, and protect coastal ecosystems, there has been a lack of transparency in the governance framework, poor implementation, a disconnect between management and research, and geopolitical differences, which have played a role in reducing management efficacy.

AIDA communicated the results of the report “Assessing Legal Opportunities to Improve the Health and Resilience of the Mesoamerican Reef” in a closed webinar with representatives of civil society organizations from the four countries that make up the MAR.  The report was built thanks to a close collaboration with civil society, academia, and government officials and we will continue to work in close contact with them to ensure that our recommendations are implemented.

Mexico is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The increase in water temperature, ocean acidification, changes in currents, among others, impact the distribution and biological cycle of species of high commercial and exosystemic value, such as the Queen Conch, which depends mainly on the Caribbean coral reefs in Mexico.

For this reason, AIDA and other allied organizations, along with fishing communities, are preparing a citizen petition to the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) - an international authority created within the trade agreement between Mexico, the United States, and Canada - to obtain a response from the Mexican government on the actions it is taking or failing to take to comply with its obligations to generate public policies that promote much-needed adaptation.  This complaint will be submitted to the CEC in November.

Despite the existence of a Special Climate Change Program (PECC in Spanish) in Mexico, with strategies and actions for communities and ecosystems to adapt to changing climate conditions, these lines of action have not yet been implemented in marine ecosystems.  For instance, local governments are obliged to create and publish climate change adaptation plans for the fishing sector, which are long overdue. 

AIDA is crafting a strategy to push local government in Baja California, where Cabo Pulmo -one of the most productive regions in the Sea of Cortez and one of the best-managed protected areas in Mexico- is located, to raise awareness and design an adaptation plan to climate change focused on the fishing communities in Cabo Pulmo.

The Mesoamerican Reef is the largest coral reef barrier in the western hemisphere and extends over 1,000 kilometers along the coastlines of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. Uncontrolled and intense coastal development, anthropogenic interventions, and degradation of ecosystems over wide extensions of these coasts are among the greatest threats to the MAR region. While all four countries have made concerted efforts to manage, conserve, and protect coastal ecosystems, there has been a lack of transparency in the governance framework, poor implementation, a disconnect between management and research, and geopolitical differences, which have played a role in reducing management efficacy.

AIDA has developed the report “Assessing Legal Opportunities to Improve the Health and Resilience of the Mesoamerican Reef” to document and analyze opportunities to improve the protection of the region, including of course Mexico. To produce the document, we have collaborated with local, national, and international partners to collect ideas and compile the most promising opportunities from the legal perspective to revamp management and conservation in the MAR region, with a particular focus on policy and litigation strategies.

In doing so, one of these recommendations is to set up a "task force" to solve the great problem of contamination of the MAR, caused by the lack of sanitation of the rivers that flow into the area. Excessive use of pesticides, inadequate management of solid waste -especially plastic-, lack of wastewater treatment and tremendous deforestation are some of the causes that contaminate the riverside ecosystems and end up in the ocean, where the MAR's coral reefs are found.

AIDA is leading the formation of this task force, and we will continue to accompany our partner organizations with our legal expertise. We are also reviewing the possibility of a regional litigation to ensure the compliance and enforcement of legal dispositions regarding the prevention of pollution of rivers that flow directly to the MAR.

With great emotion and pride we want to share that on February 9th the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice unanimously ruled in favor of protecting the Veracruz Reef System, the people who depend on and benefit from it, and to recognize the collective nature of the right to a healthy environment and public participation in environmental assessment processes.

In 2016, in the absence of adequate environmental impact assessment processes the Veracruz port expansion project was approved without considering impacts to the environment. And the government initiated the expansion of the port despite the fact that such construction would cause significant damage to the coral reef, which is a natural protected area and a Ramsar site (protected wetland).

AIDA has been collaborating closely with our partner CEMDA since 2014 in this case. Through the years we have sent urgent alerts to international authorities alerting about the impacts to the reef and actively supported media efforts to position the issue.

In January 2022, AIDA and our partner Earthjustice filed an Amicus brief requesting that the provisions on legitimate interest and the possibility of accessing environmental justice in Mexico be expanded. We provided arguments of climate justice, human rights, and international law to protect coral reefs, seagrasses, and endemic biodiversity of Veracruz.

This ruling recognizes an expanded legitimate interest, the protection of coral reefs, and orders the transformation of the way in which environmental impact assessments are carried out. The ruling was approved unanimously, which means that it becomes a binding precedent for Mexican courts. This precedent is very important for the region because it obliges the Mexican government to comply with elements of environmental protection, access to environmental justice, and points out the obligations contained in the Escazú Agreement. In addition, protecting this reef ecosystem is key to combating and protecting coastal communities from the effects of climate change.

We are extremely happy for this ruling and to be part of this important victory for the protection of reefs and the right to public participation.

Links:

• Defending the Veracruz Reef Project