Environmental sustainability agenda: Metropolitan Area of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico

Abstract

Human settlements worldwide have experienced environmental problems as a result of population growth, an increase in productive activities and low financial capacity of municipalities to provide adequate infrastructure and public services. At the local level, problems of water, soil and air pollution, as well as, land use changes have arisen due to the expansion of urban agglomerations. Regionally, there have been negative impacts on watersheds, ecosystems and biodiversity. Globally, the world is experiencing climate change, the reduction of the ozone layer and the increase of natural disasters. The situation has posed a challenge in terms of urban and regional planning, especially for metropolitan areas and medium-sized cities. The purpose of this study is to present an alternative to integrate environmental sustainability into metropolitan planning in Mexico, specifically applied to the Metropolitan Area of Mexicali, Baja California. Therefore the Environmental Sustainability Agenda has focused on three objectives: first, identifying the weaknesses of the existing environmental and human settlements legal framework; second, developing an environmental assessment and; third, designing policies, strategies and indicators to implement institutional monitoring of environmental programmes. The results were obtained by conducting surveys, regional community workshops, and reviewing previous research. Lastly, this study concludes with six sectoral programs: water, air, solid wastes, green areas, soils and physical pollution and six transversal programs that have effects on environmental education, health, climate change, environmental management and the legal framework. © 2013 WIT Press.