Participants of the V Meeting on the Border Environment present the Rosarito Declaration

The Fifth Meeting on the Border Environment took place from the 15th to the 17th of May in Rosarito, Baja California. Their goal was to analyze and discuss regional environmental problems along the US-Mexico border. As a result of the meeting, the participants jointly issued the Rosarito Declaration, which provides the basis for a series of strategies to follow in the immediate future.

The declaration recognizes that the "border region is in a state of alarming vulnerability derived from the exploding growth, indiscriminate exploitation and contamination of our resources and natural areas, and, in some cases, the privatization of these". The document also talks about the importance of having "timely access to objective, valid information and to the best science possible", as well as "support of a critical mass of informed and participative citizens and committed governments" to achieve "real social and environmental justice in our region".

During the meeting, environmental education was a recurrent theme and was promoted as a key tool for creating greater citizenship participation in the improvement of the border environment. EE is mentioned in the declaration as "an integral component of work and directed toward all sectors of society".

The Rosarito Declaration could become the milestone needed in the race against environmental and social degradation in the border region. It represents the will of organizations and individuals from all of the US-Mexico Border States united in one voice. To read the whole declaration, visit http://www.encuentrofronterizo.org/english/