Mexico's National EE Strategy Gets Input from the Border States

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As part of the process of constructing Mexico's National Strategy of Environmental Education for Sustainability, Cecadesu (the Center for Education and Training for Sustainable Development) hosted a consultation workshop for the northern states in Mexico.

The event took place in the border city of Juarez, Chihuahua, during the first week of March, and was co-hosted by Cecadesu; Semarnat's International Affairs Unit; the Border Environmental Cooperation Commission (BECC); and the Institute of Technology and Engineering at the Juarez Autonomous University.

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The participants, who represented different sectors of society from the five Mexican states that border with the US, shared their opinions, proposals and suggestions in relation to the first draft of the National Strategy of EE for Sustainability, with the purpose of forming a national consensus about the priorities for EE for the next 10 years.

The workshop is part of a national consultation process initiated in Aguascalientes, in May of 2005, during a National EE Meeting, where a discussion started on what steps were necessary for the construction of the national strategy. This process included an expert's workshop where the base document god developed. This was followed by regional workshops for central and southern Mexico and the creation of an electronic forum for the general public, and closing with this workshop for the northern states.

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Participants to the workshop had the opportunity to download and review the draft of the strategy prior to the event. They discussed and gathered opinions and ideas on specific issues that affect the practice of EE on the northern Mexican states.

Among the ideas discussed was doing a regional analysis of EE practices for each of the country's regions, particularly for the border region, with all the complexity embedded in the sharing of ecosystems and environmental issues with the U.S. Participants also talked about the need for analyzing the legislations that rule in U.S.-Mexico relations and find more ways to collaborate and generate opportunities and resources to support EE for the border region.

The importance of a border-wide EE strategy was discussed in repeated occasions during the event. A strategy that considers the specific needs and characteristics of this region, with its particular socioeconomic, politic and environmental issues, of binational character. This strategy would try to build on binational efforts, such as the EPA supported projects Environmental Education Council for the Californias (EECC) and Training in EE Materials (TEEM).

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The preliminary version of the strategy is the result of three main factors, as it reads in the draft of the document, available at Cecadesu's site (http://cecadesu.semarnat.gob.mx/):

a) A national accumulated trajectory in EE that has generated favorable conditions to go back and update previous efforts that have had as an objective to develop theory, methodology and practice on this matter for the country.

b) The demand from the EE community (as expressed at the National Meeting of EE for Sustainable Development. "Ten Years to Change the World) of having a document that pushes the efforts on this matter, in the context of the commitments assumed by Mexico for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), particularly in relation to the promotion and improvement of basic education, and the reorientation of the current educational programs, the development of public understanding and conscience about sustainability.

c) The existence of state level EE plans that offer local perspectives for the development of EE and that have generated regional social processes and networks, which lead the way for a national articulation.

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According to this document, the central objective of this strategy is to "count principles and lines of action that guide and drive the present and future actions in EE and for the sustainability of the country. This will potentially allow the participation of governmental sectors that affect the fields of education and the environment, as well as education and research institutions, civic organizations and the private sector, framed in a national vision."

Click here to view the full document in Spanish or visit Cecadesu's site (http://cecadesu.semarnat.gob.mx/) for more information and to access the forum.