USAID CBJ FY 2002: Mexico

Summary: Environmental degradation in Mexico threatens the natural resource base that supports Mexico's growing economy and population and impacts biodiversity throughout North America. USAID focuses on conservation of critical ecosystems, increasing local and national capacity to manage these systems, and improving the sustainability of land use in and near critical areas. Conservation of threatened areas, combined with improved resource use and better fire prevention and control, sequesters carbon and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, conservation helps to stanch emigration triggered by the shrinking natural resource base. The primary beneficiaries of protected ecosystems are rural inhabitants who depend on natural resources and urban inhabitants who depend on sustained services from ecosystems for water purification, agricultural production, and recreational opportunities. Because U.S. ecosystems are linked directly (watersheds, borderland, air, oceans) and indirectly (migratory species) to Mexico, U.S. citizens benefit as well.

Key Results: Based on proactive local participation assisted by USAID, the Government of Mexico (GOM) established the Xcalak Marine Park on the Gulf coast. USAID leveraged funds from Japan to build a center in southern Quintana Roo to house community outreach activities and provide research and workspace for conservation efforts in Xcalak, Sian Ka'an, Chinchurro, and the Manatee Sanctuary in Chetumal Bay. A USAID joint environment/local governance activity ensured consideration of environmental priorities for the bay by the Chetumal municipal government in addressing the city's water issues. USAID's Parks in Peril (PiP) activity continued to provide leadership to the hemisphere. One PiP site, El Triunfo, raised a $2 million endowment fund to ensure its own financial sustainability.

Performance and Prospects: USAID activities strengthen the management of protected areas and natural resources to ensure long-term stability of key reserves and critical ecosystems in Mexico. Activities build infrastructure, support local staff, address priority threats to unique biodiversity in target areas, and develop policy agendas and mechanisms for long-term financial viability. Progress is on track in 10 of the 12 program sites, and six of these sites have reached a level where management capacity is sufficient to support adaptive management into the future. As a result of USAID's evaluation of the sites that did not complete their planned agenda, USAID adjusted its approach in one area and changed a local partner in the other. In 2002, the activity will move to a more regional vision in the strongest sites to address external factors impacting these areas, improve collaboration among all stakeholders, and transfer the capacity and lessons learned to other critical areas in Mexico.

Because over 60% of the protected areas in Mexico are privately owned, USAID works with local communities to find viable alternatives to resource exploitation, particularly in Chiapas, the coast of Quintana Roo, and the Gulf of California. USAID will continue to link its environmental activity with democracy expertise to help ensure that local environmental issues are considered in local government planning. USAID-funded partners contribute to conservation through building consensus and capacity to better manage existing resources, restore degraded areas, and respond to increased vulnerability driven by natural and human-induced pressures. Progress toward adequate management, increased adoption of new fishing methods, improved waste management, and sustainable forestry techniques are on track in the vast majority of target sites. In 2002, USAID will adjust its approach to alternative resource use to emphasize development of specific tools to address threats to conservation, such as degradation of watersheds and forests important to rural communities.

USAID's partner organizations are improving the legal and policy framework for conservation and land use by focusing on alternative resource uses to address specific threats such as poor forest management and grazing and tourism impacts. In 2002, USAID will continue to strengthen its partners' capacities in policy, but will focus on a select group of policies integral to USAID's overall efforts in conservation and sustainable use of critical ecosystems. USAID continues to provide highly targeted training and follow-up programs for public and private officials in Mexico and abroad to improve capacity in natural resource and organizational management.

The threat of fires to Mexico's biodiversity continued to foster a close working relationship between USAID, the Environment Secretariat (SEMARNAT), and the Mexican Conservation Fund (FMCN). In 2001, the three organizations awarded 27 grants to Mexican non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for forest restoration in 12 critical areas. USAID and SEMARNAT sponsored a regional conference on fire and natural resource management with forest experts from the United States, Mexico, and Central and South America. The conference laid out an agenda for research on fire vulnerability, greenhouse gas emissions, and approaches to improving fire use by small farmers to decrease fire risk to vulnerable areas. During the 2000 fire season, the GOM provided daily fire data over the internet using a state-of-the-art satellite system originally funded by USAID. USAID will use the fire data as well as the outcomes of the fire conference to inform priority needs in fire prevention and restoration, and in the identification of information and tools most needed to respond to this threat to Mexico's valuable forest resources.

In 2000, USAID and SEMARNAT advised senior GOM policymakers on the role of forests in climate change. Activities designed and implemented with SEMARNAT examined the mitigation potential of post-fire restoration projects. An assessment of land use is continuing. These data sets, to be available to the general public, will inform how USAID and others will support future land use and forest planning at all levels in Mexico.

The last year of the highly successful Parks in Peril (PiP) program is 2001; consolidation of the last two parks admitted to the current program, and preparation of all PiP sites for graduation to the follow-on PiP 2000 program will be the focus of this year's activities. In addition, USAID is assisting Mexican NGO partners to develop regional strategy frameworks in several priority conservation areas. The coastal resource activity will assist in the design and implementation of the protected area management plan for the Xcalak Marine Park, coordinate planning for the coastal management center being built under the U.S.-Japan Common Agenda in Mahahual, and will facilitate the community-based planning process for Bahia Santa Maria. This activity will also coordinate efforts to support the development of an integrated coastal management program at the University of Quintana Roo with the academic linkage grant to assist creation of a Geographic Information System (GIS) center at the university.

In FY 2001, roughly 70% of the budget ($3.8 million) will be used to support management of natural resources, protected areas, and critical ecosystems; approximately 20% ($1.0 million) will fund policy work for improved conservation; about 10% ($0.6 million) will be used to improve the capacity of Mexican NGOs and professionals in natural resource management, including fires; and $0.1 million for program management.

Expenditures in FY 2002 will follow roughly the same proportional breakdown, approximately: $2.2 million for natural resource management; $0.6 million for policy initiatives; $0.3 million for technical capacity building; and $0.1 million program management.

Possible Adjustments to Plans: USAID is staying alert to opportunities and conflicts that will come from the evolving policy agenda of the Fox administration, including the recent announcement of the National Crusade for Forests and Water Resources. USAID's experience with joint environmental and local governance activities and strategic conservation planning should help ensure integration of environmental planning in any future decentralization efforts. Implementation of the new PiP strategy in 2002 will require a re-evaluation of site-based targets.

Other Donor Programs: Multinational Development Banks (MDBs) are important partners that provide follow-on funding for expansion of USAID-supported pilot interventions. Through FY 2006, over $100 million in MDB funds will have been contributed toward such expansion. An additional $23 million has been awarded this year to support park management in Mexico from the Global Environment Fund (GEF), to add to the $16.5 million from GEF already administered via the FMCN. Future MDB donations are expected to support the Mesoamerican Reef Conservation off the coast of Quintana Roo and a regional conservation plan in the Gulf of California. Under the U.S.-Japan Common Agenda, the Government of Japan has awarded a grant to USAID's long-time partner, Amigos de Sian Ka'an, to support construction of a coastal station that will assist the efforts of USAID's coastal resource activities that impact the Mesoamerican Reef.

Principal Contractors, Grantees or Agencies: U.S. partner organizations include the Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, University of Rhode Island, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the U.S. Forest Service. Mexican partners include Pronatura, FMCN, and SEMARNAT.

Mexico 523-006

U.S. Financing

(In thousands of dollars)

	Obligations		Expenditures		Unliquidated
Through September 30, 1999	39,824	DA	35,389	DA	4,435	DA
	0	CSD	0	CSD	0	CSD
	0	ESF	0	ESF	0	ESF
	0	SEED	0	SEED	0	SEED
	0	FSA	0	FSA	0	FSA
	0	DFA	0	DFA	0	DFA
Fiscal Year 2000	6,525	DA	3,450	DA
	0	CSD	0	CSD
	0	ESF	0	ESF
	0	SEED	0	SEED
	0	FSA	0	FSA
	0	DFA	0	DFA
Through September 30, 2000	46,349	DA	38,839	DA	7,510	DA
	0	CSD	0	CSD	0	CSD
	0	ESF	0	ESF	0	ESF
	0	SEED	0	SEED	0	SEED
	0	FSA	0	FSA	0	FSA
	0	DFA	0	DFA	0	DFA
Prior Year Unobligated Funds	0	DA
	0	CSD
	0	ESF
	0	SEED
	0	FSA
	0	DFA
Planned Fiscal Year 2001 NOA	5,519	DA
	0	CSD
	0	ESF
	0	SEED
	0	FSA
	0	DFA
Total Planned Fiscal Year 2001	5,519	DA
	0	CSD
	0	ESF
	0	SEED
	0	FSA
	0	DFA
			Future Obligations		Est. Total Cost
Proposed Fiscal Year 2002 NOA	3,265	DA	5,500	DA	60,633	DA
	0	CSD	0	CSD	0	CSD
	0	ESF	0	ESF	0	ESF
	0	SEED	0	SEED	0	SEED
	0	FSA	0	FSA	0	FSA
	0	DFA	0	DFA	0	DFA

Mexico

Activity Data Sheet

Mexico 523-006

U.S. Financing