Mexico Faces “Environmental tragedy” as Government pledges Restoration & Social Justice
world-today-news.com – June 24, 2025
Mexico City – Mexico is grappling with a severe “environmental tragedy,” marked by significant deforestation and widespread contamination, according to Surroundings Secretary Alicia Bárcena. The nation loses over 155,000 hectares of forest annually, and numerous sites are designated as “environmental hells” due to toxic pollution – examples include the Druster of the Drown in Jalisco and the Sonora River.
Bárcena,speaking at the International colloquium “Ecology Perspectives in Latin America” at UNAM,emphasized the immense challenge of concurrently restoring ecosystems,addressing contamination,and pursuing social justice. She highlighted a deeply ingrained “culture of privileges” evidenced by the constant stream of environmental permit requests from wealthy tourism and mining interests. The Secretary vowed to combat this concentration of income and reclaim rights stripped from vulnerable communities.
“Our country has undergone a process of transformation in which today the basic premise of the government’s ecological policy is that there cannot be environmental betterment without social justice,” Bárcena stated, framing this approach as a “new form of policy.”
Key Government Initiatives:
Site Restoration: A plan to restore 50 highly deteriorated sites is underway.
Reforestation: The government aims to reforest 100,000 hectares of forests and 100,000 hectares of mangroves, recognizing the critical role of coastal ecosystems.
* Addressing Privilege: A commitment to challenge the existing “culture of privileges” that favors wealthy developers.UNAM Rector Leonardo Lomelí added context, noting that Latin America accounts for at least 25% of global socio-environmental conflicts, often linked to large-scale extractive projects impacting indigenous lands and sensitive ecological areas. He stressed the ethical obligation of science to address these injustices.
Call to Action: The Secretary Bárcena called for broad participation from scientists to achieve a “humanistic ecological and environmental policy.” This signals a shift towards a more inclusive and equitable approach to environmental protection in Mexico.Stay tuned to world-today-news.com for continuing coverage of this developing story.