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Data from the annual, seasonal, and hourly behavior of the criteria air pollutants CO, NO2, SO2, O3, and PM10 in three Mexican metropolitan areas (the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA), Guadalajara Metropolitan Area (GMA), and Monterrey Metropolitan Area (MMA)) over the period 2000-2011 were analyzed; and compliance with Mexican air quality standards was evaluated, highlighting causes of specific episodes of high and low concentrations. Data analyzed were collected from automatic air-monitoring networks located in the MCMA (32 stations), GMA (8 stations), and MMA (5 stations). In the MCMA and MMA, correlations between wind direction and concentrations of SO2 suggest that there was a considerable contribution of trans-boundary transport from outside of these areas. Analysis of annual trends revealed large reductions of CO in the MCMA, and SO2 in the three metropolitan areas. However, the annual mean concentration of O2 increased by 47% and 42% in the GMA and MMA, respectively, from 2000 to 2011, but decreased by 13% in the MCMA from 2005 to 2010. The annual mean concentration of PM10 in the MMA was about 58% and 76% higher than that in the MCMA and GMA, respectively, from 2001 to 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capitalism has introduced a global system that incentivizes nation-states to strive for continuous growth and expansion within a competitive world market. A nation is able to experience economic growth and remain competitive only when its economy is productive enough to allow for the accumulation of capital. In order to compete for a position of power within the present world market, capital accumulation is necessary to, "purchase the means (materials and labor) to produce commodities that are then exchanged for more capital... to make possible the endless circulation and accumulation of capital."i The accumulation of capital generates wealth within a society and creates room for social and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On August 14, 1983, the United States and Mexico signed the landmark United States–Mexico Agreement on Cooperation for the Protection and Improvement of the Environment in the Border Area, better known as the La Paz Agreement, which remains the keystone agreement for bilateral cooperation on environmental protection in the border zone. This article reviews the agreement’s history and achievements, with particular emphasis on the post–North American Free Trade Agreement environmental cooperation programs and its influence on other joint agencies with environmental mandates in the border region. It then reviews more recent implementation developments and reflects on political conditions shaping La Paz implementation. It concludes noting that the La Paz Agreement affirms the importance of certain institutional design principles for successful international environmental institutions and arguing for strengthening binational commitment to the La Paz Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The air quality of megacities can be influenced by external emission sources on both global and regional scales. At the same time their outflow emissions can exert an impact to the surrounding environment. The present study evaluates an SO2 peak observed on 24 March 2006 at the suburban supersite T1 and at ambient air quality monitoring stations located in the northern region of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) during the Megacity Initiative: Local and Global Research Observations (MILAGRO) field campaign. We found that this peak could be related to an important episodic emission event coming from Tizayuca region, northeast of the MCMA. Back-trajectory analyses suggest that the emission event started in the early morning at 04:00 LST and lasted for about 9h. The estimated emission rate is about 2 kgs-1 . To the best of our knowledge, sulfur dioxide emissions from the Tizayuca region have not been considered in previous studies. This finding suggests the possibility of "overlooked" emission sources in this region that could influence the air quality of the MCMA. This further motivated us to study the cement plants, including those in the state of Hidalgo and in the State of Mexico. It was found that they can contribute to the SO2 levels in the northeast (NE) region of the basin (about 42%), at the suburban supersite T1 (41 %) and that at some monitoring stations their contribution can be even higher than the contribution from the Tula Industrial Complex (TIC). The contribution of the Tula Industrial Complex to regional ozone levels is estimated. The model suggests low contribution to the MCMA (1 to 4 ppb) and slightly higher contribution at the suburban T1 (6 ppb) and rural T2 (5 ppb) supersites. However, the contribution could be as high as 10ppb in the upper northwest region of the basin and in the southwest and south-southeast regions of the state of Hidalgo. In addition, the results indicated that the ozone plume could also be transported to northwest Tlaxcala, eastern Hidalgo, and farther northeast of the State of Mexico, but with rather low values. A first estimate of the potential contribution from flaring activities to regional ozone levels is presented. Results suggest that up to 30 % of the total regional ozone from TIC could be related to flaring activities. Finally, the influence on SO2 levels from technological changes in the existing refinery is briefly discussed. These changes are due to the upcoming construction of a new refinery in Tula. The combination of emission reductions in the power plant, the refinery and in local sources in the MCMA could result in higher reductions on the average SO2 concentration. Reductions in external sources tend to affect more the northern part of the basin (-16 to - 4 6 %), while reductions of urban sources in the megacity tend to diminish SO2 levels substantially in the central, southwest, and southeast regions (-31 to -50%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work aims to assess the efficiency of heavy metal accumulation of native species growing in contaminated soils in the mining district of Taxco, Mexico. Soil and tailing sampling was conducted in three study sites: La Concha, El Fraile, and a control site. The study localities present diverse metal concentrations with significant differences in their proportion in the geochemical fractions. Results show that species Cupressus lindleyi and Juniperus deppeana accumulate Zn and Mn in anomalous concentrations at La Concha, where Zn is present in soluble fractions. Manganese, despite not being present mostly in the soluble fraction in soils and tailings, seems to have been increased in the soluble fraction after the plant growth. In contrast, samples of the same species taken at El Fraile and in the control site, where Zn and Mn are mainly contained in the residual fraction, do not show an anomalous enrichment. Other analyzed species growing under the same contamination conditions in La Concha ( Jacaranda mimosifolia and Psidium guajava) do not show anomalous concentrations. These facts confirm the Zn and Mn accumulation capacity of C. lindleyi and Ju. deppeana, which depends on their accumulation ability and on the concentration of these elements in the soluble fraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Mexico, the Federal Commission of Electricity (CFE) is the public entity that is responsible for the annual preparation of the national programme of the electricity system development with a 15 year horizon (POISE in Spanish). Besides this national planning process, there are regional plans as well as others regarding the development of hydroelectric and geothermoelectric projects; these plans are essential inputs to prepare the POISE. Another key decision window is the site selection of the projects listed in the Program. For a few years the Environmental Protection Division of CFE has been promoting the incorporation of SEA into the decision-making processes of the company. Two regional SEAs have been made so far. This paper presents the actions carried out to incorporate SEA into CFE since 2002, as well as the methodologies followed in each of the two cases, and primarily the lessons learned from these experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work was to test the performance of a shrimp-tomato culture system (STCS) in an arid-semiarid region (Sonora, Mexico) and to evaluate the water quality variables and phytoplankton variation of shrimp effluent and that water returning from the tomato module culture. The field study was conducted using groundwater and consisted of three circular tanks that were used for shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) farming and were coupled to one culture module of tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum). The shrimp effluent was used to irrigate the tomato plants. The yield was 11.1±0.2 kg shrimp per tank (3.9±2.0 ton ha−1) and 33.3 kg tomatoes per 45 plants (36.1±2.3 ton ha−1). During the culture, the concentrations of nutrients were (mg L−1): total N-ammonia, <0.001–0.848; N-nitrite, <0.001–1.45; N-nitrate, 5.2–172.2; dissolved reactive-P, <0.005–0.343. A total of 35 taxa belonging to three different algal classes were observed: Chlorophyta (87 to 98%), Bacilliariophyta (2 to 9%) and Cyanophyta (0–3%). This STCS allowed us to harvest the equivalent of 3.9 ton ha−1 of shrimp and 36.3 ton ha−1 of tomatoes, with a water consumption of 2.1 m3 per kg harvested of both products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper summarizes the findings of a research project aimed at benchmarking the environmental sustainability practices of the top 500 Mexican companies. Design/methodology/approach – The paper surveyed the firms with regard to various aspects of their adoption of environmental sustainability practices, including who or what prompted adoption, future adoption plans, decision-making responsibility, and internal/external challenges. The survey also explored how the adoption of environmental sustainability practices relates to the competitiveness of these firms. Findings – The results suggest that Mexican companies are very active in the various areas of business where environmental sustainability is relevant. Not surprisingly, however, the Mexican companies are seen to be at an early stage of development along the sustainability "learning curve". Research limitations/implications – The sample consisted of 103 self-selected firms representing the six primary business sectors in the Mexican economy. Because the manufacturing sector is significantly overrepresented in the sample and because of its importance in addressing issues of environmental sustainability, when appropriate, specific results for this sector are reported and contrasted to the overall sample. Practical implications – The vast majority of these firms see adopting environmental sustainability practices as being profitable and think this will be even more important in the future. Originality/value – Improving the environmental performance of business firms through the adoption of sustainability practices is compatible with competitiveness and improved financial performance. In Mexico, one might expect that the same would be true, but only anecdotal evidence was heretofore available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water rights markets in the western United States have expanded over the last 40 years, as a result of population growth in the West and Southwest, and limited development of new storage. Until 2008, house prices, home construction and population growth appeared to be locked in an ever-increasing upward trend. With little historical experience to the contrary, water right market prices similarly appeared to be driven by real estate development. The collapse of the housing market in the last four years provides an opportunity to examine the connection between the real estate and water markets. It is found that Middle Rio Grande Basin water right prices are influenced by housing prices, per capita income in the buyer's county, buyer type, point of diversion, and transaction volume. However, significant price dispersion remains, raising the question of how efficiently this market is currently working. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We study the consequences of poverty-alleviation programs for environmental degradation. We exploit the community-level eligibility discontinuity for a conditional cash transfer program in Mexico to identify the impacts of income increases on deforestation and use the program's initial randomized rollout to explore household responses. We find that additional income raises consumption of land-intensive goods and increases deforestation. The observed production response and deforestation increase are larger in communities with poor road infrastructure. This suggests that better access to markets disperses environmental harm and that the full effects of poverty alleviation on the environment can be observed only where poor infrastructure localizes them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multiperiodoptimization approach to the cost-effective reduction of the negativeimpact caused by discharging industrial effluents into watersheds.The model considers all discharges and extractions, as well as thechemical reactions carried out in the watershed, while accountingfor the seasonal variability of the system through the year. The proposedmodel is based on a material flow analysis applied to a distributedtreatment system for industrial effluents in a macroscopic water system.The problem is formulated as a multiobjective optimization model withthe objectives of simultaneously minimizing the pollutant concentrationsin the final catchment areas and the total annual cost of the waste-treatmentunits. The model selects the place to locate the treatment units andthe type of treatment technology, as well as the industrial effluentstreated in each period of the year, to satisfy the environmental regulations.Two case studies are presented to show the applicability of the proposedoptimization approach: one is the Bahr El-Baqar drain in Egypt andthe other one is the Balsas watershed in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the association between changes in airborne particulate matter concentration (PM) with changes in cases of mortality, acute respiratory infections (ARI) and asthma over 2004-2008 in an industrialized and polluted region in central Mexico. Methods: A generalized linear model with a Poisson distribution and a negative binomial analysis was used to evaluate the influence of PM and temperature on all-cause mortality (All-cause-M), cause-specific mortality (Cause-specific-M), ARI and asthma, using cubic spline functions and distributed lags of PM. Estimated changes in relative risk were calculated for an exposure corresponding to each increase of 10 μg/m in PM level. Results: Associations between PM and mortality and morbidity were statistically most consistent for total suspended particulate (TSP) than for particulate matter <10 μM aerodynamic diameter (PM). The greatest effects in mortality were observed with a 3-week lag, and effects were greater for Cause-specific-M. We also found a displacement effect up to 4-week lag for Cause-specific-M and TSP. The greatest effects in morbidity were observed at 0-week lag, yet they were statistically marginal and were greater for asthma. We found a displacement effect at 4-5-6-week lag for asthma and TSP. All associations of mortality and morbidity, expressed as change in relative risk, were greater with PM; however, all of them were statistically marginal. Conclusions: Increased respiratory morbidity and mortality is associated with weekly changes of PM air pollution in the region. A reduction in air pollutants from industrial sources would benefit life quality and health of the exposed population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare the environmental performance of voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) with different attributes. Using club theory, we argue that the differential performance of VEPs is due in part to their specific design attributes that will either enhance or diminish their ability to improve both targeted and untargeted environmental impacts. We analyze two VEPs in Mexico, the global standard ISO 14001 and the local standard Clean Industry. These two VEPs differ in the stringency of the standards and in their ability to sanction noncompliant facilities. These differences ensure that firms adopting the local standard are less likely to shirk their responsibilities and enhance potential spillover effects on untargeted environmental emissions. Our empirical results support our hypotheses and show that the local Clean Industry program is more effective in improving both targeted (toxic emissions) and untargeted environmental impacts (greenhouse gas emissions). © 2012 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Annals of the Association of American Geographers is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A comprehensive investigation of polybromodiphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in wastewater was conducted in the second largest international metroplex area along the U.S. and Mexico (MX) border. Concentrations of PBDEs in wastewater and sludge were measured in four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in El Paso, Texas and two WWTPs in Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua, MX. A green approach in sample preparation technique, called stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) coupled with thermal desorption and gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, was used which requires minimum amount of organic solvents and has good sensitivity at nanogram-per-liter levels for wastewater samples and nanograms per gram for waste sludge solids. Concentrations of PBDEs ranged from 30.2 to 342 ng L in wastewater influents, from not detected to 209 ng L in effluents, and from not detected to 1,303 ng g in sludge. Among 27 PBDEs studied, BDE-47, BDE-99, and BDE-100 were the most commonly detected congeners in all samples. Further evaluation showed that secondary and tertiary treatments are highly effective at removing PBDEs from wastewater with percent removals ranging from 84 % to 100 %, while advanced primary treatment only removed 41-73 % of PBDEs. As a complement, the ambient air temperature change on PBDEs concentrations was evaluated finding that this factor did not have an influence on the PBDEs concentrations in WWTPs. The incomplete removal of PBDEs in WWTPs implicates a potential impact on the environmental and public health as a result of the continuous release of PBDEs from the WWTPs to the Rio Grande River and irrigation canals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to investigate and identify drivers to compete in the industry of plastics through the application of the methodology of Competitive Intelligence. Practical implications: This article provides a practical case of the Competitive Intelligence Methodology applied to the Thermoplastics Elastomers Industry, specifically within the Styrenic Block Copolymers category. The output of this research helped support a Mexican Company in their decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private sector initiatives certifying that producers of goods and services adhere to defined environmental process standards are increasingly popular worldwide. According to proponents, they can circumvent chronic barriers to effective public sector environmental regulation in developing countries. But eco-certification programs will have limited effects on producers' environmental performance if, as one would expect, they select for those already meeting certification standards. Rigorous evaluations of the environmental effects of eco-certification in developing countries that control for selection bias are rare. We use plant-level data on more than 80,000 Mexican facilities to determine whether ISO 14001 series certification of environmental management systems boosts regulatory compliance. We use propensity score matching to control for nonrandom selection into the program. We find that plants recently fined by environmental regulators were more likely to be certified, all other things equal, but that certified plants were subsequently fined just as often as similar uncertified plants. These results suggest that in Mexico, the ISO 14001 program attracts dirty plants under pressure from regulators-not just relatively clean ones-but does not have a large, lasting impact on their regulatory compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does the transnationalization of markets shape institution building, particularly in those countries that have few options other than to incorporate the rules and norms promulgated by advanced industrialized countries? Building on recent advances in international and comparative political economy, we propose a framework for the comparative study of the ways in which transnational integration regimes (TIRs) shape the development of regulatory institutions in emerging market democracies. The ability of TIRs to alleviate the supply and demand problems of institutional change in these countries depends in large part on the ways in which TIRs translate their purpose and power into institutional goals, assistance and monitoring. Integration modes can be combined in different ways so as to empower or limit the participation of a variety of domestic public and private actors to pursue and contest alternative institutional experiments. We illustrate the use of our framework via a brief comparison of the impact of the European Union accession process on post-communist countries and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Mexico, with special attention to the development of food safety regulatory institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Mexico has undergone a peculiar transition to a democracy that in some aspects and places still exhibits traits of the authoritarian past. The combination of authoritarian shades and democratic glares, rich diversity in socioeconomic conditions across the country, and the recent availability of a wealth of information and systematized data make for a great deal of research opportunities for sociolegal scholarship. This article reviews recent sociolegal studies on courts and judicial behavior, public security and the criminal justice system, and legal culture, pointing to several empirical puzzles and open questions that are crying out for explanations and systematic empirical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a simulation of the plume trajectory emitted by flaring activities of the Miguel Hidalgo Refinery in Mexico. The flame of a representative sour gas flare is modeled with a CFD combustion code in order to estimate emission rates of combustion by-products of interest for air quality: acetylene, ethylene, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, soot and sulfur dioxide. The emission rates of NO2 and SO2 were compared with measurements obtained at Tula as part of MILAGRO field campaign. The rates of soot, VOCs and CO emissions were compared with estimates obtained by Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo (IMP). The emission rates of these species were further included in WRF-Chem model to simulate the chemical transport of the plume from 22 to 27 March of 2006. The model presents reliable performance of the resolved meteorology, with respect to the Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), mean bias (BIAS), vector RMSE and Index of Agreement (IOA). WRF-Chem outputs of SO2 and soot were compared with surface measurements obtained at the three supersites of MILAGRO campaign. The results suggest a contribution of Tula flaring activities to the total SO2 levels of 18% to 27% at the urban supersite (T0), and of 10% to 18% at the suburban supersite (T1). For soot, the model predicts low contribution at the three supersites, with less than 0.1% at three supersites. According to the model, the greatest contribution of both pollutants to the three supersites occurred on 23 March, which coincides with the third cold surge event reported during the campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how corruption in the institutional environment influences firms' decisions to obtain third-party certification to private management standards as signals of desirable conduct. We argue that policy-specific corruption erodes trust in government efforts to regulate firms' conduct, thus increasing the signaling value of private certifications and the likelihood of certification. However, widespread corruption in the general environment can extend distrust to private certification systems, which reduces the credibility and signaling value of private certifications, thus decreasing the likelihood that firms obtain certification. Our empirical results based on ISO 14001 environmental management system certification among 433 automotive plants in Mexico confirm these relationships. We discuss the implications of our findings for transaction cost economics, institutional theory, research, and practice. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation and human rights are currently threatened by direct and indirect effects of border enforcement practices on the US–Mexico border. Increased border enforcement in urban areas has pushed migrants into remote conservation areas where thousands have died. Migration, smuggling, border enforcement, and aid provisioning contribute to ecological degradation of protected areas on the border. In this study we explore the discursively created physical, social, and cultural dimensions of place among land management personnel and humanitarian aid volunteers who were attempting to address the socio-ecological crises wrought by border enforcement in the Altar Valley region of southern Arizona. Land managers described physical place as an eroding ecosystem whereas humanitarians described physical place as a fragmenting system. Land managers saw crime as the defining social process while humanitarians pointed to social injustice. Finally, land managers viewed uncertainty as the primary cultural meaning, but humanitarians described empathy as the primary cultural meaning. We describe how these differences explain counterproductive conflict between humanitarian and land management groups, how viable local conservation solutions can emerge from an understanding of place, and how challenges arise as these solutions are scaled up to regional and national level policy. We suggest that the concept of culturescape integrated with place allows for an analysis of discourse that is especially local, and can be used to understand and improve upon natural resource conflicts that stem from attachments to place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The city of Salamanca in central Mexico is surrounded by heavy industry, i.e., a refinery, a thermoelectric plant and chemical industries. Variable concentrations of vanadium (V) have been reported in the groundwater, and their presence has been related to particulates so this hypothesis was tested by sampling soil in the urban area and the surrounding uncontaminated country site. The 0-10-cm soil layer in the industrial and rural area was analyzed for V and other metal trace elements found in hydrocarbons, i.e., chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and nickel (Ni). The concentrations of V were higher in the urban rather than in the rural soil, reaching values of >600 mg kg in the urban soils. In the rural area, V in the soil was related to regional geology, i.e., volcanic rocks such as basalts and rhyolites but not in the urban area where it was related to particulate distribution mostly emitted from the industries burning fuel oil number 6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a descriptive historical analysis of failure and success factors during the implementation phase of environmental voluntary agreements (VAs) in Mexico. Secondary source data suggest that over the past two decades, perceptions of VAs have changed, and the purpose of this paper was to identify the driving factors behind that change. The analytical framework has three components: the first one refers to prior research findings on the perceptions of the Mexican private sector. The second and third components draw on previously reported 'successful' characteristics in voluntary approaches. By including a range of interest groups, the authors aimed to include those aspects of communication processes described as 'lobbying' by several authors. A major outcome of this analysis is that the low level of 'trust' among actors amounted to a failure factor when implementing a VA but that, after 14 years, the level of 'trust' had increased resulting in a cooperative attitude among actors. Communication effectiveness had an important role in the 'trust' building process, leading to the conclusion that communication processes had also improved. Although this cannot be claimed as a direct result of the lobbying processes, this research has identified the influence of 'lobbying' in facilitating the successful implementation of a VA. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the responses of the local officials concerning the increasing volume of the residents in Mexico City, Mexico. It discusses the new Environmental Standard for the Federal District which cracks down on loud factories, bars, markets and other places of business in the capital. According to Sergio Beristain, president of the Mexican Institute of Acoustics, the new ordinance tightens a noise law for the area that was largely ignored.

Copyright of Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad is the property of Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Instituto de Biologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the North American automobile industry with a focus on the roles of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico in building cars. Discussion topics include the North American Free Trade Agreement and American Labeling Act's effects on the industry, a changing system of suppliers and assemblers, and the integration of production, distribution, and marketing networks in the auto industry. Productivity enhancement on continental and global levels, resulting from the supply chain networks' linking of production and distribution centers, is discussed.

This multisited global ethnography concerns the intimate and unequal relationships that connect revitalization of a Midwestern packing town to development processes in immigrant workers’ communities of origin in Togo and Mexico. It brings to light how immigrants’ families, friends, and home institutions subsidize reproduction of people and place in immigrants’ communities of destination—complex processes and practices I call global restructuring of social reproduction. Revealing the immigration-based nature of local development not only in Mexico and Togo but also in the United States, the study makes visible the global interconnections in processes of dispossession and development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Favored by neoliberal agrarian policies, the production of fresh crops for international markets has become a common strategy for economic development in Mexico and other Latin American countries. But as some scholars have argued, the global fresh produce industry in developing countries in which fresh crops are produced for consumer markets in affluent nations implies 'virtual water flows,' the transfer of high volumes of water embedded in these crops across international borders. This article examines the local effects of the production of fresh produce in the San Quintín Valley in northwestern Mexico for markets in the United States. Although export agriculture has fostered economic growth and employment opportunities for indigenous farm laborers, it has also led to the overexploitation of underground finite water resources, and an alarming decline of the quantity and quality of water available for residents' domestic use. I discuss how neoliberal water policies have further contributed to water inequalities along class and ethnic lines, the hardships settlers endure to secure access to water for their basic needs, and the political protests and social tensions water scarcity has triggered in the region. Although the production of fresh crops for international markets is promoted by organizations such as the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank as a model for economic development, I argue that it often produces water insecurity for the poorest, threatening the UN goal of ensuring access to clean water as a universal human right. [Water; export agriculture; neoliberalism; Mexico-U.S. border; Baja California] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental education in Mexico takes many forms and plays a wide variety of roles. Through an online survey, we addressed the need to present a wider picture on the current state of environmental education practices in Mexico: Who is engaging in environmental education practices, how important is it for their organization, who are they targeting, which methods and settings are they choosing and what environmental issues are they addressing? Representatives from 118 conservation and environmental education agencies and organizations responded to the survey. Results show that conservation Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are taking the lead in the field of environmental education in Mexico. Conservation education represents a big piece of the overall environmental education field in Mexico. Education appears to be an important tool used widely by environmental and conservation organizations. At the same time, there seems to be a serious lack of funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mainstream analysis and commentary on drug trafficking and related violence in Mexico focuses overwhelmingly on the narco-cartels as sources of the problem and presents the US as a well intentioned player helping to conduct a ‘war on drugs’ out of concern for addiction, crime and violence. This article offers an alternative interpretation, grounded in critical political economy, showing that in addition to fuelling the narcotics industry in Mexico thanks to its large drug consumption and loose firearms regulations, the US shares much responsibility for its expansion thanks to its record of support for some of the main players in the drugs trade, such as the Mexican government and military, and by implementing neoliberal reforms that have increased the size of the narcotics industry. The war on drugs has served as a pretext to intervene in Mexican affairs and to protect US hegemonic projects such as nafta, rather than as a genuine attack on drug problems. In particular, the drugs war has been used repeatedly to repress dissent and popular opposition to neoliberal policies in Mexico. Finally, US banks have increased their profits by laundering drug money from Mexico and elsewhere; the failure to implement tighter regulations testifies to the power of the financial community in the US. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary & Nonprofit Organizations is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Land tenure and carbon rights constitute critical issues to take into account in achieving emission reductions, ensuring transparent benefit sharing and determining non-permanence (or non-compliance) liabilities in the context of REDD+ strategies and projects. This is so because tenure systems influence who becomes involved in efforts to avoid deforestation and improve forest management, and that land tenure, carbon rights and liabilities may be linked or divorced with implications for rural development. This paper explores these issues by looking at tenure regimes and carbon rights issues in Mexico, Brazil and Costa Rica. It is effectively shown that complex bundles of rights over forest resources have distinct implications for REDD+ design and implementation, and that REDD+ strategies in selected countries have to date failed in procedurally addressing land-use conflicts and carbon rights entitlements and liabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider some non-homogeneous Poisson models to estimate the probability that an air quality standard is exceeded a given number of times in a time interval of interest. We assume that the number of exceedances occurs according to a non-homogeneous Poisson process (NHPP). This Poisson process has rate function , , which depends on some parameters that must be estimated. We take into account two cases of rate functions: the Weibull and the Goel-Okumoto. We consider models with and without change-points. When the presence of change-points is assumed, we may have the presence of either one, two or three change-points, depending of the data set. The parameters of the rate functions are estimated using a Gibbs sampling algorithm. Results are applied to ozone data provided by the Mexico City monitoring network. In a first instance, we assume that there are no change-points present. Depending on the adjustment of the model, we assume the presence of either one, two or three change-points. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the impact of free trade under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with particular focus in Mexico and the U.S. It explores the dynamic interactions among trade, GHG emissions and other related economic factors, given the debates over the environmental impact of free trade and climate change mitigation. It suggests that trade openness between Mexico and the U.S. Contribute to GHG emission increases after 1994.

Copyright of Annals of the Association of American Geographers is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An article discussing the changes that have occurred in the state of New Mexico and the Chihuahua region of Mexico is presented. The author describes the region in the 1970s and 1980s, noting the effect globalization and transportation improvements have had on the Chihuahua region. Addressing the fusion of traditional undertakings such as well-pumping with modern technology such as solar panels, the author describes how technological innovations have altered the Mexican state. The popularity of credit cards and mobile phones in Chihuahua and the rise of drug cartels in Mexico are also included. Other topics addressed include the historical geographic work of researcher Donald D Brand, socioeconomic conditions in the greater Sonora region of Mexico, and the impact of cars in the area.

In many cities in developing countries, clusters of small and medium-sized enterprises create severe pollution problems. Because conventional regulatory approaches are typically ineffective in such situations, policy responses have increasingly focused on promoting voluntary clean technological change. Yet the data and analysis needed to guide such efforts are scarce. This article uses original firm-level survey data on a cluster of small and medium-scale leather tanneries in León, Guanajuato—Mexico’s leather goods capital—to identify the factors that drive the adoption of two clean tanning technologies. Using a multivariate probit model to estimate a system of seemingly unrelated regressions, we find—in contrast to conventional wisdom—that neither firm size nor regulatory pressure is positively correlated with adoption. Rather, the key driver of adoption is the firm’s human capital, the same factor that often explains conventional productivity-enhancing technological change. We also find that a private-sector trade association is an important source of technical information about clean technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microcystis is a bloom-forming, common cyanobacterium in urban lakes of Mexico City. To assess the presence of potentially cyanotoxin-producing Microcystis, molecular techniques were applied and acute toxicity bioassays were performed with Daphnia magna neonates exposed to cyanobacterial crude extracts. Toxigenic potential of isolated strains was inferred by amplifying the mcyA-Cd genes and their identity as Microcystis was confirmed through the 16S rDNA and phycocyanin operon amplification. Microcystins synthesized under culture conditions were quantified through ELISA. The acute toxicity bioassays revealed that mortality was independent from the cyanotoxin concentration in some strains; this suggests the presence of other metabolites (different from microcystins) that also exerted an important biological effect. Isolated strains had the mcyA-Cd gene and most of them produced variable amounts of microcystins in the culture conditions used, confirming their toxigenic potential. Results warn about possible toxic effect risks for aquatic biota, neighboring areas, visitors and users of these sites, due to the constant presence of these blooms in the studied water bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this article is to explore the pollution prevention practices performed by workers in the Mexican auto refinishing industry as well as their implications on the occupational, safety and environmental health of workers and community. Design/methodology/approach - Interviewer-administered questionnaires were conducted with shop owners, workers, and neighbors, and repeated site visits to collect information on occupational practices (personal protective equipment (PPE) in use, engineering controls, hazard communication, level of technology), environmental impact (chemicals usage, wastes amounts, disposal, supply chain, impact to the neighborhood), and possible symptoms of work-related adverse health effects. Findings - The findings indicate that the Mexican auto body shop industry is not consistent with the accepted precepts of sustainability because it is not addressing the underlying topics of health, safety, and environment. When comparing working conditions between auto body workers in developed countries and those in Mexico, it is evident that Mexican workers perform their tasks under critical conditions; therefore, under considerable occupational and environmental risks. Practical implications - This article reveals five P2 opportunities that seem to have a potential relevance to the development of prevention and intervention strategies in the region to secure long-term economic growth while improving environmental and working conditions. Originality/value - This article provides the first insights about several opportunities for adopting pollution prevention strategies that improve environmental and occupational conditions in the auto refinishing industry in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]