Tag: medio ambiente

Within the framework of the high-level forum “Legislative Challenges of Quintana Roo”, held in person and virtually in the State Congress lobby, the Environment and Climate Change Commission of the XVI Legislature, announced three initiatives regarding climate change, environmental justice, water management, and sustainable tourism.

©Foto: Congreso del Estado de Quintana Roo. Foro de alto nivel sobre retos legislativos en Quintana Roo.
© Photo: State Congress of Quintana Roo.  High-level forum on legislative challenges in Quintana Roo.

The initiative was carried out within the cooperation between the Congress of Quintana Roo and the ADAPTUR project, made up of: a training aimed at legislative teams on environmental challenges; virtual conversations between deputy presidents of various commissions, technical experts such as Gonzalo Merediz from Amigos de Sian Ka´an A.C. and Rosaura Cuevas from GIZ, as well as federal authorities such as Nancy Hernández, from the Directorate of Sustainable Tourism Management of SECTUR and Marco Heredia from the General Directorate of Climate Change Policies of SEMARNAT. Finally, as a conclusion to the work, the aforementioned high-level forum took place on April 21, on the eve of Earth Day.

©Foto: Congreso del Estado de Quintana Roo. Conversatorio virtual sobre cambio climático
© Photo: Congress of the State of Quintana Roo. Virtual conversation on climate change

The three initiatives presented by the deputy president of the Environment and Climate Change Committee involve the following:

  1. Reform of the Law of Quotas and Rates for Public Services of Drinking Water and Sewerage, Treatment and Disposal of Wastewater of the State of Quintana Roo, to reduce or eliminate dissolved nutrients that damage ecosystem health.
  2. Reform of the Quintana Roo Tourism Law to grant power to the state executive to create the State Zones for Sustainable Tourism Development.
  3. Creation of a new State Law on Environmental Responsibility, which will aim to establish and regulate environmental liability arising from damage caused to the environment, as well as the repair and compensation of such damage.

These proposals represent an important milestone for the State of Quintana Roo, since they demonstrate that the health of ecosystems is a fundamental element for the development of the population and productive sectors.

The ADAPTUR project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). It is led by SECTUR with technical support from SEMARNAT, CONANP, INECC and GIZ in Mexico.

For more information consult:

After a multi-stakeholder participatory process, the CiClim program supported the development of the conceptual and methodological structure to put payment models for environmental services in two cities into operation.

The inhabitants of León (Guanajuato) suffer from water supply service problems (90% of which is overexploited) and poor air quality (in 2017, 173 days were outside the norm). In this context, 75% of the population surveyed through social networks showed that they were willing to voluntarily contribute between $2 and $15 more when paying for their water bill or vehicle verification. This financing will be administered by the already existing Municipal Environmental Fund and will be destined towards activities that help to recover urban green areas and subsequently the Sierra de Lobos natural protected area, as projects subject to the Fund’s operating rules are approved.

 

Sierra de Lobos, ANP de León Guanajuato Credit: GIZ CiClim © 2019

 

In Morelia (Michoacán), the overexploitation of the aquifer that supplies the city – and affects the current condition of the main state and municipal protected natural areas – was considered serious. In this city, surveys (with direct population sampling) reported that 80% of the interviewees are willing to make a voluntary contribution of money – between $2 and $12 fortnightly – going towards financing projects related to the conservation of protected areas. The municipal government is in the process of approving the Environmental Fund, to manage the resources and coordinate the proposed programs.

 

Río Chiquito, ANP Morelia Mich. Credit: GIZ CiClim © 2019

 

As of the writing of this text, work is still in progress on a forest compensation mechanism for the municipality of Mérida (Yucatán).

This project is implemented by the Cities and Climate Change (CiClim) program and is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

Home refrigeration and air conditioning contribute to the global warming of the planet. This is due to the fact that these appliances contain refrigerant chemical compounds called Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) and Hydrofluorocarbons (HFC). HFCs were considered an alternative to HCFCs, which were ozone-depleting substances (ODS).

While HFCs do not contribute to the Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP), these gases have high Global Warming Potential (GWP), meaning their use actively contributes to the worsening of this phenomenon. In Mexico, the national consumption of HFC has increased by an annual rate of 14.5% in the period from 2007 to 2017, going from 12.75 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) to 49.43 MtCO2e. The increase in HFC is directly linked to production increase in the following sectors:

The planet’s rising temperature has meant that conserving food, medicine, and other perishables – as well as maintaining human comfort – have become critical necessities. For this reason, an additional increase to refrigeration consumption in the next few years is inevitable. This also means that the refrigeration sector is directly linked to several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

With the intention of decreasing the consumption of HFCs, the Mexican government has adopted and developed several public policy instruments, and the Montreal Protocol Unit of the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), with the support of the project Sustainable and climate-friendly Phase-out of Ozone Depleting Substances (SPODS) of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, developed the National Diagnosis for the Mitigation of HFC Emissions. In addition, in November 2019, a planning workshop was held for the socialization of the Kigali Amendment and for the HFC Reduction Plan.

The diagnosis identifies mitigation actions for each one of the sectors that consume HFC. The majority are actions that involve replacing HFCs with low-GWP alternatives such as hydrocarbons and mixtures of Hydrofluoroolefins (HFO). For example, they suggest using R-600a (isobutane) in the domestic refrigeration sector, while for the commercial sector, they recommend R-290 (propane). The document also highlights the importance of implementing the recovery, recycling, and destruction of refrigerating gases.

As its primary outcome, the study proposes 11 mitigation measures that are feasible in the Mexican sectors of HFC consumption. These measures are aligned with the Kigali Amendment and can be included as part of Mexico’s conditional NDCs and contribute to the fulfillment of several SDGs. One example of the suggested measures is the substitution of HCFC-22 and R-410A with alternatives such as R-32 (difluoromethane) during the period of 2020 – 2045. It is estimated that this measure has a mitigation potential of 1.2tCO2e per substituted device, with a cost of $500 USD per device.

Making sure that these actions can be taken to an implementation phase will depend on the commitment of the government, private sector, and society itself when buying refrigeration systems that contain natural refrigerants. You can consult the diagnosis yourself to find out more details about the measures and suggestions for HFC mitigation.