Summary
The environment is our home, Mother Nature is the provider of life and human beings are the fruit of her. That is why it is important to evaluate the impact that human beings have on the environment. In this essay the following topics will be developed: environment and basic concepts, relationship that exists between economy and environment, Mexican environmental legislation and which are the alternatives proposed by the present government to achieve its sustainable development.
Abstract
Environment is our home, Mother Nature is a provider of life and Human Beings are fruit of it. That is why it is important to investigate what is the impact that humans have on the environment. In this essay is developed enviroment and basics concepts, relationship between economy and environment, Mexican legal and institutional framework of the evaluation of environmental impact and alternatives to achieve sustainable development.
The quality of life and well-being of people depends largely on the state of the environment. Global warming is a problem that exists and every day it takes more strength, the problem is so bad that the effects on the earth can already be perceived and more and more frequent and with greater damage. That is why we must think that if millions of people exist in the same way, there are millions of dreams, a single planet, a single earth, will not be enough to meet all those needs and dreams of millions of people.
Initially, it is important to return to the definition of the environment according to Hajek: “Complex global system, of multiple and varied interactions, dynamic and evolutionary, formed by the physical, biological, social, economic, political and cultural systems in which man lives. and other organisms ”. This definition certainly shares a vision of how complex it is to talk about the environment and its components, since it is the environment that conditions the way of life of all living beings, with human beings being the main actors that include natural values, social and cultural.
Global warming is a topic that is fashionable, some say, those who are not fully aware of what this term means and implies, however, it must be known that this topic has always existed as it is a process of natural causes that have been been able to perceive in the history of the Earth. On the other hand, global warming as a theory allows us to predict, based on projections in computer simulations, a future growth of temperatures and it was thanks to the study of this theory that it was detected that there are different agents that cause more accelerated global warming.
The effect of greenhouse gases emitted by humans has been the only way to explain global warming, this phenomenon having a direct link to being with man because it is responsible for obstructing the release of gases in a variety of ways that block radiations exit and heat the planet.
Through an evaluation over time, it has been observed that since the study of global warming began to date, there have been many changes and gradual advances. Below is a graph that is based on data from the Climate Studies Unit at the University of East Anglia.
Protection of the Environment in Mexico and its legal framework
It can be seen in the graph that the average global temperature has increased in the last 150 years. The period from 1961 to 1990 is the point of comparison for this chart. It is represented by the horizontal line at 0. The anomaly or variation of this average for each year is shown.
Although this topic is of international interest, the necessary progress has not been made to reduce the constant damage caused by greenhouse gases on the planet year after year.
After having a clear and real panorama of what the environment is and what is being experienced, we open the way to the importance that is currently had in achieving an increasingly high rate of people who are aware of caring for the environment, since this depends on the environment being constantly changing in a positive and not negative way. Despite the fact that every day we see the reasons why it is so important to protect our environment, there is still a large part of the population that does not recognize the value of being part of the factor of positive change for our planet.
And until not long ago this issue was not an issue of international interest, however, going back a few years to be precise, in 1997 an international agreement emerged that was born with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions that affect warming of the planet. In this agreement the well-known Kyoto Protocol arose, during the climatic evolution, scientists were the pioneers in attracting international attention to the threats projected by the greenhouse effect.
In the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1970s, data were collected showing that concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were increasing very rapidly. At the same time, research on ice cores and lake sediments revealed that the climate system had undergone other abrupt fluctuations in the distant past: the climate appears to have had 'tipping points' capable of generating strong shaking and recoveries.
Thanks to these data collected in the investigations of the aforementioned decades, the international community reacted and it was not until 1988 that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was created at the initiative of the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). In 1990, this group presented a first evaluation report that reflected the investigations of 400 scientists. It affirmed that the global warming of the Earth was real and the international community was asked to take action on the matter to prevent it.
That is why after the evidence presented to the Intergovernmental Group on Climate Change, the different governments reaffirmed the importance of approving the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was signed in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, known as Summit for Earth. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change itself has as its main objective to prevent dangerous human interference in the climate system.
Since the Kyoto Protocol actually puts the Convention into practice, that is why this protocol commits industrialized countries to level greenhouse gas emissions through the exhortation that the Convention makes to countries to do so.
The intention of countries to improve the quality of environmental life has allowed the Kyoto Protocol to have prompted governments to establish laws and policies to fulfill their commitments, companies to take the environment into consideration when making decisions about their investments, and also has to support the creation of the carbon market. Mexico is not isolated to the serious repercussions that failure to conserve our planet may have, since all living beings and other natural and artificial elements are part of the environment.
Many countries have become responsible for the prevention, preservation and protection of the environment, so let's analyze the Economy and its relationship with the Environment. It is here where the economy begins to play an important role in direct relation to the environment, because there has been a constant struggle for the appropriation of natural resources, that is why humanity is currently facing an ecological crisis of great magnitude, therefore it is important to be more and more strategic.
Many of the problems of environmental deterioration are also due in large part to the fact that the economy is not understood for what it is, a subsystem within the global ecological system, but is seen as a whole that should govern the rest of the aspects. In this sense, natural resources (and even people) are only seen as resources to increase production, consumption and, finally, the benefits of a few at the expense of others. Making it seem that we have gone from an economy at the service of well-being, to a logic in which citizens and the environment should be at the service of the economy.
Based on this thought, that both citizens and the environment should be at the service of the economy, we can say that this is where the gap between what is and should be born. From a strictly economic point of view, the market is far from realizing what is supposed to be its main virtue: allocating resources efficiently. When studying economics in any book that gives us an introduction to the study of this science, it tells us that the necessary conditions for the market to fulfill its function are:
- that there is enough competition so that neither buyers nor sellers can influence the price that there is enough information about the price and quality of the products for agents to make reasonable decisions but what is also on that first page and should not be neglected yet is that the decisions that are taken in the market only affect those who participate in the commercial activity. (buy and sell)
However, the consequences of many economic activities are not limited only to those who decide to carry them out, but affect third parties.
The economy grows, but the destruction of the environment grows more. The gross interim product per capita increases in a country, but at the same time greenhouse gas emissions, the destruction of the territory and energy consumption rise more. We are spending an amount of resources beyond our possibilities and the earth will not hold that rhythm nor will it continue to be fertile to provide us for a long time all those resources that it offers us and that to date have been exploited.
Therefore, this trend requires the intervention of government agencies that establish norms and developed controls that assume that the market economy in its own way endangers our well-being and that of future generations.
Mexico is not exempt from this phenomenon, which is why the current Mexican Government since the presentation of its National Development Plan has tried to ensure that society and government work together towards a new stage as a country.
This document outlines the major objectives of public policies, establishes the specific actions to achieve them and specifies indicators that will allow the progress made to be measured.
Mexico knows that acting with environmental ethics benefits the entire nation, that is why one of the lines of action in the National Development Plan highlights the importance of accelerating economic growth to build a Prosperous Mexico. It details the way to promote small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as to promote job creation. In addition, to identify the strengths of Mexico to detonate sustained and sustainable growth, in order to make our country become an emerging economic power.
Within the Mexican legal framework, the Organic Law of the Federal Public Administration (LOAPF), is the ordinance that is in charge of distributing the powers of the various secretaries that make up the Executive Power of the Federation.
Mexico, from the moment it began to have international participation, saw the need to establish laws that would allow it to carry out trade without being harmed in natural resources, but it was after the Earth Summit that it has contributed to compiling laws and regulations for the protection and conservation of the environment more and more specific. It is because of this that it created state secretariats involved in environmental management and, therefore, in the prevention, protection and conservation of ecosystems in Mexico.
Next I will mention the main state secretariats involved in environmental management.
SECRETARIES
- Governorate SEDENAMARINASHCPSEDESOLSEMARNATECONOMÍASAGARPASCTSRA
LEGAL FOUNDATION LOAPF POWERS RELATED TO THE ENVIRONMENT
- Art. 27 Art. 29 Art. 30 Art. 31 Art. 32 Art. 32 BIS Art. 34 Art. 35 Art. 36 Art. 41
In light of the previous table, the enormous need for effective inter-ministerial coordination to achieve adequate management of ecosystems is clear. Therefore, the General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection (LGEEPA) is the main legal system in force in Mexico, regarding the protection of the environment as a whole. It was published since 1988, for which it has already received several reforms.
The LGEEPA establishes several instruments of environmental policy in order to provide protection to the ecological balance and the environment to reverse the trends of environmental deterioration and to be able to move towards a development more in line with the sustainable model.
There are three types of economic instruments that stimulate compliance with environmental regulations. These economic instruments can be of a character (Budedo, 1997, Urquidi, 1996):
- Prosecutors. These stimuli can be given in the areas of research and development of technologies that seek to avoid damage to the environment; that contribute to energy saving and the use of less polluting alternative sources; to the saving and sustainable use of water and those that have to do with the establishment, management and surveillance of the financial anp. They are, among others, credits, bonds, insurance, funds and trusts that seek actions in favor of the preservation of the ecological balance. They may also be aimed at studies, research or other market. They are the instruments that are related to permits, licenses, authorizations, concessions, among others.
En esta búsqueda de soluciones que permitan alcanzar los objetivos ambientales de la manera más eficiente, la creación y/o uso de mercados, como los servicios ambientales, es una de las tendencias más recientes para la protección ambiental. Estos instrumentos, permiten que quienes gozan de mayores ventajas y oportunidades, realicen las acciones de protección al ambiente de la forma más eficaz y con el menor costo.
De la mano con las leyes trabajan complementariamente las Normas Oficiales Mexicanas en materia ambiental (artículos 36 al 37 bis de la LGEEPA) que desarrollan dicho contenido hasta un cierto nivel de especificación, la mayoría de las veces técnica, con el propósito de que la legislación ambiental sea efectivamente aplicada. Anteriormente denominadas Normas Técnicas Ecológicas, las NOM buscan, de acuerdo con el artículo 36 de la LGEEPA, garantizar la sustentabilidad de las actividades económicas; son emitidas por la SEMARNAT a través de Subsecretaría de Fomento y Normatividad Ambiental.
Posteriormente de haber mencionado las figuras jurídicas más importantes de la legislación ambiental mexicana es importarte reflexionar ahora si el papel que juega la economía permitirá que realmente los países puedan alcanzar una mejor calidad de vida a través de líneas de acción que promuevan el desarrollo sostenible, considerando que el daño generado por todos los países del mundo es algo que se puede controlar más no extinguir en su totalidad. La humanidad ha ido evolucionando y a su vez a cargado cambios muy drásticos desde sus estructuras económicas y sociales como también tradicionales y esto incluye la modernización que abre paso a procesos de industrialización, urbanización y por ende a un mayor número de personas que busquen una mayor calidad de vida tanto como de servicios; y al tener la necesidad de más y más servicios estarán generándose más gases que provoquen el efecto invernadero y nunca se rompería ese circulo vicioso. Por otra parte, en términos de panorama global los países están preocupados y buscan alternativas sostenibles porque el hecho de que el petróleo sea la principal fuente de ingresos de las economías genera incertidumbre por el simple hecho de que esté no es un recurso renovable. Entonces ¿Será posible que los países logren la participación integral de todas sus políticas públicas en beneficio del medio ambiente?
Considerando esta interrogante creó que para que la asertación de estas políticas públicas garantizasen un desarrollo sostenible también haría falta considerar las restricciones sobre el funcionamiento del sistema que nos vienen dadas desde antes. Y realmente es un tema muy complejo y extenso y para lograr una solución o al menos conseguir resultados de mejora una sociedad coexistirá solo si se emplea una fusión en los ejes indisociables que son: lo económico, lo social y lo ambiental. Estos tres ejes definitivamente no se pueden excluir y mucho menos separar cuando se quiere lograr la utopía de mundo ideal. Económicamente, hace falta que el sistema cubra las necesidades de las personas, lo que para que sea viable a largo plazo hace falta que se siga explotando los recursos de una forma que no lleve a su agotamiento y que permita, además, mantener todos los servicios ambientales básicos que proveen los ecosistemas. Esta forma de explotación debe asumir la responsabilidad de las generaciones presentes con las futuras para que tengan el mismo derecho a poder vivir dignamente.
En cuanto a la idea de desarrollo sostenible que el gobierno mexicano propone tiene que ser más ejecutora. Tenemos que aprovechar más los recursos como el sol o el viento. Con respecto a los recursos no renovables (minerales, carbón, petróleo, etc.) hace falta que bajamos sustancialmente su tasa de aprovechamiento (con el fin de sustituirlos a medio y largo plazo por recursos renovables). Tampoco podemos generar más residuos que el medio ambiente puede asimilar.
Concluyendo en concordancia con el Plan Nacional de Desarrollo que “Estas restricciones ilustran que lejos está el modelo económico actual de funcionar de forma sostenible. El crecimiento permanente esta divorciado de la naturaleza. La lógica del sistema económico ha creado gran parte de los problemas ambientales que tenemos planteados, por lo tanto, también sus soluciones tienen que ser producto de cambios en el mismo. Hace falta recuperar una economía, que persigue la gestión sabia y eficaz de los recursos. Solo en este nuevo contexto, los objetivos económicos dejarán de diferir de los objetivos sociales y ambientales comunes”.
Fuentes de información
- De la economía ambiental a la economía ecológica / Federico Aguilera y Vicent Alcántara, comp.Barcelona: ICARIA: FUHEM, 1994Plan Nacional de Desarrollo 2013-2018.La reforma fiscal del 31 de diciembre de 2001 no cambió esta situación; únicamente amplió la base de aplicación de los derechos a otros bienes y servicios ambientales.https://www.google.com.co/search?q=protocolo+kyoto+pdf&cad=hhttp://cambioclimaticoglobal.comhttps://elmedioambiente325.wordpress.com/el-calentamiento-global/https://www.google.com.co/search?q=acciones+en+favor+del+medio+ambiente+en+mexico&cad=hhttp://www.unep.org/spanish/wed/theme/sustainable-consumpion.asphttp://www.semarnat.gob.mx/archivosanteriores/informacionambiental/Documents/05_serie/yelmedioambiente/1_impacto_humano_v08.pdfhttp://www.auladeeconomia.com/articulos21.htmhttp://www.cinu.mx/temas/medio-ambiente/medio-ambiente-y-desarrollo-so/http://www.un.org/es/globalissues/environment/http://www.nationalgeographic.es/medio-ambiente/calentamiento-global/calentamiento-global-causashttp://www.unicef.org/argentina/spanish/manual-medioambiente-def2.pdf
