Mexico, US and Canada Unite Forces to Fight Climate Change

Mexico, the US and Canada have agreed to collaborate and share information in regards to technology generation models for climate change. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER) indicates that one objective is to bring researchers from the three countries to work and transform scientific data into helpful information for the community.

Ignacio Sánchez Cohen, National Institute of Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research (INIFAP) representative to the Cooperative Research and Technology Program for the Northern Region, underscored the opportunity to propose international and multi-objective projects.
Sánchez Cohen indicated that one of the most recurrent topics is how climate change impacts water and soil resources since it reduces the quality of the liquid and has affected its consumption for different uses: domestic, animal, and agricultural.

SADER reports that Mexico's northwestern region and the US' southwestern region share a significant extension of land that stretches from Arizona to central Mexico, including New Mexico, Sonora and Chihuahua. This region presents the same problems of soil degradation, water quality, careless use of resources, excessive herding and deforestation, so what one country develops in terms of science and technology automatically serves the other, with the appropriate adjustments.

Sánchez Cohen also indicated that Canada is very interested in researching forests, focusing on the rational exploitation of this natural resource.  The countries are developing paleoclimatic databases to learn about the history of the climate through trees and foresee possible fires scenarios to establish a platform for prevention and planning.

As previously reported by MBN, Canada has experienced devastating forest fires in Ontario in recent weeks. As a response, Mexico sent a group of firefighters at Canada's request. In addition, Mexico also has experienced droughts and numerous forest fires in recent months. Governmental entities have launched a Rainfall Stimulation Plan or Cloud Seeding in several states to mitigate these problems. 

Moreover, SADER has reported that research on the Impact of Climate Change on Plant Pests shows that globalization of the agribusiness industry, coupled with increasing global temperatures, has led to the movement of pests worldwide and their establishment in areas where they were initially not present. As a result, it is more critical to understand sustainability challenges in a global context with technical guidance. 

This Canada, Mexico and US trilateral agreement was established in 1998 through the Northern Region Cooperative Research and Technology Program (PROCINORTE). The agreement combines these countries' networks made up of federal agricultural ministries and agribusiness research agencies. 

The agreement's objective is to promote research and technology cooperation in the Northern Region of the continent through exchanges and partnerships for competitive and sustainable agricultural development by incorporating science, technology, innovation and knowledge sharing in areas of trilateral relevance.