Fundar Pushes for Prohibition of Mining in Protected Areas

Despite the Chamber of Deputies' approval of a reform to forbid mining exploitation in Natural Protected Areas (NPA) 18 months ago, the Senate has not greenlighted the modifications. This jeopardizes Mexican ecosystems, civil society organization Fundar said. 

On March 3, 2022, the Chamber of Deputies approved a reform to Article 46 of the General Law for Ecological Equilibrium and Environment Protection (LEGEPA). The reform forbade to place new population centers on NPAs, as well as prohibited exploration and exploitation projects of, for example, hydrocarbons and minerals there.

Fundar said the reform was crucial since Mexico possesses 182 NPAs, consisting of over 91 million ha. Of the NPAs, 145 are terrestrial ecosystems, six marine ecosystems and 31 a combination of both. The organization highlighted that NPAs cover 10 percent of Mexico’s land and 22 percent of the country’s seas. They are therefore of immense importance to safeguard the country’s biodiversity and natural resources.

Even though the benefits of preserving NPAs are manifold, Fundar argues that Mexican legislation is not strict enough, as Article 6 of the Mining Law establishes that mining is an essential activity above any other factor, including environmental protection. “The exploration, exploitation and harnessing of minerals and substances considered to yield a public advantage will be preferent over any other use of land,” reads Article 6 of the Mining Law.

LEGEPA’s reform to Article 46 seeks to forbid any extractive activities within NPAs. Fundar highlighted that there are currently six reform proposes that remain undecided, the oldest of which is from Sept. 20, 2018. Others are from Dec. 12, 2019, Jun. 30, 2021, Nov. 9, 2021, and two more from Dec. 7, 2022. 

Fundar is worried that these modifications to LEGEPA are taking too much time as several mining projects are operating in NPAs. The organization said that 73 mining projects are operating within NPA territories. Of these, 65 have tailings dams.

Similarly, some senators from the ruling party MORENA have proposed the prohibition of mining in NPA. On September 27, MBN reported that Senator Blanca Piña issued a motion to propose a comprehensive reform to the Mining Law, in which she proposed to modify Article 14 to forbid mining in NPAs, wetlands and areas protected by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of 1971.