Bárcena Presents New Environmental Agenda to Congress

Mexico’s federal government presented its updated ecological and environmental policy vision during a keynote address delivered by Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Alicia Bárcena before the Chamber of Deputies. The presentation outlined a human-centered environmental strategy and called for renewed legislative collaboration to strengthen national policy.

Bárcena emphasized the central role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in conservation, noting that “more than 180 ecosystems have been safeguarded thanks to the ancestral knowledge of nearly 25 million people from Indigenous communities.” She described these groups as the country’s primary stewards of biodiversity and stressed the importance of their participation in environmental planning.

The minister said Mexico faces the challenge of reversing environmental degradation and shifting away from extractive development models. “We must balance economic development and the protection of ecosystems every day,” she said. “No nation, no matter how powerful, can stop the ecological transition the world demands.”

Bárcena outlined several priority objectives for the ministry, including the remediation of the Lerma, Santiago, Atoyac and Tula rivers; achieving a 35% reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions under Mexico’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0); restoring 200,000 hectares of forest and 18,000 hectares of mangroves; and advancing a circular-economy agenda aimed at a “Zero Waste Republic.” She reiterated that Mexico intends to expand conservation areas to meet the global commitment of protecting 30% of terrestrial and marine territory.

She also called for a complete overhaul of the General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection, describing its reform as an urgent task that requires coordinated work with legislators. Strengthening public participation and ecological restoration, she said, is essential to ensuring social and environmental justice. “There can be no social justice without environmental justice,” she added.

Bárcena highlighted the Escazú Agreement as a key instrument for safeguarding environmental defenders. “Escazú is the only international treaty that protects environmental defenders, and we will promote it with full conviction,” she said.

The session was attended by congressional leadership, including Deputy Chamber Vice President Sergio Gutiérrez Luna; Gabriela Benavides Cobos, president of the Environment Commission; Alejandra Chedraui Peralta, president of the Climate Change and Sustainability Commission; and lawmakers Joaquín Zebadúa Alva and Irma Juan Carlos.