Mexico has an important commitment to the fulfilment of the International Agendas focused on addressing multidimensional problems in which the territorial scope is a key component. The 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the New Urban Agenda (NUA), are some of the references to guide territorial planning and urban development public policies in Mexico and to orient Mexican cities towards prosperity, inclusion, sustainability and resilience.
Thus, the NUA represents a main guide not only for local action in urban matters but also for coordinated actions between different levels of government and relevant actors by establishing principles aimed at ensuring that no one is left behind, develop sustainable and inclusive urban economies and guarantee environmental sustainability, as well as contribute to the fulfilment of SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities, as well as other related SDGs.
In accordance with the above, this First National Report on the progress in the implementation of the NUA in Mexico 2021, reflects some of the actions implemented by the Government of Mexico in its different scales, as well as the important participation of civil society organizations, private sector and academia, in the principles proposed by the agenda; it also allows identifying the challenges faced so that more and more people benefit from the opportunities that well-planned, safe, resilient and inclusive cities can provide.
The National Council for the Evaluation of Social Policy (CONEVAL by its spanish acronym) defines a series of general guidelines and criteria for the characterization, identification and measurement of poverty in Mexico. In 2018, these general criteria were updated to refer to the population living in multidimensional poverty, which refers to people whose income is insufficient to acquire the goods or services required to satisfy their needs in at least one of the following indicators: education, access to health services, access to social security, quality and spaces in housing, basic services in housing and access to nutritious and quality food.
According to CONEVAL, in Mexico, poverty and extreme poverty have historically had a rural character, however, nowadays the country is predominantly urban and the demographic concentration in cities and metropolitan areas has brought a series of phenomena, including exclusion, inequality, unemployment and poverty. Additionally, the current crisis caused by Covid 19, puts the fight against poverty at risk and it is even expected that this could increase to affect 500 million more people worldwide.
In 2016, the proportion of the population that lived below the international poverty line (1.90 dollars) was concentrated at 12.7% in rural areas; while in urban areas the population in these conditions represented 1.66%. For 2018, the information shows that the percentage decreased to 12.0% and 1.63% respectively. This reflects a decrease in the population living in extreme poverty, however, as mentioned above, this scenario could change due to the pandemic.
Based on the above, various national government institutions implement social programmes focused on the attention of people living in conditions of poverty and marginalization, in order to enforce the human rights enshrined in the Mexican Constitution and the International Treaties. Some of these programs are established in the National Development Plan, 2019-2024 (PND by its spanish acronym) and are the following:
- The Programme for the Wellbeing of the Elderly provides universal support to women and men over 68 years throughout the country, since most of them face situations of poverty and lack access to a social protection system that guarantees them a dignified old age.
- The Pension Programme for the Welfare of People Living with Disabilities, supports girls, boys and young people up to 29 years who live with permanent disabilities, as well as people from 0 to 64 years who live with disabilities in indigenous communities.
- The Benito Juárez National Welfare Scholarship Programme is focused on girls, boys and young people under 18 years who live in extreme poverty and study in a public school (including initial, basic, secondary, and high education).
- The Youth Building the Future Programme, whose purpose is that young people between 18 and 29 years who are not studying or working, receive training for work. The reach of this programme is 2.3 million young people.
- The Young People Writing the Future Programme is focused at providing support to young people under the age of 29 who live in poverty and are enrolled in a high education centre but do not receive another scholarship from the federal government.
- Sowing Life is a programme intended for people who live in agrarian territories to promote their effective participation in comprehensive rural development. It covers the states of Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Colima, Durango, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Michoacán, Morelos, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz and Yucatán, encouraging the inhabitants of agrarian centres to establish agroforestry production systems to help generate jobs, food self-sufficiency, improve income and recover the forest cover of one million hectares in the country.
- The National Reconstruction Programme, which is oriented to the attention of the population affected by the earthquakes of September 2017 and February 2018. This programme will be presented in greater detail in the third transformative commitment of this report.
- The Urban Improvement Programme (PMU by its spanish acronym) implemented to strengthen urban conditions and ameliorate the quality of life in neighbourhoods where high levels of marginalization are concentrated in different cities of the country. This programme will be explained later in various sections of this report.
- The “Tandas” for Well-being Programme, through which one million small businesses will receive a credit for the acquisition of supplies and tools, with the aim of improving the conditions of all types of small economic units in order to strengthen the economy with a social justice approach.
From the social and collective sphere, it is possible to identify various actors that work hand in hand with the communities and governments to eliminate poverty and hunger in the country. A relevant example is the initiative Development led by communities with a gender perspective (DLC-PG), implemented by the organization The Hunger Project Mexico in rural communities with high degrees of poverty and vulnerability. Through this program, community work is carried out to identify visions, objectives, and priorities for local development in each community, taking advantage of its strengths to generate systemic changes and improve the living conditions of the population in the short, medium and long term.
According to the World Bank (WB), inequality is higher in rural areas than in urban areas, although it has decreased for both during the last 15 years. Regarding inequality in urban areas, in Mexico, the Gini Coefficient, which measures the distribution of wealth, decreased from 0.47 in 2016 to 0.383 in 2020. This shows that in this period there was a greater distribution of wealth. At the state level, the states with the lowest distribution of wealth were Chiapas (0.45), Oaxaca (0.44) and Yucatán (0.42), while the states with the highest distribution of wealth were Baja California (0.29), Sinaloa (0.31) and Morelos (0.32).
In addition to the above, in recent years civil society and academia have developed various investigations to identify the challenges of inequality between urban and rural areas, particularly in terms of socio-spatial segregation and processes that deepen poverty. The data and inputs generated are strategic elements for the construction of public policy and strategies for comprehensive attention to inequalities from the perspective of urban planning.
According to UN-HABITAT, well-designed and managed public spaces are a fundamental asset for a city and have a positive impact on its economy, so investing in these contributes to improving health and well-being of its inhabitants, reduces the impact of climate change, encourages people to walk or cycle, increases safety and decreases crime.
Based on the above, since 2019 SEDATU has implemented the Urban Improvement Programme (PMU by its spanish acronym), which, through its Comprehensive Neighbourhood Improvement component, seeks to address deficiencies in urban infrastructure and equipment.
- In 2019, 348 projects executed for the benefit of the population, of which: 144 were of urban infrastructure, 4 of mobility and connectivity and 200 of public space and urban equipment, also 83 were community participation projects and 196 projects of services related to the work executed.
- In 2020, 256 projects were executed in 95 municipalities of 17 states, of which: 98 were of urban design and services related to the work executed, 116 of urban equipment and public space and 42 of pedestrianization, construction or integral renovation of complete streets.
In terms of mobility, SEDATU, in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Transport (SCT by its spanish acronym), established mandatory technical regulations for signalling and road safety devices on highways and urban roads, at the federal, state and municipal levels, whose completion is expected in 2021. This measure is intended to improve accessibility for all, especially the most vulnerable and people with disabilities.
Additionally, in 2020 the SEDATU, the SCT, the Ministry of Health (SSA by its spanish acronym), the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT by its spanish acronym), the office of the Panamerican Health Organization (PAHO) in Mexico and more than 100 civil society organizations developed an inter-institutional collaboration for the preparation of the 4S Mobility Plan, to address the health emergency caused by COVID-19 and thus move from restricted mobility to one that is safer, more inclusive, accessible and resilient.
At the state level, there is also progress in several states in terms of access to public facilities and spaces, the following examples stand out in the 2016-2020 period.
- Bicycle lanes
Mexico City, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Querétaro and Zacatecas are some of the states in which bicycle lanes have been built in order to solve road problems, under a balanced urban development approach, as well as to adapt cities to Covid 19, promoting infrastructure and mobility alternatives that protect public health.
- Pedestrian walkways, streets and sidewalks
In the metropolitan area of Querétaro, a 2.8 km long pedestrian walkway was built; in the state of Hidalgo, more than 38.14 km of sidewalks were built, while in Zacatecas, 2.25 km of the Arroyo de la Plata road in the municipality of Guadalupe were rehabilitated.
- Parks
The construction or rehabilitation of parks is an essential element for the use and enjoyment of public space. States such as Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Yucatán and Zacatecas, have carried out rehabilitation actions in their main urban centres to bring the population closer to this type of facilities.
- Cultural centres
The Ministry of Culture seeks to reduce the average distance that the population has to travel to access to artistic and cultural activities. For 2019, this distance was estimated at 29.4 km and by 2024 it is expected to be reduced to 18 km, providing better access to the offer of artistic and cultural activities. This measure reflects the ease with which the population can access and participate in the development of community cultural activities as a sign of greater social inclusion of the population (See Annex 2. Indicators).
On the other hand, civil society, academia and international organizations have played an active role in promoting access to public spaces, sustainable urban mobility and road safety, with action in different areas ranging from research, awareness and incidence in the generation of public policies, as well as the development of methodologies and strategies to implement participatory processes aimed at improving urban spaces.
This group of actors has worked in the implementation of projects and interventions of tactical urbanism, urban art and participatory neighbourhood improvement in different cities of the country, with the objective of improving the image, habitability and safety of public spaces and streets to promote enjoyment and appropriation by all people. These actions include collective initiatives for the implementation of safe bicycle lanes, walkways and crosswalks that contribute to sustainable mobility and road safety. In the context of the pandemic, these actions have been particularly useful, since they have transformed the way in which public spaces are used, promoting safe conditions, healthy distance and contributing to the local socio-economic reactivation.
Also, there is extensive social work in promoting community participation for the improvement of urban spaces. Initiatives such as the School Path Methodology developed by the Pedestrian League and Playing My Neighbourhood implemented by the organization Explorers of the City, are particularly relevant, since they provide tools for the inclusion of children’s needs in design processes of public spaces.
Finally, it is relevant to highlight the work of various international and social organizations in the development of public policies and projects aimed at promoting sustainable mobility in the country. Initiatives such as the Ranking of Cyclicities, the Compilation of Best Practices in Sustainable Mobility and the technical support in the implementation of emerging and permanent bicycle lanes developed by the German Cooperation (GIZ) in coordination with SEDATU stand out due to the extensive generation of information for urban decision making and recommendations for the development of public policy. In addition to these examples, organizations such as the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), the World Resources Institute (WRI), the British Embassy, among others, have a strategic work of research, technical assistance and advocacy on mobility in different cities of the country.
CONAVI promotes the implementation of eco-technologies in housing by incorporating support lines for sustainability in the Operational Rules of its programmes. During 2019, in the housing support granted through the Urban Improvement Program (PMU), a complementary support line for sustainability was included with the objective to promote the use of eco-technologies that allow improving housing conditions, as well as reducing carbon dioxide emissions, save energy and proper water management. Among the main achievements are the following:
In 2019, 913 subsidies with a sustainability support line were approved for a total amount of $138 388 671 pesos (USD $6 919 433). Of the total number of subsidies assigned, 303 were granted in the state of Baja California Sur, 26 in Chihuahua, 344 in Coahuila, 210 in Quintana Roo and 30 in Sonora. Also, within the National Reconstruction Programme, 190 actions were granted in the municipality of Cohetzala, Puebla with a total amount of $31 884 100 pesos (USD $1 594 205).
During fiscal year 2020, within the National Reconstruction Programme, 558 subsidies with a sustainability support line were approved, for a total amount of $8 804 000 pesos (USD $440 200). Of the total subsidies assigned, 531 were granted in the state of Puebla, 15 in Morelos, 11 in Veracruz and one in Oaxaca. On the other hand, within the framework of the Social Housing Program of the CONAVI, one action was approved with a sustainability support line in the municipality of Agua Prieta, Sonora for a total amount of $25 000 pesos (USD $1250).
Additionally, the INFONAVIT launched the Green Mortgage project, which is a loan that has an additional amount so that the beneficiaries can buy an ecological home and thus obtain a higher quality of life, generating savings in their family spending, derived from eco-technologies that reduce the consumption of electricity, water and gas.
At the state level, it is worth highlighting the example of Oaxaca which, through the EncASa (Energy with Water and Sanitation) programme, sought to extend access to electricity to more households, adding access to water, sanitation and kitchens so that the rural population living in extreme poverty conditions, can have access to affordable, reliable and sustainable basic services at home, achieving a positive impact on their quality of life. Through this programme, 124 families have received drinking water systems, proper sanitation and improved kitchens, as well as 5 schools, 2 municipal agencies and a health centre in 6 communities of Mixe, Chinantec and Zapotec ethnic groups in the Sierra Norte, Papaloapan and Isthmus regions of the state. These services are provided in an affordable, reliable and sustainable manner, using appropriate eco-technologies for remote rural locations.
According to the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey (ENIGH by its spanish acronym), in Mexico, 15.1% of homes are inhabited under a rental scheme, 14.3% as a loan, 9% of homes are owned and still being paid for, and 59.3% of homes are owned.
In this regard, SEDATU carries out the Program for the Modernization of the Public Property Registries and Cadastres, which are fundamental tools for the territorial ordering and operation of the Mexican economic system, as they provide legal certainty of patrimonial and public utility from the conservation, integration, updating and homologation of registry and cadastral information. During the period 2019-2020, through this program, advise was provided for the preparation of 99 diagnoses in the Integral System for the management of registry and cadastral information, benefiting 15 states through the approval of 24 modernization projects through the evaluation committee, supporting 10 registry institutions, 12 cadastral institutions and 2 projects in both areas, with a total federal contribution of $180 638 996 pesos (USD $9 031 950), which were satisfactorily executed.
For its part, INSUS, through the Urban Improvement Program (PMU), reported 6797 regularization actions in 2019, which were distributed in 6778 Subsidy Release Agreements for the regularization of lots for housing use, benefiting 6778 people and 19 Subsidy Release Agreements for the regularization of lots for public services in five states. In 2020, 4032 Subsidy Release Agreements for the regularization of lots for housing use were attended: as well as 2740 actions for the regularization of housing lots and 1292 actions for the regularization of housing lots with expenses to individuals.
Additionally, INSUS implements other programs such as the Program to Regularize Human Settlements, which aims to contribute to the effective exercise of the Right to Urban Property, by contributing to the regularization of urban property for the population that has possession, but not legal certainty on the land they occupy, and in this way promote an orderly and inclusive urban development, with access to basic services that allow families to overcome their marginalization conditions. The National Programme for Regularization of Lots aims to contribute to solving the problem of lack of legal certainty in the ownership of lots of the most vulnerable population, through which 2 541 920 lots have been regularized, providing legal certainty to the same number of families.
In agrarian matters, the National Agrarian Registry (RAN by its spanish acronym) has a Programme for the Regularization and Registration of Agrarian Legal Acts, which seeks to regularize the land rights of ejidos and communities. Likewise, the Agrarian Procurator's Office (PA by its spanish acronym), being responsible for the control and documentary security of the possession of ejidal and communal land, provides documentary legal security, through the registration of documents that prove the original operations, the modifications suffered by the ejidal and communal property and the legally constituted rights over it. In 2020, within the framework of the programme, 52 assemblies of Agreement of Regularization and Registration of Agrarian Legal Acts were carried out, 34 assemblies for Approval of Plans, 18 assemblies for Delimitation, Destination or Assignment of Lands and 17 General Files Entered into the RAN.
In this matter, some states with progress are Nayarit and Tabasco, the first of them in 2017 started a project to contribute to the legal certainty of the state's population, applying programs to regularize urban land tenure and its titling. In this way, deeds were granted to low-income families and / or who did not have legal certainty of the lands that lived within the polygons regularized by the Nayarit Housing Promotion Institute. To date, more than 10 000 deeds have been delivered, thereby granting legal certainty to the same number of families. For its part, the state of Tabasco, in 2019 carried out 778 actions and in 2020, 2862, among which the issuance of Property Titles in various municipalities as well as the regularization of land tenure where there are irregular human settlements stand out.
In this matter, some states with progress are Nayarit and Tabasco, the first of them during 2017 initiated a project to contribute to the legal certainty of the state's population, implementing programs for the regularization of urban land tenure and its titling. In this way, deeds were granted to low-income families and/or who did not have legal certainty of the land they inhabited within the polygons regularized by the Housing Promotion Institute of Nayarit. To date, more than 10 000 deeds have been delivered, thus granting legal certainty to an equal number of families. For its part, the state of Tabasco carried out 778 actions during 2019 and 2862 in 2020, including the issuance of Property Titles in various municipalities as well as the regularization of land tenure where there are irregular human settlements.
The New Urban Agenda states that both infrastructures, the provision of basic services, as well as development policies, can promote social cohesion, equality and inclusion.
In Mexico, the Urban Improvement Programme (PMU), implemented by SEDATU, aims to help people living in neighbourhoods with a medium, high, and very high degree of urban and social backwardness in cities with 15 000 inhabitants or more that are part of the National Urban System (SUN by its spanish acronym), to reduce their conditions of urban and social backwardness, by improving access to goods and services.
The main achievements of the programme in 2019 were the following:
- Comprehensive Neighbourhood Improvement: 348 projects were carried out for the benefit of the population, of which 144 were of urban infrastructure, 4 of mobility and connectivity and 200 of public space and urban equipment. Also 83 were community participation projects and 196 service projects related to the work executed (executive projects and work supervision).
- Regularization and Legal Certainty: 6797 regularization actions were carried out, of which 6778 were Subsidy Release Agreements for the regularization of lots for housing use and 19 Subsidy Release Agreements for the regularization of lots for public services in 5 states.
- Urban Housing: 18 332 subsidies granted for the improvement, expansion or construction of housing, benefiting 73 328 households.
The main achievements for 2020, the year in which housing support is eliminated and support is included for the preparation of Municipal Urban Development Programs, were the following:
- Comprehensive Neighbourhood Improvement: 256 projects carried out in 95 municipalities of 17 states, of which 98 were of urban design and services related to the work executed, 116 of urban equipment and public space and 42 of pedestrianization, construction or integral renovation of complete streets.
- Regularization and Legal Certainty: 4 032 Subsidy release agreements for regularization delivered through two types of regularization of lots for housing use: 2 740 regularization actions for housing lots, 1292 actions for the regularization of housing lots with expenses to individuals. Additionally, 192 Subsidy Release Agreements were delivered for the regularization of lots for public services in 12 states.
- Metropolitan Urban Planning and Territorial Planning: preparation or updating of 13 Municipal Urban Development Plans, 1 Metropolitan Programme and 1 State Programme for Territorial Planning and Urban Development.
On the other hand, the participation and collaboration of private sector companies, civil society organizations and neighbourhood groups in coordination with the different levels of government has been a key element for the implementation of inclusive strategies for the comprehensive improvement of neighbourhoods and strategic urban regeneration projects in different cities.
In this area, it is possible to highlight various projects and community initiatives implemented in Mexico City through the Neighbourhood Improvement Program, as well as the collaborative preparation of partial plans for the improvement of popular neighbourhoods and reconstruction processes after the 2017 earthquakes.
Also, examples such as the Campana-Altamira Initiative, implemented in the city of Monterrey stand out, through which private companies such as CEMEX and academic institutions such as the Autonomous University of Nuevo León and the Technological Institute of Monterrey have joined forces with other local actors and governments to improve the living conditions of the population through the implementation of a Comprehensive Development Plan that includes actions for security, peace, economic, social and urban inclusion, housing improvement, as well as education and health.
According to UN-HABITAT, it is estimated that at least 38.4% of the population of Mexico lives in inadequate housing (overcrowded, built without durable materials or lacking basic services).
In Mexico, the households with the highest number of average occupants are located in the states of Chiapas (4.09), Tlaxcala (3.93) and Guanajuato (3.87), while the households with the lowest number of average occupants are in Colima (3.21), Quintana Roo (3.22) and Chihuahua (3.25). In 2018 it was estimated that 9.4 million households (27.5% of the total) presented inadequate conditions (deteriorated materials on the floor, ceilings or walls and precarious spaces). By 2024, the aim is to reduce this percentage to 24.58% (See Annex 2. Indicators).
At the national level, SEDATU is the institution in charge of preparing and conducting housing policies, so together with the National Housing Organizations (ONAVIs by its spanish acronym) and INSUS, it consolidated the National Housing Programme (PNV by its spanish acronym), which will soon be published. The PNV integrates and proposes a paradigm shift based on the right to adequate housing, including care for historically marginalized groups, improving women's access to adequate housing and encouraging the development of programmes and actions for population non-entitled to any credit institution.
On the other hand, the National Reconstruction Program also aims to guarantee access to adequate housing, by assisting the population affected by the 2017 and 2018 earthquakes in the south-central region of the country in the reconstruction of homes, as well as educational, health and cultural facilities. During fiscal year 2019, 36 495 homes were served through this program, while in 2020, 12 429 actions were carried out for a total amount of $2 045 392 436.85 pesos (USD $102 269 621).
FONHAPO has implemented the National Guarantee Fund Credit Program for Popular Housing in order to increase the granting of formal microcredits to low-income families living in patrimonial poverty, through the constitution of a guaranteed scheme designed to cover possible losses derived from the default on payment by the borrowers. In addition, through the Housing Support Programme (2016), low-income households were benefited in order to allocate a part of their expenses to housing improvements. In the period from 2016 to 2018, 363 773 housing subsidies were granted through this programme.
At the state level, there are several states that have implemented actions to guarantee access to adequate housing, highlighting the following:
- Baja California Sur: in 2020 the Support and Access to Dignified Housing Programme was implemented to benefit households with deficiencies in quality and spaces and with overcrowding conditions, through support for housing improvement and extensions. Additionally, the Social Infrastructure Fund for Entities and the Baja California Housing Institute created the Dormitory Rooms Project, through which families living in priority areas are benefited.
- Hidalgo: since 2016, more than $618.5 million pesos (USD $31 million) have been invested in 10 385 actions corresponding to the construction of bedrooms, firm floors and bathrooms with biodigester to benefit the population earning from 2 to 2.5 monthly minimum wages.
- Oaxaca: in 2020, 32 Home Improvement projects were implemented for an amount of $41.8 million pesos (USD $2 million).
- San Luis Potosí: The Ciudad Satélite Housing Development was implemented, including an electrical substation, a variable pressure pumping system, a wastewater treatment plant, educational infrastructure for preschool, primary, secondary, preparatory education and a technological University. It reports more than 5000 homes built and more than 15 000 inhabitants.
- Tabasco: 1046 actions were carried out in 2019 and 4030 in 2020, among which are included works of expansion and improvement of housing, construction of bedrooms, bathrooms, foundations, walls, and maintenance of pumping equipment in water cisterns.
In addition to the above, in Mexico, several actions have been developed by academia and international organizations in the field of research and dissemination. The study Housing and SDGs in Mexico developed by UN-Habitat in collaboration with the Institute of the National Housing Fund for Workers (INFONAVIT by its spanish acronym) stands out. This study conducted an analysis of the right to adequate housing in Mexico and its relationship with the achievement of the 17 SDGs, through which a set of strategic guidelines, proposals and lines of action were identified to contribute to the integration of housing as a key element of shared prosperity.
On the other hand, various social organizations have worked on the generation of methodologies and projects for the social production of housing and improvement of its physical conditions. In this topic, the Universal Housing Project stands out, implemented by the Universal Housing organization, the Faculty of Architecture of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the National School of Social Work, the Symptom and Territory Collective and the Municipality of Iztapalapa in Mexico City. Also relevant is the work carried out by the organizations Habitat for Humanity and Habitat International Coalition (HIC) in the area of social production of housing and defence of the right to adequate housing, both in cities and in rural communities throughout the country.
In terms of reconstruction and disaster response, the initiatives developed by the Carlos Slim Foundation stand out, as well as the project Construction of Emergency Housing, promoted by the organization TECHO, which integrates a methodology of community approach and comprehensive planning to strengthen the long-term community skills.
Finally, from the private sector, various actors in the construction industry and housing developers have made progress in integrating sustainability concepts and aligning housing projects with the principles of global agendas, however, these cases remain limited and still present areas of opportunity, in this sense it is possible to identify a change of vision regarding future housing development, which is beginning to adopt a more sustainable approach.
According to the results of the 2020 National Population and Housing Census, 16.12% of the country's inhabited dwellings do not have piped water or are supplied by the public water service and 4.26% do not have a drainage system. The states with the highest number of homes in this condition are Chiapas (35.73%), Tabasco (33.93%) and Guerrero (32.78%), while the states with the lowest number of homes in this condition are Colima (3.54%), Nuevo León (3.54%) and Mexico City (3.66%). On the other hand, the states with the highest number of homes without drainage are Oaxaca (19.32%), Guerrero (11.79%) and San Luis Potosí (9.06%) and those with the lowest number of homes without drainage are Mexico City (0.15%), Colima (0.46%) and Aguascalientes (0.62%).
In 2018, according to information from SEMARNAT, the proportion of the population with acces to daily piped water, as well as basic sanitation represented only 37.6% of the population of the 14 entities with the highest lag in this area (Guerrero, Baja California Sur, Morelos, Oaxaca, Puebla, Chiapas, Zacatecas, Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, San Luis Potosí, Nayarit, State of Mexico, Veracruz and Michoacán), so this proportion is expected to increase progressively by 2024 (See Annex 2. Indicators).
To promote an environment free from water contamination that contributes to the full exercise of the right to a healthy environment, efforts are made to collect wastewater from municipal drainage or sewerage systems for treatment. In this regard, the proportion of municipal wastewater collected that is treated increased at the national level from 63.8% in 2018 to 67.5% in 2019, and this upward trend is expected to be maintained towards 2024 (See Annex 2. Indicators).
At the national level, the National Water Commission (CONAGUA by its spanish acronym) implements the Drinking Water, Drainage and Treatment Programme, to increase access to drinking water, sewerage and sanitation services, with greater equity and social justice, benefiting the most disadvantaged rural, urban, indigenous or afro-descendant populations, incorporating women in decision-making. Through the program, in 2019 $5 571.8 million pesos (USD $29 million) were allocated, of which $2 426 million pesos (USD $121 million) were federal investment and $2145.8 million pesos (USD $107 million) were contributed by state and municipal governments for the construction, expansion and strengthening of drinking water, sewerage and sanitation infrastructure. Some relevant achievements that reported from September 2019 to August 2020, are the following: the construction and expansion of 482 drinking water works and 180 sewerage works, through which 89 810 inhabitants in urban localities were incorporated to drinking water service and 55 230 inhabitants to sewerage service.
In the case of the states, some notable achievements are the following:
- Drinking water
Baja California Sur: 1510 families were incorporated to the drinking water service through the construction of 41 400 meters of distribution network.
Chiapas: 191 sewerage actions were carried out in different municipalities, mainly in areas of high marginalization and poverty, as well as those with the largest native population.
Hidalgo: Through the Potable Water, Sewerage and Sanitation Programme 2017-2022, more than 110 000 families and almost 432 000 people have been benefited, in this way, 67 out of every 100 people have access to piped water for the first time.
- Drainage and sewage systems
Baja California Sur: Through the Sanitary Sewerage Project 1832 families have been benefited, due to the construction of 34 076 meters of sewerage network, in addition to increasing the coverage of services, construction actions are carried out, rehabilitation or replacement of new supply sources, as well as wastewater treatment.
Hidalgo: Through the Drinking Water, Sewerage and Sanitation Programme, 126 000 families and 444 000 people have been benefited.
Tabasco: Between 2019 and 2020, 72 works were carried out, including the construction of a wastewater treatment plant, the construction of a concentrating station, and pressure lines for wastewater and treatment.
In addition to the above, one of the main needs of the entire population is access to public health services, so through the SSA, actions are carried out to reduce the proportion of the population that presents some barrier to access these services. In 2018, according to what was reported by said institution, the percentage of the population that had a lack of access to health services and/or that presented some barrier to access it, constituted 16.2% of the population and by 2024 it is expected to reduce this deficiency until reaching 0% (See Annex 2. Indicators).
In this area, in the country there are different contributions from the social and private sectors aimed at ensuring access to water, sanitation and waste collection for all people, as well as multiple research actions developed by the academy, which have contributed to the identification of vulnerabilities and challenges of access to water in urban and rural areas and their relationship with the patterns of socio-spatial segregation and housing habitability conditions.
Examples of this type of actions are the Urban Island initiative through which rainwater harvesting systems were designed in homes, which are currently being implemented in Mexico City as part of the Rain Harvest programme, or the initiative Safe Water for All, implemented by the Metropolitan Autonomous University in the aquifer of Lake Valsequillo in Puebla, in which a diagnosis of the aquifer is carried out in order to design a treatment process to supply the surrounding communities.
Additionally, since the health crisis caused by Covid 19, organizations such as Habitat for Humanity have developed emerging initiatives in different states of the country, in order to face the challenges of access to water and sanitation as key elements for the strengthening of social resilience in the face of the pandemic.
In relation to the proportion of cities that have access to a mass passenger transport system consistent with sustainable urban mobility (trains, subways, light rail, rapid transit buses, integrated transport systems, among others), only 13 of the 74 metropolitan areas of the country have a mass transportation system, which represents only 17.56% of the country's cities.
On the other hand, according to the Urban Mobility Index of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO by its spanish acronym), the entities that use public transport in the highest proportion are Mexico City, Guerrero, Tabasco and Veracruz with 49% of their population, while the states with the lowest proportion of people using public transportation are Chihuahua (22%), Coahuila (25%) and Aguascalientes (26%).
In this regard, the National Fund for Tourism Development (FONATUR by its spanish acronym) is currently in the process of implementing the Maya Train Strategic Project, which will connect the states of Tabasco, Yucatan, Campeche, Chiapas and Quintana Roo in the southeast region of Mexico, while the SCT is working on the implementation of the Mexico-Toluca Interurban Train in the center of the country. Both projects seek to strengthen national infrastructure, promote social inclusion and improve the living conditions of the population living in their areas of influence, thus intrinsically benefiting the entire population without distinction of gender, prevailing their human rights.
In the case of the states, the following examples stand out in this matter:
In the state of Querétaro, 26 actions have been implemented aimed at improving access to the localities of the state, expansion of the communications infrastructure, modernization of boulevards, expansion of highways and roads, junctions, lanes, construction of road circuits, industrial circuits, overpasses, as well as improvement of local roads, construction of intermodal transport centres and public parking in strategic locations in the entity. In addition, the Transformation of the Public Transportation System for the Querétaro Metropolitan Area (ZMQ by its spanish acronym) project has been implemented and the General Technical Standard has been issued, which defines the characteristics that urban public transportation service vehicles operating in the ZMQ must have.
In the case of San Luis Potosí, there is a Comprehensive Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan for the City of San Luis Potosí and Soledad de Graciano Sánchez, which provides the following services: a) to offer safe, competitive and efficient transportation services, with capacity to serve 52.6 thousand passengers daily; b) to save on transportation time for users, by having faster public transportation and with certainty in the service; c) to contribute to the solution of road congestion in the current roads, in the reduction of environmental pollution and excessive energy consumption and d) to contribute to the orderly planning of urban development in the Metropolitan Zone of San Luis Potosi.
In addition to the above, in terms of public transport, it is possible to identify important efforts by international organizations and the social sector, such as GIZ, WRI, ITDP, among other actors that have contributed to the adoption of an integrated vision for sustainable mobility in Mexico for the adoption of public policies for transport-oriented urban development.
In this area, initiatives such as DOT MX stand out, a project developed by the ITDP through which a series of tools were generated for the implementation of Transport Oriented Development in Mexican cities, as well as the study Cities for mobility: best practices in Mexico, Developed by GIZ and SEDATU, in which 25 years of initiatives for sustainable urban mobility in Mexican cities were evaluated, including infrastructure and transportation systems, in order to identify common elements of success to take into account in future implementations.
The Ministry of Energy (SENER by its spanish acronym) presented the 2019 National Energy Balance, in which it exposes in a general and disaggregated manner the main indicators of energy production, trade and consumption in Mexico, as well as comparative indicators in the international context. Regarding the comparative data at the global level, it refers to the degree of compliance of the countries in the transition from the use of fossil fuels to renewable and clean energies in a gradual manner. In this sense, Mexico is working in this process of change, to achieve a productive growth rate of 3.0% to 6.8%, making possible a universal supply of energy in accordance with the sustainability criteria that characterize the demand for growth and development that dignify people's lives.
In addition to the above, SEMARNAT has estimated Mexico’s capacity in energy matters, to generate electricity through renewable energies at 31%, of which 1.2% can be generated through geothermal energy 2.0% through nuclear, 4.3% through solar, 7.5% through wind and 16% through hydroelectric.
Regarding federal projects, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE by its spanish acronym) presented to the Government of Morelos the Methodological Proposal for a Comprehensive Development Strategy in the state of Morelos which among one of its key points considers the value chain of the wind energy sector to detonate production activities for wind turbine parts to integrate Morelos into the value chain.
At the state level, some relevant examples of actions carried out in energy matters are mentioned below:
In 2019 Baja California Sur started the project Acquisition of Photovoltaic Plants for Public Buildings in the City of La Paz, which will last until 2021, and is developed as part of a policy that adds to the generation of electricity through renewable sources to contribute to reducing pollution. Similarly, the state obtained resources from the Emerging and Sustainable Cities Program of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for the installation of solar panels in two stages. These actions will result in a significant reduction in energy consumption, which translates into economic savings and environmental benefits reflected in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, through the use of renewable sources for energy generation. It is important to point out that this state is not connected to the continental massif, which is why it is even more important to implement alternative energy generation systems that also contribute to reducing the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere.
The state of Chiapas has implemented the 2019-2021 Solar Street Lighting Strategy to mitigate the risk of gender-based violence in vulnerable areas and guarantee environmental sustainability with the use of renewable energies. In 2020, the energy efficiency program in public lighting was promoted through the installation of autonomous lighting systems in the Metropolitan Area of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, which aimed to provide efficient public lighting and low maintenance cost to streets, highways , avenues and boulevards, where the quality, inoperability and/or lack of this basic service may represent a problem or risk for its inhabitants; this with the purpose of improving the quality of life, generating economic well-being and contributing to the mitigation of climate change. Among the main achievements of the program was the installation of 600 autonomous public lighting systems of the “all in one” type, a state-of-the-art, innovative and durable technological option that uses solar energy as a power source, providing lighting 15 905 linear meters distributed in 12 sections of roads located in the municipalities of Berriozábal, Chiapa de Corzo, San Fernando and Tuxtla Gutiérrez. With this project, it was possible to benefit an approximate 14 742 inhabitants.
Additionally, in the states of Michoacán and Colima, electrification actions are carried out in rural communities and marginalized urban areas that have electrification needs and that are established by SENER, these communities are supported with resources from the Universal Electric Service Fund Trust, established in 2014.
According to the National Development Plan (PND) 2019-2024, economic reactivation, strengthening of the internal market and employment is a central task. Currently, more than half of the economically active population remains in the informal sector, most of them with incomes below the poverty line and without labour benefits, which is why the public sector has promoted job creation through sector programmes, regional projects and infrastructure works, in addition to facilitating access to credit for small and medium-sized enterprises (PND 2019-2024).
In this sense, the creation of opportunities for young people is essential, since youth unemployment continues to be a challenge for the Mexican society. According to the National Survey of Occupation and Employment, in the country, the proportion of young people (15 to 24 years old) who do not study, do not have a job or receive training, in the first quarter of 2020 was 56.29% of the population in that age range, representing more than 12 million young people.
Therefore, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (STPS) plays a fundamental role as it is in charge of establishing employment policy and programmes in the country, among which the following stand out:
- Youth Building the Future Programme: seeks that at least 60% of young apprentices served are women. As a reference, in 2020 the percentage of young women apprentices with respect to the total represented 58.7% (See Annex 2. Indicators). In 2019, through the aforementioned programme, it was sought to serve 2.3 million young people between the ages of 18 and 29 who do not study and do not work, fostering the linkage of them with economic units willing and with the possibility of providing training on the job, giving a $4310 pesos (USD $215) grant per month, medical insurance, proof of training or accreditation and drive to productive inclusion mechanisms.
- During 2019 and 2020, 1 565 128 young people were trained in a workplace; the monthly grant increased from $3600 pesos (USD $180) in 2019 to $3748 pesos (USD $187) in 2020 and to $4310 pesos (USD $215) in 2021, in addition to granting participants medical insurance for illnesses, maternity and work risks.
- The Accreditation System for Good labour Practices and Decent Work was established, consisting of the Voluntary Verification Programme, the Self-Management in Safety and Health at Work Programme and the Distinction in labour Responsibility, which allows work centres to declare their level of compliance with labour regulations; be certified in practices that exceed the legal framework and accompany them in the implementation of occupational health and safety management systems.
- The purpose of the Distinction in labour Responsibility is to promote a mechanism that recognizes work centres that implement policies and good labour practices that guarantee conditions of labour inclusion and non-discrimination; equality and co-responsibility; prevention of workplace violence; eradication of child labour and protection of permitted age adolescent workers.
- The National Network of labour Linkage is a STPS strategy that promotes the labour inclusion of people who present the greatest disadvantages for their labour insertion, in which public and private institutions and civil society organizations that have programmes, projects or actions aimed at serving sectors of the population with less employability conditions or in vulnerable situations.
Additionally, in order to ensure that employment conditions are met in an equity environment, is available the Mexican Standard NMX-R-025-SCFI-2015 on Labour Equality and Non-Discrimination that establishes the requirements for the public, private and social work centres, of any activity and size, integrate, implement and execute within their management and human resources processes, practices for labour equality and non-discrimination that favour the workers integral development.
Likewise, civil society has promoted different efforts to promote sustainable and inclusive urban economies that make it possible to take advantage of the agglomeration benefits of a well-planned urbanization, particularly through the promotion of productive projects with gender perspective, and actions that contribute to reducing the expansive low-density urbanization model negative externalities: insecurity, spatial segregation and lack of public spaces for the enjoyment of the population.
Civil society organizations, including collectives, but also individuals, have tackled the challenge of generating an inclusive urban economy from productive projects for women in public spaces available. These projects are based on business training programmes and outreach campaigns for women's work.
One of the most prominent cases is the one promoted by Hub Oaxaca, a collaborative innovation centre that seeks to reduce inequality gaps and marginalization, through the promotion of local community development schemes, social and collective empowerment, and food sovereignty based on the principles of gender mainstreaming, intergenerationality, social inclusion and non-discrimination.
These actions seek to reduce poverty levels in population groups in vulnerable conditions and living in marginalized communities or segregated urban areas. Among the main obstacles that these groups and enterprises have faced are both circumstantial and structural elements. On the one hand, the Covid-19 pandemic has made it difficult to implement and expand the scope of its activities and deepened economic violence against women, the main beneficiaries of these actions. On the other hand, in structural terms, it is perceived that the current normative, programmatic and budgetary framework at the national and subnational level continues to present significant gaps in relation to the integration of the gender perspective.
The informal economy represents an edge of the labour market in Mexico that deserves to be carefully analysed, since it is a consequence of persistent social inequalities and low productivity levels that have repercussions on the Mexican economic development, but also on the lack of benefits, such as social security, for people who carry out their economic activities in the informal economy.
In Mexico, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annual growth rate (per employed person), had a decrease of 2.85. While in 2016 the rate was 0.4792, in 2019 it was -2.37. This shows that from 2016, the country has had a downward trend regarding its economic performance to create and maintain employment opportunities with fair and equitable remuneration.
In addition to the above, in relation to the proportion of informal employment in non-agricultural jobs, in 2016 the proportion was 52.53% and 52.14% in 2019, showing a slight downward trend. In this year, the informal employment rate was 56.54% for women and 48.82% for men.
For stimulating productivity based on the monitoring compliance with labour regulations, it is expected that by 2024 the rate of labour informality in the formal sector will decrease to 25.8%, which in 2018 represented 29.8% (See Annex 2. Indicators).
According to the aforementioned, in 2020, the STPS implemented the Employment Support Programme in order to achieve a successful job insertion for unemployed and workers in critical occupation conditions, with preferential attention to those who face barriers to access to formal employment. Among the main results, care was provided to 1 545 992 people, of which 43.8% (677 269), were women living in urban areas. Of these, only 92 792 achieved to access a productive job or occupation.
Additionally, in order to achieve productive employment for all people, through the actions of the National Employment Service (SNE by its spanish acronym), it seeks to significantly increase the number of people inserted in a formal job. In 2018, the insertion rate in a formal job of people assisted by the SNE was estimated at just 3.83%, while it is expected that by 2024 this rate will reach 19.1% (See Annex 2. Indicators).
At the subnational level, some of the actions implemented by the Mexican states focus on improving the quality of the spaces in which the economic activities are carried out. Such is the case of Oaxaca and Querétaro, which have invested resources in public markets construction and/or rehabilitation. For the first case, in 2018 was carried out the Construction and Rehabilitation of Public Markets Programme through which 21 commercial spaces have been rehabilitated in the different regions of the state, strengthening the local economy, promoting the sale of local products and substantially improving the income for thousands of families in Oaxaca. On the other hand, in Querétaro the Tepetate Market was built to improve the conditions of tenants and visitors, incorporating universal design criteria, and building a resilient, inclusive and attractive site.
According to different studies and based on the New Urban Agenda, cities should be a space in which a conducive, fair and responsible environment for business activity is promoted, fostering investment, innovation and entrepreneurship.
In this context, the Ministry of Economy (SE by its spanish acronym), promotes the Microcredits for Well-being Programme, which focuses on serving micro-enterprises that make up 94.5% of the total in Mexico and employ 36% of the total number of people who work in the business sector. Often, these micro-enterprises are created in informality conditions, which hinders their access to external financial resources to carry out productive activities that strengthen their growth. According to the SE reports, until December 31 last year, 814 275 supports were delivered to micro businesses in the formal and informal sector; 702 606 supports correspond to the Consolidation Mode and 111 669 to the Month 13 JCF Mode (start a business). Of the total support, 566 070 were given to women.
For its part, the Financial Support Programme for Family Microenterprises contributes to promoting access to physical and financial capital to expand the productive potential of micro, small and medium enterprises and to provide support through financing, business advice and training to achieve micro-businesses development in marginalized communities.
On the other hand, with regard to the primary sector, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER by its spanish acronym), implemented the Promotion of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Aquaculture Programme, which has two subcomponents: Added Value and Markets and Agri-food Chains. Both of them contribute to self-sufficiency and food security and promote the value addition process in the production of small farmers and their link to markets (predominantly urban), through quality improvement and projects for vertical integration into the production chain.
Cities are considered one of the main spaces to promote fair and attractive environments for innovation. In this sense, the SE has implemented programmes that seek to promote innovation and economic development in specific productive sectors. This is the case of the Ministry of Economy Sectoral Programme 2020-2024, which promotes technological development in productive sectors to reduce the lag in innovation and strengthen the institutional framework to: improve doing business environment, through actions such as the adoption of new technologies to move towards Industry 4.0; promote digital economy development; support human capital training; improve provision of specialized services based on Information Technology, and design and propose technological solutions for productive sectors economic development.
In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) requested technical assistance from UN-Habitat and the United Nations Organization for Industrial Development (UNIDO to develop a strategy to promote the inclusive and sustainable industrial development of Mexico abroad, through the location of new high-value industries in different regions of the country. All of that, based on a territorial-industrial strategy that will trigger economic development processes at the local scale to enhance the capacities of states and municipalities to be inserted in sustainable industrial development processes. This is complemented by the development of an industrial-territorial atlas that will identify spatial patterns and interrelationships of strategic sectors, which could become a key input for decision-making and promote the investments and innovative technologies attraction to specific regions in Mexico. Additionally, this Ministry is working to generate a long-term transformative vision for the industrial promotion of Mexico abroad, from the identification and use of the endogenous comparative territorial advantages of the different industrial regions and others with economic-industrial potential linked to abroad.
Besides that, the Communications and Transportation Ministry (SCT), in order to join actions to achieve sustainable prosperity for all, seeks to consolidate the port infrastructure network and the merchant marine as regional development triggers. These actions are measured through the impact on regional coastal development and based on employment and economic activity performance that impinge on the social welfare conditions for the Mexican population. The SCT promotes industrial nodes and production centres establishment around the ports and improving multimodal connectivity to strengthen the regional domestic market (See Annex 2. Indicators).
At the state level, Baja California Sur carries out an Internet Connectivity service for remote communities. This project began in 2019 and aims to provide basic infrastructure and expand the communication capacity among communities, most of them do not have this service that allows to strengthen the cultural, educational and tourist activity and, at the same time, social and economic growth and development in the state. The initiative has allowed more than 2000 users to access the internet service, strengthening educational activities in this new normality caused by Covid-19 pandemic. The remote communities receive a direct improvement in their daily life because of the installation of infrastructure for connectivity, which also represents an advance in urbanization.
The New Urban Agenda recognizes that an environment that is conducive to entrepreneurship, innovation and the creation of livelihoods must be fostered, so it is important to develop dynamic, sustainable and inclusive urban economies, taking advantage of all available possibilities within the city, such as competitive advantages, local resources or cultural heritage.
In this sense, in Mexico, a large part of the cities, especially those in the north, dedicate their economic activity to employment in manufacturing. In 2016, 16.3% of working people were employed in the manufacturing sector and in 2019 a figure of 16.57% was reached, showing a slight increase in this period. On the other hand, analysing the situation by sex, 17.04% of the employed men were in this sector, and women represented 15.83% of the total employed.
Regarding the promotion of the cultural and creative industry, a large part of the activities are carried out through the Ministry of Culture, which seeks to bring culture closer to the lowest social groups and provide support to the most abandoned sectors of society. In this sense, this ministry seeks to increase the number of libraries in operation nationwide by 2024. From 2018 to 2019 this number grew from 6797 to 6876 (See Annex 2. Indicators).
Additionally, the Ministry of Culture, through the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL by its spanish acronym), in coordination with the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP by its spanish acronym) and the Tax Administration Service (SAT by its spanish acronym), promote the Stimulus Tax on Investment Projects in National Theater Production for the edition and publication of national literary works, visual arts, dance, music in the specific fields as orchestral conducting, and concert and jazz music instrumental and vocal performance.
In the same way, the Mexico Creative Project, started in 2019, aims to generate a space for ideas and knowledge convergence related to structural issues of cultural and creative economy to contribute to the diverse and sustainable socio cultural ecosystem development; promote invention and encourage collaboration, from a perspective of dialogue, transversality and hybridization among different fields and disciplines; bet on cultural productive fabric development and consolidation at an organizational and economic level, and to achieve a greater recognition of the social value of culture, influencing the public and creative subjects strengthening.
On the other hand, the Artisan Corridors represent a project that has been carried out since 2016, as a branch of the National Fund for the Promotion of Crafts (FONART by its spanish acronym), which benefits artisans groups, through a comprehensive intervention project which includes training and development actions (qualification), production areas renovation, as well as the creation of spaces for handicrafts exhibition and sale, and signposting of workshops and promotional material. All of that, necessary elements for their insertion in the market of the tourism promotion.
This project seeks to link artisan heritage with tourist destinations development, incorporating workshops as a tourist cultural product and promoting its competitiveness through workshop remodelling and training for artisans in order to obtain quality marks and to be part of an Artisan Corridor. As well as this project works for rescuing and disseminating the handicrafts cultural value as an attractive product for visitors. In this way, the project seeks to generate a direct merchandising way between artisans and final consumers, structuring a production and commercial chain according to the selected tourist destination vocation and directly strengthening the artisanal works trade.
Likewise, the FONART, in coordination with the Ministry of Tourism (SECTUR by its spanish acronym), grants the Moderniza Artesanal Distinction, in order to provide tools to artisans to diversify and expand their marketing markets. To date, 387 artisan workshops have been supported: 331 obtained the mentioned distinction and 2464 artisans has been benefited and share their artisan tradition as part of the attractions in the tourist destinations where they lived.
From 2016 to 2020, 42 Artisan Corridors have been implemented in 18 States, benefiting artisans from 14 artisanal branches such pottery and ceramics, vegetable fibres, cardboard, wax work, lacquer, stone quarry, saddlery, wood carving, jewellery, textile, glass, feather work and metalwork.
Other projects that are carried out at the state level to diversify the urban economy and promote cultural and creative industries are the Sustainable and Community Tourism Strategy that the state governments of Veracruz and Oaxaca promote in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The strategy aims to consolidate this area as a relevant community tourism destination in the country, a source of identity pride, and a generator of social well-being and endogenous development based on the tourism products that take advantage of natural, biocultural and cultural resources in the region, an example of three sustainability axes: social, economic and environmental.
Likewise, in recent years, organized civil society has promoted specific actions to generate local productive spaces based on the territorial advantages of the communities to generate productive activities for the benefit of all people.
Projects such as the Cuicatlán botanical garden, in Oaxaca, have triggered tourist activities generating direct employment for the surrounding population and encouraging private initiative to invest in infrastructure and urban image in favour of local businesses and, in this way, detonate tourism service niches that value the cultural heritage of the area, while improve population work skills for promoting decent and productive jobs generation.
The SHCP has implemented some basic strategic programmes to achieve greater growth in the country, such as the following:
- National Development Financing Programme: establishes the priority strategies that allow, among other things, to ensure fiscal and financial resources to carry out the Federal Government actions.
- Infrastructure for Well-being National Programme: establishes investment strategies in infrastructure for priority and strategic sectors that allow inclusive growth and help trigger greater private investment.
- Productivity and Competitiveness Special Programme 2020-2024 (PEPC), which has the following objectives: a) increase resource endowment of the national economy and improve its allocation, b) promote access to mechanisms that allow new companies creation and improve productivity of those already existing in the country, c) boost national economy general productivity through strategies that improve human capital, infrastructure and innovation to increase people and companies well-being, d) promote a competitive environment at the national level in which companies operate and, e) reduce regional divergences and strengthen the national economy strategic sectors.
This programme is the instrument by which the national policy is implemented to enhance the medium and long-term capacities of the people and companies in Mexico, in order to increase their well-being. In addition, it frames strategies and actions aimed at supporting population groups and economic units affected by Covid-19, so that they can both re-insert themselves completely into economic activity and adapt to the structural changes generated or accelerated for the disease.
The SADER drives different programmes to support the Mexican producers and the most marginalized populations. Such is the case of the Well-being Programme 2019-2021, which aims to benefit 2.3 million small and medium producers in rural, peri-urban and coastal areas of the country.
Through this programme, it is intended to prioritize support for producers with up to five rainfed hectares and 0.2 irrigation hectares, which means supporting 84% of small and medium-scale producers, who directly receive $1600 (USD $80) fixed payment per hectare (producers with less than five hectares) or $1000 (USD $50) per hectare (for producers with less than 20 hectares). This programme that the provision of support for 657 000 small indigenous producers is a priority.
In this way, it seeks to increase productivity and contribute to food self-sufficiency in the poorest areas of the country, mainly boosting the production of corn, beans, rice, coffee and sugar cane. Likewise, better agroecological practices are promoted for the conservation of resources in rural areas that, through the multiple urban-rural interconnections, have a positive impact on the entire population.
In fiscal year 2020, direct support was granted to 2 146 044 beneficiary producers, 37% more than those supported in 2019. These direct payments were made in accordance with the strata and quotas established in the programme´s operating rules. 81.1% of direct support went to grain producers, 9.9% to sugar cane producers, and 9% to coffee producers. The target population is focused on small and medium producers of basic grains, of which 40% have to be located in indigenous localities and considering that 30% are women. This reduces the income and gender gap in the most marginalized localities of the country.
In addition, the SADER is in charge of the Basic Food Products Guarantee Prices Programme that began in 2019, due to the fact that the decrease in planted area and volume of grain production in recent years have caused a reduction in the income of the grain and milk small and medium producers and has generated a food deficit. This situation has a negative impact on the country's food security, which is why the programme seeks to reduce the vulnerability of small producers of basic grains and milk, increasing both certainty and income amount they receive from their crops. Likewise, by promoting the production of basic grains, it seeks to reduce dependence on food imports and contribute to the social food supply system, with an emphasis on quality products and high nutritional value.
The Promotion of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Aquaculture Programme, started in 2021, has two subcomponents: the Agroecological Production and Productivity for Food and Food Self-sufficiency, and the Soil, Water and Biodiversity. The latter has incentives for reducing the agriculture water footprint through actions aimed at modifying the salinity and acidification of agricultural soils, increasing matter organic levels and degraded soils fertility, soil loss reduction, use of irrigation water efficiency, rainwater capture and other agricultural practices for the pollinators and beneficial organisms’ developments. The programme seeks to promote the bases for the transformation of sustainable agriculture and its adaptation to climate change, through incentives for the recovery and protection of water for agricultural use.
In Mexico, it is recognized that one of the main causes of the unsustainable urban sprawl has been the model of territorial occupation that has led to a generalized abandonment of the rural areas and a phenomenon of dispersion of thousands of small localities. This has been accompanied, among other aspects, by the loss and degradation of the natural environment, as well as the accentuation of social and gender gaps, largely affecting people in vulnerable situations (PSEDATU, 2020-2024).
Therefore, one of the great challenges currently faced in terms of territorial planning is the establishment of an integrated territorial system that takes into account sustainability, human rights and gender equity; therefore, land use and urban development programmes must be catalysts for a balanced use of the territory.
In this context, the integral urban development policy implemented by SEDATU consists of the following elements:
- Methodological: through the publication of the Simplified Guidelines for the preparation of Municipal Urban Development Plans and Programmes, which are aimed at transforming the way in which cities are managed, based on a methodology that seeks to identify and address the differentiated needs of people.
- Financing: through the Urban Upgrading Programme in its Urban, Metropolitan and Territorial Planning (PUMOT) component, promotes and grants financing for the development of land use and urban development plans based on a model of dense, mixed, compact and inclusive cities. During 2019, PUMOT financed and provided technical assistance to local governments for the development of 26 Municipal Urban Development Plans and Programmes, two Metropolitan Programmes and two State Land Use and Urban Development Programmes.
- Capacity building: through the course Co-creating cities for all people, implemented in 2020, the objective was to strengthen capacities of professionals in the sector and promote a paradigm shift in the management and territorial planning of Mexican cities, based on the implementation of the Simplified Guidelines. Two editions of the course were held, in which 1699 students from all the states of the country and from various Latin American countries passed the course.
Additionally, some federal entities have established actions aimed at having a better control of urban development. In this sense, since 2018, states as Coahuila have implemented the Urban Impact Opinion, whose objective is to assess that land use and its activities do not generate negative urban impacts or alterations; to do so, it contains authorizations in environmental matters, civil protection, hydrological studies, land use, mobility, habitability, among others, which implies that human rights are considered in this exercise, in the areas of health, healthy environment, habitability, equity and inclusion, etc.
The adverse effects of current and future changes in the climate system are inevitable; therefore, in a context of high uncertainty and scarce resources, it is urgent to identify, implement, monitor and evaluate the actions, processes and capabilities developed to address climate change.
Therefore, the establishment of the National Climate Change Policy, coordinated by SEMARNAT, represents the set of public interventions that contribute to reducing greenhouse gases emissions and compounds, as well as reducing vulnerability and strengthening the adaptation of the population, ecosystems and productive systems to the effects of climate change.
Among the preliminary achievements of this policy, it is emphasized that the preliminary bases of the Emissions Trading System (SCE) test program, a market instrument designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the National Climate Change System (SINACC), the soon-to-be-published Special Climate Change Programme (PECC) and the updating of the country's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), are already in place.
In addition, there is a Research Programme on Climate Change, Sustainability and Green Growth, which aims to contribute to inclusive economic development through the generation of knowledge and scientific and technological information in the research areas of the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC, by its spanish acronym). For its part, the SCT implements the geostationary observatory of the carbon cycle (GeoCarb, by is English acronym), that is aimed at measuring in detail the sources and mechanisms that control the concentrations of CO2, CH4 and CO in great part of the American continent, but especially the monitoring of the carbon column in Mexico. This project is tentatively scheduled to be launched in 2021-2022.
In addition, INECC has developed several relevant adaptation projects, including the following:
1. Creation of monitoring and evaluation schemes for adaptation in Mexico, to identify, develop and elaborate quantitative and qualitative tools to monitor and evaluate adaptation actions in different regions or sectors implemented by the public, private and civil society sectors.
2. ADAPTUR, implemented by the German Cooperation for Sustainable Development in Mexico (GIZ), the Ministry of Tourism (SECTUR), SEMARNAT, the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) and INECC, to support the tourism sector in adapting to climate change to reduce risks and protect its natural assets (beaches, reefs, forests, biodiversity) and the services provided by ecosystems. This project is being implemented in Nayarit Riviera (Jalisco), San Miguel de Allende (Guanajuato) and Maya Riviera (Quintana Roo).
3. Adaptation of Coastal Wetlands in the Gulf of Mexico to the impacts of climate change, to implement adaptation measures and reduce the vulnerability of coastal wetland communities in this area through ecosystem-based adaptation with a gender approach.
In addition to the previous, it is recognized that the efforts of state and municipal governments are important because at these scales the effects of climate change are more clearly visible and concrete mitigation and adaptation actions with a direct impact on the territory are also defined. In this sense, there is heterogeneity in the way in which climate change policy is addressed at these levels of action. For example, only two of the 32 states have a Climate Change Law, four have a State Climate Change Programme and seven have Climate Change State Funds.
In this context, SEMARNAT seeks to strengthen the adaptive capacities of municipalities to respond to climate change effects, which is why it has set a goal for 2024 to increase the adaptive capacity of municipalities by 24.3%, considering the universe of municipalities highly vulnerable to climate change in the country (See Annex 2. Indicators).
Within the States with Climate Change Programmes, the examples of Chiapas and Jalisco are worth highlighting. The first, formulated in 2020 its State Investment Plan for Climate Action in Sustainable Rural Development, as an instrument to guide the decisions of public institutions participating in the State Climate Change System to coordinate the management of investments and move towards resilient and low-carbon territorial governance models. This strategy is based on integral management of the territory from Integrated Territorial Management Units (UMIT), delimited by micro-watersheds, land use, and sustainable practices coordinated by the owners, holders and users of these lands. In the same year, the state of Jalisco prepared the Climate Action Plan for the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, which aims to make the metropolis Carbon-Neutral based on integrated waste management, mass and non-motorized mobility, efficient energy use and renewable energy supply.
Under the light of the current urban challenges, the participation of civil society, collectives and individuals has been of great importance to make visible the challenges and opportunities in urban-environmental matters, to generate intergenerational awareness-raising on the conservation of natural capital, to promote strategies to strengthen community resilience and to promote urban regeneration initiatives, such as green roof projects, urban gardens, linear parks, reforestation, reduction of asphalt surface, tactical urbanism actions in public spaces, recycling, increase of vegetation, among others.
Such is the example of the Citizen Socio-environmental Laboratory, which carries out outreach and awareness-raising actions on climate change and its effects through digital communication, as well as promoting urban governance actions by linking with 20 local groups to promote the urban-environmental agenda and mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
In Mexico, according to the National Centre for Disaster Prevention (CENAPRED), risks are classified as geological (slopes, earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes), hydrometeorological (climate change, tropical cyclones, frost, floods, droughts and severe storms), chemical and sanitary (storage and transportation, emergency response, fire, hazardous waste and sanitary risks).
According to the Socioeconomic Impact of the Main Disasters Occurring in Mexico study published yearly by CENAPRED, a constant, practically every year, is that disasters of hydrometeorological origin are the ones that report the greatest amount of damages and losses. 2019 was no exception, as almost 73.4 % of the value of total damages was generated by this type of risk.
Therefore, this section will only describe the progress and challenges to reduce the impact of disasters associated with geological (earthquakes) and hydrometeorological (floods) risks:
a. Geological risks
Mexico is located in one of the most seismic regions in the world, where the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Michoacán, Colima and Jalisco have the highest seismicity. On 07 September 2017, an earthquake of magnitude 8.2 occurred, and was catalogued by the National Seismological Service as the strongest in the last 100 years, affecting mainly the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas. A second earthquake of magnitude 7.1, occurred on 19 September the same year, which produced devastating consequences, as a result, Mexico City and the states of Morelos, Mexico and Tlaxcala issued a disaster declaration for the first time.
In 2017, the largest amount of damages and losses corresponded to geological type phenomena with 92.4% of the annual total of $81 698.3 million pesos (USD $4084.91 millions), followed by hydrometeorological events with 6.8%, equivalent to $6014 million pesos (USD $300 millions).
As part of the strategies to assist the population affected by the referred earthquakes, since 2019, SEDATU is in charge of coordinating and implementing the National Reconstruction Programme, oriented to support the affected population in the central-south region of the country, that have not been assisted or partially assisted. The actions implemented focus on the reconstruction of housing, educational and health infrastructure, as well as restoration, rehabilitation, maintenance and training for the prevention and conservation of cultural, historical, archaeological and artistic assets.
Through this program, priority is given to people living in areas with a higher degree of marginalization, with indigenous population or with high rates of violence, also considering populations with the highest concentration of damage, proportion of the affectation related to the total number of properties and the greatest damage to infrastructure and housing. During 2019 and 2020, 48 924 homes, 271 educational facilities and 129 health facilities were rebuilt, and 315 cultural assets were restored, resulting in a total of 49 639 actions.
b. Hydrometeorological risks
Due to its geographic conditions, Mexico experiences hydro-meteorological phenomena that can cause intense rainfall and lead to flooding and landslides, among others.
The states with the highest risk of flooding are Veracruz, Tabasco, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero and Michoacán. In order to reduce the impact of disasters, SEMARNAT takes actions to increase every year the number of inhabitants protected against floods. From 2018 to 2019, this number went from 1 111 099 to 1 155 832; this means a 4% increase. This is observed from the information on the number of inhabitants protected with hydraulic infrastructure to prevent and/or mitigate the risk of floods with emergency response actions and from the Natural Disaster Prevention Fund (FOPREDEN). (See Annex 2. Indicators).
In this context, CONAGUA, through the implementation of the Infrastructure Programme for the Protection of Population Centres and Productive Areas, seeks to increase the capacity of hydraulic infrastructure and protection against fluvial floods in population centres and productive areas located in municipalities with higher risk of flooding, through infrastructure works. In this area, some important achievements have been the inauguration of the Tunnel Oriente Emisor (December 2019), which will prevent flooding in the Mexico Valley and will benefit 20 million inhabitants of Mexico City and the states of Mexico and Hidalgo. Also, the completion of the Bicentennial Los Pilares Dam in Sonora, with an investment of $2187.7 million pesos (USD $109 million) that will protect from flooding around 279 thousand inhabitants of urban and rural areas of the municipalities of Navojoa, Etchojoa and Huatabampo.
In addition, through the Emergency and Natural Disaster Response Programme, CONAGUA implements preventive and emergency response operations to safeguard the lives and property of the inhabitants of municipalities affected. Some of the main achievements of the programme are the following:
- Between September 2019 and June 2020, 158 preventive and 73 emergency operations have been implemented due to the presence of natural phenomena, sanitary emergency, and drought situations, which benefited 3.9 million inhabitants in 149 municipalities and city halls in 31 states.
- With the Natural Disasters Fund resources amounting to $99.6 million pesos (USD $4.9 millions), 10 reconstruction works have been completed on 15.2 kilometers of watercourses in the states of Baja California Sur, Mexico, Morelos and Tabasco. Likewise, 25 works on 41.9 kilometres of watercourses are in the process of being executed in six states. Once completed, they will protect a population of 170 605 inhabitants.
Additionally, as a resilience, mitigation and adaptation of human settlements measure, the Governance and Public Policy Index (IGOPP) in Integral Risk Management (GIR) is calculated, which evaluates the existence and validity of legal, institutional and budgetary conditions, considered fundamental for Integral Risk Management processes. In 2018, the IGOPP reached a value of 75.7 and, by 2020, it increased to 76. In this sense, it is expected to maintain the upward trend and reach a value of 80 by 2024 (See Annex 2. Indicators).
Finally, since 2019, the SCT has been developing the Early Warning System in North America for extreme events, such as droughts or forest fires, within the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), which seeks to have satellite images in real time and use them in preparedness and response to extreme events to support decision making
The promotion of urban resilience is a fundamental element that requires addressing in a comprehensive manner the rapid urbanization patterns that significantly increase the number of people at risk, while considering the socio-economic and institutional demands that allow for a quick and better recovery from the occurrence of disruptive events.
In 2020, as one of the tools for building resilience in the urban environment, SEDATU and SEMARNAT began working on the development of the Mexican Official Standard (Strengthening Resilience in Urban Planning), conceived as a regulatory instrument of mandatory compliance for local governments that establishes the principles and guidelines for strengthening resilience in urban planning and land use planning instruments at multiple scales and provisions for evaluating compliance.
This standard is expected to contribute to the fulfilment of SDG 11 in the targets related to increasing inclusive and sustainable urbanization, as well as the capacity for participatory planning and management, which will reduce the number of deaths from disasters, increase the adoption of integrated plans and policies to promote inclusion, the efficient use of resources, adaptation and mitigation to climate change and resilience to disasters, as established in the Sendai Framework.
In order to contribute to promote an affordable, resilient and sustainable habitat, and to advance in the construction of living spaces so that all people can live safely and in conditions of equality, SEDATU, through the Urban Improvement Programme (PMU), carries out interventions with projects and/or urban infrastructure works that have increased the percentage of cities that promote an affordable and resilient habitat by 2020. This percentage represented 7.2%, and it is expected that by 2024 will represent 24.9%. (See Annex 2. Indicators).
At the state level, efforts are relevant as some entities such as Colima, Yucatan and Chiapas have designed and implemented programmes and strategies for resilience. Since 2016, Colima implemented the Development of modern, resilient and efficient infrastructure Programme to improve and expand infrastructure for urban resilience through storm drains in the state, with an investment of over $36 million pesos (USD $1.8 million) in 2020 in the Metropolitan Zone of Colima - Villa de Alvarez. On the other hand, since 2018, Yucatan state implements the Strategy for Strengthening Local Resilience to the impacts of Climate Change, with the aim of improving the capacity of municipal governments and state institutions in the development and implementation of policies with a focus on climate change adaptation. Another relevant example is the state of Chiapas which, in 2019, developed the Climate Change Resilience Map, that delimits the forest-agricultural frontier for the protection, conservation, sustainable use and restoration of ecosystems, forest resources and their environmental services, contributing to the social and economic development of the state.
In addition, actions carried out by other multilateral organizations, such as GIZ, for the definition of guidelines and actions to address climate change in different scales addressed to diverse sectors and population groups and, on the other hand, actions by individuals in Tlaxcala to generate analysis and evidence on pedestrian infrastructure to promote the integration of the issue into the public agenda.
Also, UN-Habitat's efforts to provide some technical tools to municipalities to support them in the consolidation of plans and strategies to strengthen urban resilience in disaster risk management and crisis recovery are noteworthy. Such is the case of the Methodological Municipal Guide for Integral Disaster Risk Management addressed especially to Mexican municipalities of up to 50 000 inhabitants with greater vulnerability to damage caused by geological and hydrometeorological phenomena. Also noteworthy is the Guide for Municipal Socioeconomic Recovery in the Context of COVID-19, which provides a step-by-step guide for the preparation of municipal crisis recovery plans.
Mexico has adopted multiple commitments in environmental and urban matters, the implementation of which requires the construction of an integrated framework of reference that makes visible the synergies between the multiple dimensions of development that are expressed at the city level.
As part of the joint work between SEDATU and SEMARNAT, a work agenda was drawn up, whose purpose is to provide a reference to guide specific actions based on an integral vision of cities to make it possible to combine the efforts and capacities of the environmental and urban sectors to promote sustainability in Mexico's territory to face the challenges of urbanization, offering an integral, multidimensional, multiscale and multifactorial scheme to avoid duplicities and allowing a more efficient use of public resources. It is expected that this urban-environmental agenda will trigger to operationalize the right to the city and to a healthy environment, as well as disaster prevention within the framework of the SDGs.
Likewise, with the objective of promoting the conservation, protection, restoration and sustainable use of ecosystems and their biodiversity with a territorial and human rights approach, SEMARNAT measures the percentage of hectares served in strategic micro-watersheds with an integral territorial management approach in relation to the defined potential surface area. By 2024, the goal is projected to reach 2.29% hectares in strategic micro-watersheds with an integrated territorial management approach in relation to the defined potential area of 12 million hectares (See Annex 2. Indicators).
In addition to the above, it is recognized that the efforts of state governments are essential, However, few states have specific programmes for the sustainable use and management of natural resources, as is the case of Colima state, which implemented its Programme for Sustainable Management of Natural Resources to increase the areas for the conservation of natural resources in the state. Through it, the first Conservation Areas Decree at state level was achieved, considering the relevance of the ecosystem services offered to the Metropolitan Zone of Colima - Villa de Alvarez.
On the other hand, reforestation campaigns have been carried out in various states of the Republic, such as San Luis Potosí and Yucatán, both aimed at contributing to the targets set in terms of mitigation and adaptation to climate change in rural areas, as well as guaranteeing the provision of environmental services.
Also, non-governmental and international organizations actively participate and contribute, among other things, by facilitating the mobilization of resources and the transfer of knowledge and best practices that serve as a reference as they contain success ingredients and lessons learned in similar contexts. Also they support to facilitate the co-creation of solutions and knowledge on various topics.
One example is the collaboration of Habitat for Humanity Mexico A.C., which works in different urban centres, including communities in Chiapas, implementing integrated solutions to achieve sustainable communities by promoting the sustainable use of resources: water (rain collectors), sanitation (toilets), healthy cooking (smoke-free stoves) and organic food (family gardens).
In 2020, the INECC developed the Basic Diagnosis for the Integral Management of Waste 2020-2024, which identifies the situation of the country in the generation and management of waste at the national level, considering issues such as quantity and composition, installed infrastructure, capacity and effectiveness to manage it integrally and which yields the following:
- Calculated per capita waste generation was 0.944 kg/inhab/day and the total waste generation in the country is estimated at 120 128 t/day.
- A total of 31.56% corresponds to waste that can be reused, 46.42% to organic waste and 22.03% to other kinds of waste.
- Separate waste collection is carried out in 144 municipalities in 23 states and in the 16 territorial districts of Mexico City.
Every day, 5281 tons of waste are collected separately. About 5% of the total waste collected in the country: 2062 tons of organic waste and 3219 tons of inorganic waste.
These data will serve as a basis for estimating the potential for waste utilization in the country, while at the same time making visible the magnitude of the challenge for the whole society to move towards the integrated management of a greater amount of waste generated daily. In addition, the document makes important contributions on hazardous, special handling, oil, and mining waste.
On this matter, the publication of the National Programme for the Remediation of Contaminated Sites 2021-2024, the National Programme for the Prevention and Management of Waste 2021-2024 and the National Programme for the Prevention and Integral Management of Special Handling Waste 2021-2024 are still pending.
In addition to the above, since 2020 SEMARNAT has been carrying out the Mexican Circular Economy Strategy, which seeks to generate a guiding document at the national level in order to contribute to compliance of the NDC. This strategy, represents a commitment to strengthen the sustainable management of natural resources, paying special attention to the environmentally sound management and minimization of all waste, hazardous chemicals, including short-lived air and climate pollutants, greenhouse gases and noise, in a way that takes into account urban-rural linkages, functional value and supply chains in relation to their environmental impact and sustainability.
At the state level, Yucatan and Quintana Roo have been exemplary in the matter. since 2019, the Yucatan Zero Waste Strategy has been implemented with the aim of maximizing the use of waste through the promotion of an environmental culture, innovative equipment and infrastructure, granting of awareness talks, workshops, digital platforms, dissemination campaigns, work in schools and municipalities, updating the regulatory framework and integration of relevant actors. In Quintana Roo, the Plastic Reduction project was completed in collaboration with GIZ, with the objective of reducing the amount of plastics entering the oceans and moving towards a circular economy, representing one of the first steps to involve formal recycling chains and informal sector groups in the municipality of Tulum.
From organized civil society, the private sector and academia, among other things, the development and implementation of nature-based solutions stand out. Among the initiatives are projects to raise awareness and implement urban agriculture, regeneration and conservation of public spaces and increase quality green areas, rainwater harvesting and sustainable water management.
The initiative of Eco Jóvenes en Acción por Sonora A.C. is one of the examples of collective efforts to contribute to the fulfilment of the SDGs, particularly SDG 13, through the implementation of actions for adaptation to the effects of climate change and for the sustainable management of resources, through reforestation initiatives, community workshops on urban agriculture and eco-techniques, compost, cleaning and rehabilitation of public spaces, increasement of vegetation in sidewalks and underutilized spaces, among others.
These types of projects seek to counter some of the effects caused by the current urbanization model, such as the degradation of the environment and local ecosystems, heat island effects, CO2 emissions, among others. They also promote the inclusion and empowerment of certain groups, including women, youth, and the elderly.
Mexico is not only a megadiverse country but also a highly urbanized one, which demands the implementation of integral policies that ensure the adequate valuation of its natural and cultural heritage in urban planning processes. Coastal regions constitute fragile environments in which work must be done to ensure development capable of preserving biodiversity and ecosystem services, as support for long-term economic development and social development that enhances the particularities of these strategic regions of the country.
Therefore, jointly between SEDATU and SEMARNAT, with technical support from GIZ, is being carried out the Sustainable Development of Urban Coastal Regions Project, through the integration of ecosystem services and biodiversity (BIOCITIS), which arises from the need to put into practice the principle of integrality of the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda to influence the synergies between the three dimensions of sustainable development in coastal regions.
Its purpose is to improve the response capacity of cities to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services by strengthening the planning and management instruments of coastal cities and territories to ensure the conservation of biodiversity values in the processes of land use and development of productive activities; to support cooperation among various stakeholders to implement concrete measures for conservation, protection and environmental restoration, which in turn are opportunities for comprehensive and inclusive economic development; and to disseminate, replicate and integrate into public policies some of the solutions developed and experiences gained. This project will be implemented in the coastal cities of Los Cabos (Baja California Sur), the Chetumal-Bacalar region (Quintana Roo) and the metropolitan area of Veracruz-Boca del Río (Veracruz).
Likewise, as an example of some actions implemented by the states that have coastal coastline, since 2018 in Yucatan has been carried out he strategy Coastal Management for the Conservation and Improvement of Erosion Zones, which has as its main objective to recover the stability of the coast in beaches affected by erosion and its environmental services which consist of restoring the coastal flow of sand, and promotes authorized coastal protection structures that conserve and generate beaches, as well as the certification of beaches for their tourist promotion. Among the main achievements of this strategy are the following:
- In 2020, 2145 linear meters of eroded beach have been treated through artificial sand filling in the municipality of Progreso.
- In 2020, 30 structures that affected the coastal dynamics were removed, thus improving beach conditions.
- The platinum beach certification granted by the Mexican Institute for Standardization and Certification A.C. (IMNC) has been promoted for seven beaches. This certification consists of adequate waste management and maintenance of a healthy beach condition, in coordination with research centres, institutions and private companies.
In addition to the implementation of actions for the preservation of coasts, other activities are considered for diverse water bodies such as Cenotes. Hence, in 2019, Yucatan implemented the strategy Sustainable use of cenotes and caves in the state of Yucatan, whose main objective is to preserve the karst bodies in the entity, through the characterization, identification and exploration of new sites and of possible tourist use, with conservation and restoration efforts, and the application of the regulations of the Environmental Protection Law of the State of Yucatan on Cenotes, Caves and Grottos matters. In this regard, the following achievements stand out:
- Currently, 37 cenotes have been sanitized, from which 10 528 kg of urban solid waste were extracted.
50 cenotes have been characterized with morphological and biological data. This benefits 1 216 933 inhabitants of the municipalities of Abala, Calotmul, Dzidzantún, Homún, Huhi, Kaua, Mérida, Panabá, Sotuta, Suma, Tekit, Tecoh, Valladolid, Umán and Yaxcaba.
The SCT, in a public-private partnership with the Telecommunications Investment Promotion Agency (PROMTEL), Telecommunications of Mexico and Altan Networks, developed the operation and deployment of a broadband services network that should reach, at least, 92.2% of the population nationwide by January 2024.
Currently, this shared network has a coverage of 61.17% of the population, which is equivalent to approximately 68.7 million people, located in 50 major cities. Of this coverage, 4% corresponds to the social coverage committed by the project, which translates into close to 4.5 million people living in approximately 27 thousand localities with less than 250 inhabitants and in more than 2500 localities with more than 250 but less than 5000 inhabitants.
In addition to the above, the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT by its spanish acronym) published information regarding fixed internet service accesses through optical fibre. During the first six months of 2020, fixed telecommunications services remained on the rise, which represented a growth of $1.6 million pesos (USD $80 000) in relation to June 2019. This is equal to 8.5% annual growth. Similarly, from June 2019 to June 2020, the technology with the highest growth was optical fibre: accesses by this technology increased $1.4 million pesos (USD $70 000). On the other hand, coaxial cable accesses increased by a little more than $882 thousand pesos (USD $44 100).
To build the urban governance structure, the New Urban Agenda emphasizes the International Guidelines on Decentralization and Strengthening of Local Authorities and the International Guidelines on Access to Basic Services for All, both approved by the UN Habitat Governing Council in 2007 and 2009 respectively.
These instruments are key to promoting good governance at all levels of government and will serve as catalysts for policy and institutional reforms at the national level to empower local authorities and improve urban governance to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
A fundamental part of government decentralization lies on public finances. In the case of Mexico, there are federal contributions that are determined annually in the Federation Expenditure Budget (PEF by its spanish acronym), which are labelled resources transferred to the states to meet the needs of the population. This is the case of the unconditional federal contributions of free tax administration, constituted by federal participations, which are channelled through Branch 28 and Branch 33, for the Federal Entities and the Municipalities. These are resources that are transferred to the public finances of the states, Mexico City and, where appropriate, to the municipalities, whose spending is conditioned to the achievement and fulfilment of the objectives established by the Fiscal Coordination Law.
Starting in 1998, some funds were established to serve different needs at local levels. Some of the most related to the issues of the New Urban Agenda are the Contribution Fund for Social Infrastructure (FAIS for its spanish acronym), which aims to contribute to social welfare, by financing infrastructure works and actions that help combat extreme poverty and social backwardness. The Contribution Fund for the Strengthening of Municipalities and Territorial Demarcations (FORTAMUN by its spanish acronym), focused on local governments meeting their financial obligations, paying rights and uses for water, wastewater discharges, modernizing the local collection systems, infrastructure maintenance, and the attention to the needs directly related to the public safety of its inhabitants, as well as the Contribution Fund for the Strengthening of the Federal Entities (FAFEF by its spanish acronym), focused on investment in physical infrastructure , financial reorganization, modernization of public property and trade records and local collection systems, among others.
The SHCP sends the amounts per fund to each federative entity through the Treasury of the Federation. These contributions are administered and exercised by the governments of the federative entities and, where appropriate, the municipalities and demarcations of Mexico City, in accordance with their own laws, as long as they do not conflict with federal legislation or with the applicable regulations in each case.
The federal resources transferred are fundamental and the main source to support the financing of the development strategies, programmes and plans of local governments. In this sense, it is important to mention that these transfers represent more than 85% of the total income of the states, while their own income represents an average of 20%. Financing is also included within own resources, in this sense, seeking and developing new options to increase their own revenues is an area of opportunity for state and local governments.
In 2016, the states and municipalities obtained, on average, 26.15% of revenues on their own and the rest from federal transfers. By 2019, the percentage rose to 26.48%. The entities (including state and municipal governments) where there was a greater increase in their relative own income were in Guerrero (11.06%), Aguascalientes (7.74%), Zacatecas (7.45%), Querétaro (7.35%) and Quintana Roo (6.81% ), while the entities where there was a relative decrease in their own income were Chiapas (-8.57%), Campeche (-7.38%), Tlaxcala (-6.07%) and Durango (-4.77%).
Urban policies require linking with financing mechanisms that strengthen or complement their scope. Through the PEF, various budgetary programs linked to urban policies are established, through which it is intended to have fairer and more equitable territories. These programs are the responsibility of Branch 15 related to agrarian, territorial and urban development, and some of them have already been described in this report, so the following is a recapitulation of their names:
- Procurement of agrarian justice.
- Agrarian Conflict Attention Programme.
- Administration of common funds of agrarian nuclei and supervision of expropriations.
- Credit Granting Programme (National Guarantee Fund for Popular Housing).
- Attention to legal matters in agrarian, territorial, urban and housing matters.
- Studies and projects for regional, metropolitan and urban development.
- Modernization of the National Rural Cadastre.
- Conduction and implementation of the national housing policy.
- Urban Development Policy and Territorial Planning.
- Programme for the constitution of priority territorial reserves for orderly urban development.
- National Programme for Regularization of Lots.
- Programme to Regularize Human Settlements.
- Regularization and Registration of Agrarian Legal Acts.
- Modernization programme for public property registers and cadastres.
- National Reconstruction Programme.
- Ordinance and regulation of rural property.
- Social Housing Programme
- Urban Improvement Programme
Additionally, the development of inputs to strengthen urban policy, as well as to trigger the implementation of specific projects, is determined from the support obtained through investment loans and technical cooperation.
An emblematic case in this regard is the one linked to the reform of the Organic Law of the Federal Public Administration (LOAPF by its spanish acronym) of November 31, 2018, which endowed SEDATU with the power to express an opinion in the evaluation of investment projects with territorial impact, financed with federal resources administered by the SHCP. This opinion is a key step in the transition towards investment project evaluation procedures with a comprehensive approach that consider territorial impacts and that promote sustainable, resilient, efficient and equitable land use.
Therefore, from March to December 2020, through the socioeconomic evaluation of projects: Territories of peace and well-being through the evaluation of investment projects, SEDATU received technical assistance from the Future Cities Programme Alliance (CF), financed by the British Embassy in Mexico. The purpose of this assistance was to generate methodological guidelines for the evaluation of the territorial impact of federal investment projects, with the aim of providing a technical opinion to the SHCP. As a result, SEDATU now has a basic and flexible methodology that will be the main input for the development of territorial impact opinions for large-scale projects of the Mexican Government during the current fiscal year.
In accordance with the provisions of the General Law of Human Settlements, Land Management and Urban Development (LGAHOTDU by its spanish acronym), SEDATU is responsible for issuing Official Mexican Standards (NOMs) that establish the guidelines, criteria, and technical and procedural specifications, appropriate for land use planning, urban and metropolitan development in aspects such as: a) The structure of the primary road network in human settlements, Population Centres and their growth areas, and for the head works and urban mobility; b) The custody and use of non-urbanizable areas of environmental value, including the first beach dunes, river fords, lakes and regulating water vessels, for urban resilience; c) The homologation of terminology for the hierarchization of public spaces and facilities in Urban Development plans or programs; d) The homologation of contents, methodologies and graphic expression for the elaboration of plans and programs in the matter and the criteria for their update with a long-term vision, and e) The prevention and attention of contingencies in the Population Centres for the strengthening of resilience.
Some of the advances in this matter are visualized through the following standards:
- Public spaces
In December 2020, SEDATU sent for publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF by its spanish acronym, the Draft of Mexican Official Standard PROY-NOM-001-SEDATU-2020 Public spaces in human settlements, through which it is intended to lead the country's territorial policy towards the generation of more humane, inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable public spaces for all Mexicans, at the three levels of government. Its particular objectives are to standardize the terminology, content and methodologies regarding public spaces in urban development plans or programs in the national territory as well as indicate the elements that are the object of counting and evaluation to have a starting point to generate reliable indicators at the national level and provide self-evaluation tools for municipalities and entities to formulate and carry out specific actions for the promotion and protection of their public spaces.
- Road safety
Accidents on highways and urban roads are considered public health problems in Mexico, due, among other causes, to the lack of a national standard that regulates signalling and road safety devices on highways and urban roads which applies to all levels of government. Therefore, in 2019, the development of a joint SCT- SEDATU Standard began, as well as the creation of the Regulatory Manual that will establish the procedures so that those responsible for designing projects, as well as executing the corresponding works, comply with the precepts of said regulatory document. This Manual will be part of the Technical Regulation and will be available to users by the end of 2021.
In addition to the above, this year activities will be implemented for the definition of the Official Standard for Integral Risk Management in Non-Urbanizable Areas with Environmental and Cultural Value and/or in areas with a high level of danger and exposure due to hydrometeorological and geological phenomena and climate change, with the potential for disaster in Human Settlements; as well as the Official Standard on resilience of human settlements and territory in the area of contingency and risk prevention, with technical assistance from the IDB.
Governance in urban areas must take place within action frameworks that allow articulation between institutions, organizations, communities and people for the management of the territory. This implies collaboration, negotiation and decision-making between the different actors to influence the planning of cities and respond to the demands and needs of their inhabitants.
In this task, the metropolitan scale is relevant, due to the necessary coordination between different governments and actors. In this regard, as a governance mechanism, SEDATU's General Coordination for Metropolitan Development and Mobility promoted the consolidation of the National Metropolitan Network (RENAMET by its spanish acronym) since 2019, which seeks to link different relevant actors from the 74 metropolitan areas of the country to participate in events related to coordination and metropolitan governance, also promoting the participation of women in the planning and management of metropolises.
In Addition to the above, SEDATU in coordination with the National Institute for Federalism and Municipal Development (INAFED), has implemented several training courses for metropolitan officials, benefiting more than 1000 people interested in these topics. On the other hand, the Metropolitan Governance Manual and Toolkit was published, in collaboration with GIZ, whose main objective is to offer methodologies with simple and dynamic formats that allow the improvement of governance processes in the different metropolitan areas of Mexico. This tool seeks to be a guide for the instances of metropolitan governance according to the specific needs of each region and is closely related to another technical tool: The Guide for the Preparation and/or Adaptation of Metropolitan Programmes.
In this area, it is also possible to highlight the existence of important efforts by non-governmental organizations, including international organizations and academia, who have contributed to position in different spaces for dialogue, the importance of multilevel and metropolitan governance from a broad perspective of intergovernmental and intersectoral collaboration with all actors that contribute to urban planning and management.
A relevant example of this type of actions has been the dissemination, dissemination and socialization of the book Metropolitan Governance: The government of the metropolis for sustainable urban development, jointly published by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) and UN-Habitat, which integrates a series of reflections on the premises that should guide metropolitan development in order to achieve its implementation in various contexts. Although it is a publication of global scope, the different institutions involved in its preparation have carried out important work positioning their contents and proposals in different dialogue spaces, collaborating with federal government institutions such as SEDATU and the SRE, thanks to this which, this publication has become a strategic tool to guide metropolitan governance processes in the country.
Additionally, non-governmental organizations, international organizations and academia have generated important research and technical inputs aimed at strengthening governance in cities and metropolitan areas in Mexico, which include specific analysis of trends, diagnosis of institutional capacities, generation of theoretical-practical inputs, normative recommendations, as well as tools for decision-making. and training strategies for stakeholders.
Finally, based on the opinion collected with non-governmental organizations through the contributions survey for this report, it has been possible to identify that civil society organizations, academia and the private sector detect as priority areas of opportunity for the strengthening urban governance the following:
- Implementation of participatory approaches in urban policies and planning.
- Updating of legislation and regulatory frameworks that improve implementation capacity; and
- Strengthening of local capacities
The above, represents an orientation for the definition of future action strategies.
SEDATU has collaborated closely with the UN-Habitat Office in Mexico to implement a participatory process for the elaboration of the Sectoral Program for Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (PSEDATU). This process, carried out from July to September 2020 was based on two innovative elements: a) linking the objectives of the sectoral program with the principles, objectives and goals of various global sustainable development agendas, and b) implement a process of meaningful participation with the technical and managerial staff of the secretariat, representatives of its sectorized and coordinated entities, representatives of civil society and academia as well as members of the Strategic Advisory Group of the Secretariat. In October 2020, a systematization document of this participatory process was published with the purpose of disseminating it as a good practice for strengthening the public policy documents generated at federal, state and municipal levels.
Another important process implemented by SEDATU is the one referring to the Urban Improvement Program that since 2019, within its Integral Improvement of Neighbourhoods component, established community participation through the figure of the Community Committee for the planning, design, monitoring and evaluation of urban interventions, thus seeking that the proposals meet local needs, promote pedagogical processes, stimulate the appropriation of the urban environment and strengthen the social fabric, involving and prioritizing the participation of girls, youth and women, as well as well as other vulnerable groups historically lagged behind.
In housing issues, in 2019 CONAVI called for professionals, organizations, associations, companies and public institutions dedicated to technical assistance to participate in order to integrate the Register of Service Providers for the intervention of housing within the framework of the Programs it operates. This technical assistance supports the optimal use of resources for housing construction and promotes participatory design in the definition process with the beneficiaries through which it seeks to include their uses and customs in the design and distribution of spaces.
On the other hand, the 4s Mobility Plan described in the transformative commitments was carried out through the participation of a group of more than 100 organizations, associations, consultants, researchers and activists.
From organized civil society, academia and international organizations, important actions and a broad incidence in terms of citizen participation are identified for urban planning and decision-making. The existing initiatives in the country cover a wide range of scopes, including: the development of research, the generation of methodologies for community outreach and the implementation of practical participation processes for the development of specific urban projects. At the same time, it has been identified that the actions implemented by non-governmental organizations on this issue encompass various topics, some of the most prominent being: urban planning, mobility, as well as the improvement of neighbourhoods and public spaces.
In the area of urban planning, it is relevant to highlight the participatory planning methodologies and processes implemented by UN-Habitat, GIZ or WRI, within the framework of technical assistance projects to local governments to strengthen their planning instruments and the generation of Urban strategies aligned with the principles of the SDGs, the NAU and other international agendas such as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Also, in rural areas, the work of the organization The Hunger Project México stands out due to its methodology Development led by communities with a gender perspective (DLC-PG), which proposes an engagement process where people, especially women, have a leading role in the planning of their communities.
Regarding mobility issues, the work carried out by organizations such as ITDP stands out, through the Manual for Participation in Mobility and Urban Development Policies, which presents tools and recommendations aimed at public officials and decision-makers to promote public participation in mobility policies. Also, the strategic methodologies generated by organizations such as WRI, Liga Peatonal, Camina: Centre for Pedestrian Mobility Studies, among others, are important assets to encourage citizen participation in the development of projects and tactical urban planning interventions aimed at improving pedestrian mobility and road safety at neighbourhood-scale in Mexican cities, promoting inclusive participation that considers women and children as central actors.
Regarding public space, stands out the National exploratory study on appropriation of urban public space, jointly developed by the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT), the National Association of Parks and Recreation and the Technological Institute of Monterrey, through which a qualitative investigation was carried out regarding the sense of belonging and use of public spaces in some cities of the country, using different participatory evaluation instruments.
Likewise, it is relevant to highlight the work of organizations such as the Placemaking Mexico Foundation, the Public Space Laboratory, Hello Neighbour! Movac, City Explorers as well as several neighbourhood groups and organizations in different cities, who have promoted and implemented strategic participatory design of public spaces and community facilities generating ownership and co-responsibility.
Finally, other actors such as the Operational Centre for Housing and Population (COPEVI), Habitat for Humanity, HIC-AL, the Faculty of Architecture of the UNAM, among others, have experiences in the implementation of participatory projects for neighbourhood improvement and housing with a gender and inclusion of vulnerable groups perspective.
It is relevant to point out that, through the different actions implemented in this area, civil society has contributed to achieving strategic advocacy for decision-making based on the needs of the people who live in cities, including advocacy on legislation and proposals. regulations. As noted, the implementation of participatory approaches in urban policies and planning continues to be identified as a priority for action to achieve efficient governance in Mexico.
The agrarian, territorial and urban development sector has promoted the participation of women in various decision-making spheres, in addition to increasing their access to federal programs that benefit them, as well as getting them to collaborate and participate in the public sphere.
In 2020, the Women for Access to Land project was launched with the participation of several institutions, included the Agrarian Procurator´s Office (PA) who is in charge to carry out itinerant justice journeys exclusively for women; the National Agrarian Registry (RAN), in charge of drafting sentences; the Agrarian Courts, which carry the legal and normative part; as well as the National Institute of Women (INMUJERES by its spanish acronym), which provides general support and information to women on their rights. In its first stage, the project will have a presence in several communities in Chiapas, Mexico City, Durango, the State of Mexico, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Michoacán, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Tabasco and Veracruz.
This project seeks that more than 700 rural and indigenous women who work the land without being titleholders, receive the services and advice necessary to have land titles and be able to fully exercise their agrarian rights, including their participation in representative bodies. This project promotes property and ownership rights in favour of indigenous and rural women through knowledge of the socio-cultural conditions that have prevented the full exercise of their property rights. In this sense, it is important to emphasize that if women cannot have access to land, their exercise of other rights is limited such as their participation in representative bodies, being able to have assets, having access to credit or loans, for example. mention a few.
On the other hand, regarding the participation of women in positions directly related to decision-making, in Mexico, during 2016, the Senate of the Republic was composed of 36.7% women and 63.3% men. By 2018, the gap has been reduced and it is made up of 49.2% women and 50.8% men. In relation to the presidency of the ordinary commissions in the Chamber of Senators, 46% is chaired by women in 2019.
In the Chamber of Deputies, in 2016, the Congress was composed of 42.4% of women, for 2018, women represent 48.2% of the Chamber. In relation to the presidency of the ordinary committees, 43.5% is chaired by women in 2019.
At the Federal Public Administration, 25.7% of the main management positions are held by women, and 36.4% of the Secretariats are held by women.
In the Judicial Power of the Federation for the year 2019, women represent 45% of the total number of magistrates in the Electoral Court. While 28.6% of the Federal Judicial Council are women, in the Supreme Court of Justice, female ministers represent 18.2% of the total.
The percentage distribution of seats held by women in local congresses is, on average, 48.8. On the one hand, the states with the highest participation of women are Morelos (70%), Chiapas (65%) and Tlaxcala (60%). On the other, the states with the lowest participation of women in their congresses are Baja California (36%), Nayarit (36.7%) and Jalisco (40%).
Regarding the percentage distribution of women in municipal presidencies, on average, 11.6% of municipalities are presided over by women; Quintana Roo (45.5%), Querétaro (44.4%) and Baja California Sur (40%) are the states with the highest percentage of mayors. On the other hand, in contrast, in Baja California and Campeche no woman heads any city council.
Regarding the inclusion of a gender perspective in urban planning and decision-making, there is extensive advocacy work by civil society organizations, international organizations and academia, who through studies and participation in debates, discussions and forums, have contributed to making visible the importance of adopting the gender perspective in a transversal way in order to generate more humane and inclusive cities and eliminate the conditions of vulnerability and violence that pre-exist in the territory.
On this subject, the work of UN-Habitat and UN Women stands out, who have collaborated hand in hand with SEDATU and INMUJERES in the implementation of urban and territorial planning strategies with a gender perspective, as is the case of the strategy Women in the Territory, within the framework of which different spaces for discussion and review were generated with representatives of academia, civil society organizations and the government, whose objective was to include the gender perspective in the SEDATU Sectoral Programme.
Likewise, within the framework of the aforementioned strategy, it is relevant to point out the broad participation of women as part of the call for works on photography, video, data analysis and visualization, public policy and urban intervention, which constituted a space to make visible the voice and the needs of women in Mexican cities, through which SEDATU, hand in hand with local governments and other civil organizations, has begun the implementation of transformative actions in the territory.
On the other hand, the publication Inclusive Cities: Urban Productivity through Gender Equity, developed by the IDB, which presents four case studies on concrete and innovative experiences in El Salvador, Spain, Japan and Mexico stands out. In the case of Mexico, the initiative MULIV (Women leaders for housing) stands out, a civil association made up of professional women that works to promote the adoption of a gender vision in urban policies. One of the main achievements of this organization has been to incorporate this vision into the criteria for the design of infrastructure, social services, and social housing policy, in order to facilitate access for women.
From the publication of the National Development Plan 2019-2024, SEDATU began the process for the elaboration of the Sectoral Programme for Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development 2020-2024 (PSEDATU), which was published on June 26, 2020. The PSEDATU incorporate sectoral planning principles with a human and sustainable vision of the territory, which has the objective of building territories of peace and well-being based on the progressive reduction of the gaps of socio-spatial inequality, poverty and discrimination.
In addition to meeting the National Development Plan, the PSEDATU is aligned with different international agendas such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the New Urban Agenda, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Agreement on Paris, therefore, it adopts the vision of a sustainable future to build territories for the well-being of all people.
In accordance with the provisions of the LGAHOTDU, SEDATU has the obligation to draw up the National Land Management Strategy (ENOT) (in process of publication) with a common welfare purpose by 2040. The ENOT is a medium and long-term public policy that seeks to contribute to the reduction of social inequalities, build more sustainable, safe and inclusive rural and urban settlements, as well as promote a more rational use of natural resources, from a territorial approach. Among its contributions to a new vision of territorial planning, are the following: attention to territorial problems on a regional scale; take into account the Rural Urban Systems (SUR) as the minimum geographic unit in order to consider not just administrative limits but areas that integrate non-urbanized areas, urban centres and rural settlements functionally linked. This strategy is made up of three national territorial axes: structuring, development and governance.
Furthermore, the SEDATU is also responsible for the preparation of the Territorial Planning and Urban Development National Programme (PNOTDU 2021-2024), as the planning instrument consistent with the PND and the ENOT. This programme is based on the territory in which there are inequalities and social gaps that imply the joint intervention of the three levels of government, the public, social and private sectors.
In 2020, the SEDATU published a tool for decision-making at the local level that takes up Mexico's international commitments on the SDGs and the New Urban Agenda for its implementation based on urban development: We are Cities. This tool has a methodology that traces the route to be followed by both municipal and state governments, in addition to strengthening the vision of the Simplified Guidelines to prepare Municipal Urban Development Plans and Programmes, which integrate transversally the gender approach and promote the integration of diverse and inclusive work groups, in addition to the incorporation of women in the decision-making process.
Regarding the application of territorial development policies at the state level, the efforts to update urban development programmes stand out. For example, during 2021, San Luis Potosí will have its Territorial Planning and Urban Development State Programme, which has a projection to 2050. Hidalgo, since 2017 promoted that each municipality of the state have an instrument for urban and territorial planning, due to the accelerated urbanization process that the entity has been experiencing for the last 50 years.
In 2016, Jalisco drew up the Metropolitan Territorial Planning instrument that considers nine metropolitan municipalities and defines future growth strategies, in order to achieve a strong metropolitan territorial order, by defining a polycentric model for the city and a clear metropolitan urban structure. Likewise, Morelos began planning efforts at the metropolitan scale in 2021, through the development of two management programmes for Cuernavaca and Cuautla metropolitan areas in order to regulate and manage the land-use planning, as well as sustainable urban development.
Nayarit implemented a permanent strategy to standardize concepts and criteria in accordance with its local law on human settlements, territorial planning and urban development. This strategy seeks to promote a vertical, compact and sustainable city model. On the other side, Oaxaca will launch its Territorial and Urban Planning Programme for the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in 2021, through which 79 municipalities of Veracruz and Oaxaca will benefit from this interoceanic corridor.
In Querétaro, different urban development programmes have also been carried out, as well as partial development programmes for traditional neighbourhoods and for the San Juan del Río historic centre. Finally, in this year, Tlaxcala will implement a broad set of planning instruments to improve the capacity of governments in urban policies, both at the state and municipal level: the Territorial Planning and Urban Development State Programme, the Tlaxcala-Apizaco Metropolitan Area Planning Programme, territorial planning and urban development municipal programmes for Ixtacuixtla de Mariano Matamoros, Tlaxcala and Ziltaltepec de Trinidad Sánchez Santos; as well as the Urban Development Partial Programme for the Franciscan Convent and Cathedral Complex of Our Lady of the Assumption.
In Mexico, the civil society organizations have made important contributions to problematize the challenges of national urban policy and generate proposals for the national government that allow the integration of a coherent set of decisions to promote a transformative, productive, inclusive, and resilient urban development in the long term. The above, from a deliberative and open process.
Among these efforts, the Sustainable Cities programme of the Mario Molina Centre (CMM) stands out, which promotes urban policy recommendations for socially equitable and environmentally responsible economic growth. This programme has also promoted planning actions to improve air quality conditions and increase resilience capacities to the extreme consequences of climate change.
On the other hand, since 2017, the World Resources Institute (WRI Mexico) carried out, together with other organizations such as the CCM and the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), significant analyses for the improvement of the LGAHOTDU, which was renewed the country's reference framework to legislate on cities and human settlements.
Within the framework of the Coalition for Urban Transformation (CUT), WRI Mexico, the British Embassy, civil society organizations and academia, has generated a series of urban policy recommendations and evaluation and monitoring tools to accelerate the transition of the Mexican cities towards sustainability. The topics addressed are directly related to housing policy, mobility, land management and metropolitan coordination.
The Human Rights approach based on the incorporation of the seven elements of adequate housing, defined by the United Nations Human Rights Council, allows orienting actions and programmes to improve access and, therefore, the exercise of Human Rights, strengthening the territorial and urban focus of housing programmes and actions.
It is important to highlight the relationship of the expenses that are allocated both to the home payments and to the transportation costs associated with housing location. According to the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey, people in Mexico allocate 15.69% of their spending to transportation. In relation to spending on housing, on average, people with their own homes spend 7.47%, while people who rent allocate, 21.36%. This imbalance is particularly important for the population living in peri-urban areas, where there is no proximity between housing and transport or other services such as schools or hospitals.
In this context, the National Housing Programme, soon to be published, seeks to encourage and align the participation of different actors in the housing system from its development, delivery and access to promote actions that allow guaranteeing the exercise of the right to adequate housing.
Additionally, important regulatory projects have been carried out focused on promoting urban planning linked to housing, such as the aforementioned Simplified Guidelines for the Preparation of Municipal Urban Development Plans or Programmes developed at SEDATU, which are a strategic element to promote integrated urban planning through two ways: 1) consolidation of planned and strategic investments, and 2) make people the priority in all city’s strategies.
Among the precepts of these guidelines, linked to housing, a more equitable distribution of infrastructure and equipment is promoted, mainly related to mobility, services, public spaces, jobs and services. The objective is to improve housing location in relation to job centres, equipment, infrastructure and services including public transport and inclusive, safe and efficient road networks.
In order to reduce qualitative housing deficit, mainly for in low-income families, the National Housing Commission implemented in 2019 housing actions into the Urban Improvement Programme for homes that were located in peripheral areas from cities like: Acapulco, Acuña, Piedras Negras, Juárez, Matamoros, Banderas Bay, Los Cabos, Nogales, Mexicali, Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, San Luis Río Colorado, Tijuana, Solidaridad and Morelia; all of these peripheral areas experiment high rates of marginalization, violence and insecurity. The CONAVI actions have benefited 18 332 dwellings, of which 67.8% were female.
One of the main reasons for the accelerated expansion of cities in Mexico is the lack of integration between urban and housing policies. The new National Housing Programme 2019-2024 encourages formal housing financing instruments, as well as mechanisms to meet the population housing needs without formal work and living in poverty, taking into consideration housing location as a priority element.
The integration of the PNV 2019-2024 took into consideration contributions from the civil society organizations such as Cities Alliance, the Urban Housing Practitioners Hub (UHPH), El Colegio de México and dozens of people from different fronts, which actively participated in public forums for the development of the national programme. The PNV places adequate housing at the centre of urban policies, in order to improve the living conditions of all people, based on housing integration into its urban context.
Organizations such as WRI México have developed methodologies and specific technical advice for municipalities to promote dense, compact and connected urban models that allow the population to live in integrated urban environments, in which housing, public facilities, urban services, such as transportation and jobs centres, coexist based on urban policies and plans that consider the mixed land uses and strategic densities as instruments for urban integration.
In 2018, UN-Habitat, in collaboration with INFONAVIT, developed the document Housing and SDG in Mexico, a set of 49 specific recommendations to ensure that adequate housing became the centre of compliance with the 2030 Agenda in Mexico, through starting from achieving the full integration of housing policies with those of urban development.
One of the seven elements of adequate housing is the cultural adaptation, which means respecting the cultural identity and diversity of its residents, both in construction and in housing improvements. According to the SEDATU Sectoral Programme, respect for culture is translated into the recognition of the country´s different regions and its particular intercultural conditions, as well as the guarantee that housing be culturally appropriate in order to improve habitability, accessibility and location, and generating a safe, peaceful and well-being environment.
In this sense, different projects have been developed based on the inclusion of culture in housing actions through CONAVI in conjunction with the Ministry of Culture, which signed a collaboration agreement in 2019 to serve heritage properties and incorporate a line of financial support called Rehabilitation of Housing in Catalogued Properties" within the framework of the National Reconstruction Programme. In 2019, 51 homes were served with this support line, while in 2020, 173 actions were attended for a total amount of $128 million pesos (USD $6 400 000).
At the state level, most efforts in cultural matters are focused on strengthening actions for the conservation of historical heritage. Some examples are those carried out by the states of Querétaro and San Luis Potosí. In the former, actions have been taken to protect the historical monuments of the state and various normative provisions have been drawn up for the conservation of the cultural heritage built in municipalities like Pedro Escobedo, San Juan del Río and Tequisquiapan; these provisions have been incorporated into its urban development planning and management instruments. Similarly, recovery, restoration and rehabilitation works have been carried out in spaces of historical relevance such as the Theater of the Republic and the Historic Center of the city of Santiago de Querétaro.
On the other side, in San Luis Potosí, rehabilitation actions have been carried out since 2016 in the perimeter of the Historic Monuments area in the historic centre of San Luis city. These infrastructure works include change of hydro sanitary networks; electrical energy and communications networks burying; construction of pavements with traditional materials such as quarry in sidewalks and vehicular stream; construction of slipways, tactile elements and other accessibility features, as well as new public lighting infrastructure.
One of the most representative advances in the integration and preservation of cultural elements within urban planning comes from the activities of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the project of the Mayan Train. UNESCO works to strengthen and safeguard the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the southeast region, through the recognition of these elements in urban and sectoral planning instruments.
On the other side, civil society organizations, specifically foundations, such as Fundación Hogares have been working for more than 10 years in the implementation of urban improvement projects based on street art interventions, mainly urban art murals that take cultural and contextual elements of each one of the cities in which the foundation intervenes to revitalize public spaces.
Between 2016 and 2017, the foundation, with the support of Infonavit, implemented the Let's Paint Mexico programme. One of the aspects of this programme was the painting of 71 urban art murals that revalued various elements of the local culture of each intervened place; the surface of these murals exceeded 900 m2. More than 1400 people participated in these activities during 477 workshops on artistic awareness, promotion of the culture of peace and painting of murals. These activities benefited more than 22 619 people.
The success of this cultural intervention programme to improve public spaces made it possible to consolidate management and governance actions that, from civil society, allow replicating this type of intervention. Collectives and social and private organizations such as Mammut, Cebra, Proyecto Panorama, Cuadra Urbanismo and Comex have managed to mature this type of intervention to expand its scope in the territory and, with them, generate planning instruments based on urban regeneration processes in degraded areas.
As part of urban renewal and area regeneration projects, during 2020 the National Institute of Sustainable Land (INSUS) in conjunction with SEMARNAT, generated an important alliance with the Yucatán state housing agency and the municipality of Progreso to manage suitable and well-located land in order to relocate population that lives in swamps from this place to a housing development financed base on a mixed-use project that does not alter the coastal ecosystem and that complies with state regulations. In this project, the INSUS develops the conceptual and financial urban design of the relocation project with a focus on local economic development to enhance human development opportunities.
The objective of these project is to advance in the implementation of the National Land Policy, through comprehensive urban land management and strengthen inter-institutional coordination for the management and financing of land destined for comprehensive urban development projects that meet relocation needs of human settlements, and the restoration and protection of the coastal ecosystem in Progreso, Yucatán.
From 2020, another land management project is carried out in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, where the INSUS develops an expropriation process of 34 hectares in a town called Tierra y Libertad, because of this settlement is located in a flood risk area near the Salto Seco stream. In this context, a soil management project is promoted to guarantee the financing of hydraulic infrastructure to prevent flooding, regularize settlements and develop alternatives of land and housing for the low-income population.
The project is in the prospecting phase and workshops are already developed with the Cabo San José ejido and the National Water Commission to advance in the determination of the hydraulic work necessary for flood prevention.
Hand in hand with actions related to urban art, various non-governmental organizations and private sector actors have triggered programmes for urban regeneration in areas that are highly segregated or that concentrate conditions of backwardness and insecurity. One of the most relevant examples, generated from a governance process that allowed the approval of a partial urban programme to make the proposed actions binding, was the promoted by the Tecnológico de Monterrey: Distrito Tec.
Distrito Tec is an initiative implemented since 2013 by academia, civil society, neighbours and the municipal government to implement urban actions for the regeneration of a central area in the city, where the main campus of Tecnológico de Monterrey is located. The intervention area experienced an accelerated process of population loss in the last 20 years, a situation that represents an inefficient use of the infrastructure already built, including housing, in one of the most important centralities of the city.
Since 2016, these actions have benefited more than 24 neighbourhoods inhabited by about 26,000 people through the implementation of public space, pedestrian infrastructure, mobility and equipment projects; all of them based on the participation of multiple actors in society and on joint responsibility to generate strategic urban regeneration actions.
Replicating these types of actions from civil society brings with it the challenge of guaranteeing their sustainability and permanence over time. Few civil society organisations in the country are able to consolidate a collaborative and governance scheme capable of promoting a project of this type for more than eight years, as in the case of Distrito Tec.
The INAFED, through its Training Directorate, has carried out various courses aimed mainly at municipal officials, related to the themes of the New Urban Agenda:
● Courses, forums and diplomas related to municipal urban development:
○ Forum “104 Cities - 2nd Session: Planning and Regional Development of Municipalities.
○ January 28, 2020. Attendees: 239 public servants from 123 municipalities and 31 states.
○ Forum to present the Simplified Guidelines for the preparation of municipal urban development programmes and course opening Co-Creating Cities for All People.
○ May 27, 2020. Attendees: 1685 public servants from 150 municipalities and 32 states.
○ Course Co-creating Cities for all people, first edition.
○ From June 15 to July 12, 2020. Attendees: 2271 students from 331 municipalities and mayors from 32 states.
○ Course Co-creating Cities for all people, second edition.
○ From September 21 to November 6, 2020. Attendees: 1181 students from 234 municipalities and 32 states; foreign majors from 8 countries.
○ Diploma in Urban Development and Municipal Territorial Planning.
○ From January 27 to May 18, 2020. Attendees: 1268 students from 319 municipalities and 32 states.
● Courses and Forums related to metropolitan development:
○ Forum Guidelines for the preparation of comprehensive projects in metropolitan areas.
○ May 14, 2020. Attendees: 470 public servants from 135 municipalities and 32 states.
○ Forum Metropolitan impact: actions and governance.
○ September 4, 2020. Attendees: 685 public servants from 142 municipalities and 32 states.
○ Metropolitan impact course: actions and governance. From September 1 to October 31, 2020. Attendees: 2010 students from 236 municipalities and mayors from 32 states.
● Courses and Forums related to mobility:
○ Virtual forum Introduction of the 4S Mobility Plan: preparing the streets for the new normality.
○ July 2, 2020. Attendees: 863 public servants from 94 municipalities and 32 states.
○ Opening forum for Streets and Green Infrastructure Course.
○ July 6, 2020. Attendees: 657 public servants from 130 municipalities and 32 states.
○ Course on Streets and Green Infrastructure.
○ From July 27 to November 6, 2020. Attendees: 3144 students from 353 municipalities and mayors from 32 states.
At the state level, the efforts made by the state of Hidalgo stand out, through the Urban Management Training Programme that has been developed since 2017 and which consists of the systematization of information and evaluation for urban development and territorial planning. Its objective is to promote better conditions for planning and development in the 84 municipalities of the state through comprehensive, balanced, resilient territorial planning harmonized with the natural environment. Likewise, in order to promote the professionalization of the technical areas in charge of planning, operating and evaluating urban development, six training courses were given on urban development management and territorial planning to municipal authorities.
From the New Urban Agenda adoption in 2016, Mexico made an important update of its normative and programmatic framework for the regulation of its human settlements, and for territorial, urban and housing planning. This fact created a significant challenge to train and update people from all the levels of government, civil society, private sector and academia on the scope and demands of this new framework.
As already described SEDATU and INAFED, have implemented important training programmes to meet these needs, particularly at the subnational level. In these courses and diplomas, the support of international cooperation organizations such as the German Cooperation (GIZ), have made it possible to extend the geographical coverage of these actions and their thematic scope towards elements such as sustainable mobility and complete streets, green infrastructure and climate change.
On the other hand, WRI Mexico has promoted training courses related to sustainable mobility, road safety, urban development, energy efficiency in buildings, reduction of single-use plastic waste and reduction of carbon emissions, among others.
Cities Alliance and UHPH, through housing laboratories and discussions on housing and urban policy, have strongly promoted capacity building at the local level to promote the link between housing and urban development policies, thereby contributing to updating the knowledge of the public officials on the normative and programmatic framework of the country.
Recently, UN-Habitat, in collaboration with the Technological Institute of Monterrey, has promoted training and technical support to guide socioeconomic recovery at the municipal level in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. In these activities, more than 500 people who work in municipalities of the country have been trained on issues related to local urban planning and sustainable social and economic recovery.
The 2019-2024 National Development Plan establishes different projects that seek to benefit the communities and small towns in the south of the country. One of those is the Mayan Train, one of the most important regional infrastructure projects of this administration. Its objective is to detonate an economic and tourist development in at least five states: Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo and interconnect the main cities and tourist sites of the Yucatán Peninsula, in a route of more than 1525 kilometres.
The Project is aimed at increasing economic income, creating jobs, promoting sustainable development, protecting the environment by discouraging activities such as illegal logging and species trafficking, and promoting territorial planning in the region. In this sense, stations and stops will be built around which urban and commercial growth will be reordered through sustainable communities. In the planning of these communities, the protection of the environment, the aquifers and the tangible and intangible heritage of the original cultures is Paramount. Because of that urban planning will be promoted based on urban centres or sub-centres well managed in order to achieve a better quality of life that helps to reduce regional and local lags. Likewise, an attempt will be made to integrate the residents into the work and its benefits, through agreements with the landowners. Beneficial agreements will be sought in cases where federally owned roads are invaded, and the approval of indigenous communities and peoples will be sought through consultations.
From a territorial perspective, a comprehensive and sustainable territorial model is promoted to harmonized ecological planning and the urban and rural human settlements development in the south-eastern region of the country through a Regional Territorial Planning Programme, which seeks to generate policies in the territory, includes consultation processes and considers indigenous peoples and communities. All of that, avoiding differences in the territory due to political-administrative limits, promoting value chains, recognizing cultural heritage, as well as deriving in an urban and ecological regulation of the land at the municipal level. This regional programme is financed by resources from SEDATU´s PMU; different towns from Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Yucatán will be intervened.
Another example of strengthening actions is carried out by the SCT through the Coastal Port Intermodal Systems (SIPCOs) that seeks to bring together coastal regions that have similar port characteristics and vocation, that is, the port-city relationship in order to improve commercial relations with other ports in the same region to strengthen its internal market. This strategy seeks to consolidate the port infrastructure network and the merchant marine as detonators of regional development, establishing industrial nodes and production centres around the ports. In this way, multimodal connectivity will be improved to strengthen the regional domestic market.
The British Embassy in Mexico, through the Prosperity Fund, has triggered the collaboration of non-governmental organizations to work on the development of strategic projects that improve the technical and institutional skills of local governments to improve mobility and urban development conditions.
In particular, the Future Cities programme promotes the maturation of projects that improve the urban mobility service in middle cities such as Hermosillo and Querétaro, from a perspective of integration of their transport and security systems for users, specifically women and girls.
On the other hand, the UN-Habitat has been promoting a comprehensive territorial planning strategy in south-eastern Mexico since 2018, based on the Maya Train infrastructure megaproject. This strategy is based on the promotion of urban articulation between the main cities of the region and smaller urban and rural settlements, in order to generate a functional integration that allows the development of the entire region. In this process, the participation of dozens of local organizations has been triggered so that, from the co-creation of territorial strategies, the role of the region and its small cities and rural areas in development planning is strengthened.
The determined push to strengthen the local competencies of cities and small or intermediate settlements continues to be a pending issue in the country's sustainable urban development agenda, since technical and economic resources are still concentrated in the main urban areas.
Public transport is a nodal element for social development from different dimensions, since it allows the mobility of people and affects commercial development, competitiveness and economic activity.
In this sense, at the federal level, the SCT promote safe, efficient and competitive transportation and communication systems, by strengthening the legal framework, defining public policies and designing strategies that contribute to the sustained growth of the economy and the balanced social development of the country, expanding the coverage and accessibility of services, achieving territorial integration for all Mexicans and respecting the environment.
On the other hand, the SEDATU, from an urban perspective, has recognized that streets are the basis of any urban mobility system and the pillars for the economic development of cities. For this reason, in coordination with the IDB in 2019 elaborate the Manual of streets: road design for Mexican cities, which includes models that facilitate the understanding of the vocation of each street, considering both its transit function and the place of other human activities and interactions. In this sense, the main objective of this manual is that the people responsible for a street project or street network guide their design towards the real use of the space or that, consciously, propose a positive change to promote safer, more resilient, inclusive and sustainable cities.
This manual is an official reference that the federal public administration offers to those interested in the geometric design of a street and the management of road projects in urban areas and will be complemented with a current study that is being carried out with the support of the IDB called “Methodology for the preparation, socioeconomic evaluation and identification of mechanisms for the execution, operation and ex-post evaluation of projects and investment programmes for road infrastructure under the Complete Streets approach”. Likewise, some of the examples of actions in the area of non-motorized mobility have already been expressed in the transformative commitments.
Since 2016, sustainable mobility has been one of the topics most addressed in the analysis and policy recommendations prepared by civil organizations, academia and the private sector. Organizations such as ITDP, GIZ and WRI Mexico have promoted methodological guides and training actions to promote a denser, more compact and connected urbanization model based on sustainable mobility.
The Mexican adaptations of the TOD (Transit-Oriented Development) model have contributed to promoting a new regulatory framework reflected both in the General Law of Human Settlements, Territorial Planning and Urban Development (2016), as well as in the recent publications of the General Law on Mobility and Road Safety, approved in 2020. In Mexico, important challenges persist associated with the outdated programmatic and budgetary framework on mobility, particularly at the level of subnational governments. These frameworks continue to prioritize mobility interventions associated with motorized road infrastructure.
On the other hand, collectives such as the Pedestrian League or the Placemaking Mexico Foundation have worked to promote specific tactical urban planning interventions to improve road safety conditions for all people and promote a new paradigm of sustainable mobility, in an urban context that still privileges disproportionately the use of the private car as the main mode of transportation.
PSEDATU 2020-2024, adopts a vision of a sustainable future that implies contributing to its fulfilment and acting in a firm and determined manner to build territories for the well-being of all people, which is why the New Urban Agenda (NUA) is a priority for SEDATU and for the policies and programmes implemented by this Secretariat.
At the institutional level, SEDATU’s 2019 Internal Regulations establish that the Planning and Institutional Development Unit is responsible for coordinating national and international cooperation actions for the implementation of programmes, projects and investments in land use planning and urban, metropolitan and housing development, as well as to contribute to the international commitments of the 2030 Agenda and the NUA. Therefore, in coordination with the UN-HABITAT office in Mexico, specific mechanisms should be established to monitor compliance with this agenda, based on the progress reported in this first report.
In this sense, an inclusive proposal should be developed, as organised civil society, academia, the private sector and individuals also contribute actively to develop technical inputs, tools and proposals for innovative solutions for sustainable urban development and strategic projects that may be susceptible to financing from exogenous sources, such as federal funds (Metropolitan Fund) or even international funds (such as the Green Climate Fund) that allow for timely follow-up of actions related to the NAU's transformative commitments.
As mentioned in the section "Decentralising to allow subnational and local governments to carry out their assigned responsibilities", the Ministry of Finance is in charge of exercising the budget and making allocations to federal entities and municipalities through the section 28 "Contributions to Federal Entities and Municipalities” and section 33 "Federal Contributions for Federal Entities and Municipalities"; both defined in the PEF. This section also refers to some specific funds directed to local governments, which can contribute to the fulfilment of urban challenges.
As mentioned in the section "Decentralising to allow subnational and local governments to carry out their assigned responsibilities", the Ministry of Finance is in charge of exercising the budget and making allocations to federal entities and municipalities through the section 28 "Contributions to Federal Entities and Municipalities” and section 33 "Federal Contributions for Federal Entities and Municipalities"; both defined in the PEF. This section also refers to some specific funds directed to local governments, which can contribute to the fulfilment of urban challenges.
In 2021, the Annual Financing Plan of the Public Credit Unit of SHCP will continue with a public debt policy with a strict management of public resources, in order to guarantee the sustainability of the debt in the long term and to cover the financing needs of the Federal Government at the lowest possible cost i.e. under an adequate level of risk and a more efficient liquidity management, given the characteristics of the country's public finances.
External borrowing will be used strategically to complement domestic borrowing when favourable conditions are found in international markets. To achieve the objectives of the Public Debt Policy, some lines of action were established, among which, for the purposes of this report, the one referring to the strategic and complementary use of International Financial Institutions (OFIs, by its Spanish acronym) and Bilateral Institutions, as support for priority investment projects and external debt diversification tools, and the use of these sources of financing if their financial conditions are competitive, and/or also as a diversification option.
In this sense, it is recognised that the budget for urban projects from public sources is sometimes limited, so that one of the main options for federal, state and municipal governments is to turn to external sources of financing, i.e. loans or private investments.
SEDATU has a relationship with various international financial organisations and bilateral cooperation agencies through which it develops different cooperation projects linked to the NUA's transformational commitments. Some of the projects implemented with this type of support are listed below:
Territorial planning and urban development:
● Protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services in coastal urban regions (BIOCITIS). Bilateral Cooperation with the German Cooperation Agency GIZ.
● Strengthening of Urban and Territorial Planning Policy. Triangular Cooperation with the BMZ’s Regional Fund for Triangular Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean.
● Territories of Peace and Well-being, with technical assistance from the Cities of the Future Programme from CF Alliance, funded by the British Embassy in Mexico.
● Strengthening capacities for energy efficiency in buildings in Latin America (CEELA). It is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
Urban development and housing:
● Regeneration of deteriorated neighbourhoods and social housing complexes as a tool to reduce urban vulnerability and enhance social justice. Bilateral Cooperation with the Mexico-Chile Cooperation Fund.
● Strengthening public policy on sustainable housing. BMZ’s Regional Fund for Triangular Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean. Triangular cooperation between Mexico, Colombia and Germany.
Integral neighbourhood upgrading:
● Training for UPEDU to include cost-effective green infrastructure criteria in projects implemented through the Urban Improvement Programme. Bilateral cooperation with the German Cooperation Agency GIZ.
● Exchange of experiences and experts on green infrastructure issues. Bilateral cooperation in the framework of the Partnership Agreement with the French government.
Mobility:
● Streets manual: Road Design for Mexican Cities, developed with support from the IDB
● Methodology for the preparation, socio-economic assessment and identification of mechanisms for the implementation, operation and ex-post evaluation of road infrastructure investment projects and programmes under the Complete Streets approach, is under development with the support of the IADB.
● Technical assistance for the implementation of the emerging design for active mobility and public space, under development by the British Embassy, through the UK PACT project.
● Diploma course on streets and green infrastructure with the support of the German Cooperation Agency GIZ.
Likewise, multilateral cooperation and the institutions that promote it play a fundamental role in financing sustainable development and the implementation of strategic projects for neighbourhood improvement, infrastructure, mobility, housing, climate change, among others.
It is worth highlighting the work of GIZ for the implementation of actions in the country for urban development, UN-Habitat for the development of tools and methodologies for Mexico and its subnational governments such as the Municipal Guide for socio-economic recovery in the context of COVID-19, the Green Climate Fund, WRI, Iki Alliance and other cooperation agencies. Also, the private sector plays a key role in financing projects and there is an area of opportunity to strengthen relations with this sector.
An example of this is the mobilisation of resources from Spanish cooperation in Mexico (AECID) and through UN-Habitat for the installation of around 128 rainwater harvesting systems in neighbourhoods with a lack of access to water in Mexico City in the context of COVID-19, which benefited more than 700 people.
At the municipal level, UN-Habitat has collaborated to develop portfolios of projects in places such as Mérida, where through the implementation of this portfolio of projects and the connection with development banks, one of the projects was taken up by the IDB and the World Bank and its financial feasibility study was carried out in the municipality.
Similarly, institutions with a presence in Mexico such as WWF, Cities4Forest, WRI, and cooperation agencies such as GIZ and the British Embassy, work hand in hand with Mexico and its cities to develop sustainable urban development projects and move towards the fulfilment of the SDGs.
As mentioned above, the integral urban development policy implemented by SEDATU since 2020 has developed various mechanisms to strengthen the capacities of municipal authorities in this area, and reference to some of the courses provided in coordination with INAFED can be found in the section, Improving urban planning and design capacity and training urban planners at all levels of government.
The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) is responsible for regulating and coordinating the entire National System of Statistical and Geographic Information, as well as for collecting and disseminating information on Mexico's territory, resources, population and economy, in order to provide information on the characteristics of our country and support decision-making.
In addition to INEGI and the different federal government agencies, academia, non-governmental organisations, among other actors, have played a relevant role in the generation of data and evidence for decision-making, as they have raised visibility on the main problems affecting the different sectors and groups of the population through disaggregated information making it available to governments at different levels for the formulation of policies, plans and programmes.
In this sense, the work of UN-Habitat in collaboration with Infonavit has been vital. From 2015 to 2019, evidence was generated through the Prosperous Cities Index (CPI) in Mexico, which includes the measurement of more than 300 municipalities in the country, which resulted in the generation of an unique critical mass of urban information and knowledge about Mexican cities, covering more than 80% of the country's urban population. It also implemented workshops in the urban agglomerations of Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara for the presentation of the CPI results, as well as for feedback and training on their contents and usefulness.
On the other hand, there are also other institutions and bodies in Mexico that develop evidence and promote capacity building of authorities for evidence-based decision-making and planning. Among them are the contributions of WRI Mexico with the development of the Urban Inequality Index, which serves as a tool for decision-making in land use and urban planning that contributes to urban transformation towards a more sustainable and inclusive model.
Today, the design, implementation and evaluation of most policies, including urban, housing and land-use planning policies, incorporate participatory approaches, as it is increasingly recognised and internalised that the involvement of different actors is essential for successful policies that improve the quality of life, trigger economic development and respect the environment.
Several of the actions developed by the federal government have been mentioned in the previous sections, so in this part it will be only referred to some examples of state governments, as well as civil society organisations and the private sector in the aforementioned areas, since according to the provisions of the LGAHOTDU, it is compulsory to create bodies for citizen participation at state, metropolitan and municipal level.
In this regard, the work of the Municipal Planning Institute of San Luis Potosí stands out, which during 2020 carried out a consultation with vulnerable groups, including women, children, adolescents, people with disabilities, older adults, migrants and asylum seekers, LGBTTTI+ community, among others, both in urban and rural areas, in relation to the development of the Municipal Land Use and Urban Development Programme.
On the other hand, in the state of Coahuila during 2018, Consultative Councils and Commissions for Urban Development and Land Use Planning (Metropolitan, state and municipal) were developed, with the aim of achieving effective state, metropolitan and municipal governance. The State Council, four metropolitan councils (Saltillo, La Laguna, Monclova - Frontera and Piedras Negras -Nava), four Metropolitan Commissions, as well as the Urban Development Councils of the municipalities of Saltillo, Ramos Arizpe, Torreón, Monclova and Piedras Negras are currently in operation.
In Baja California Sur, starting in 2020, the Peace Builders project was implemented, which has the objective to promote social prevention of violence against women and seeks to work on aspects such as freedoms, violence-free spaces, reducing gender gaps and the right to the city, through the comprehensive improvement of public spaces.
Since 2017, the state of Hidalgo has implemented the strategy of social participation in urban planning and land use planning processes that integrate social, private, public, academic and political participation. Likewise, this participation has a regulatory framework that stipulates the opening of spaces for citizen participation, as well as its obligatory nature for all urban planning processes.
On the other hand, in the state of Querétaro, in order to strengthen citizen participation in the State Urban Planning System, the instruments of this system were socialised so that society could take ownership of them, and the Public Consultation Forum of the Urban Development Programme of the Pedro Escobedo Population Centre was held to identify the main needs and proposed projects of the localities that comprise it.
Organised civil society and non-governmental organisations play a very important role in facilitating, encouraging and exercising citizen participation in urban planning processes and in ensuring the visibility and integration of different population groups, especially those who are most vulnerable.
Similarly, the different multilateral agencies contribute actively in this area; an example is the work that UN-Habitat carries out in Mexico with the sub-national governments, where it seeks, through participatory planning processes, to integrate all groups and sectors of the population in the identification of the main challenges and opportunities of the city and also to propose solutions, projects and interventions. Through participatory planning processes, it seeks to integrate all groups and sectors of the population in the identification of the main problems of the city and also to identify and propose innovative solutions, projects and interventions, through participation and socialisation strategies adapted to the different contexts.
An example is the work carried out in Benito Juárez for the participatory design of the Equity Park and the work in San Nicolás de los Garza for the definition of a city vision towards 2030 as a reference for local urban policy, using methodologies and tools such as Minecraft, Block by Block and Participatory Incremental Urban Planning, among others.
Similarly, different collectives actively promote the incorporation of different approaches such as gender, human rights, climate change in the planning of public space, infrastructure, mobility, among others. This, in collaboration with different agencies such as the GIZ, the United Nations System, WRI Mexico, and other councils and coalitions to promote sustainable urban development in Mexico, among others.
The main objective of municipal development and management is the integral development of the population, which requires institutional capacities, as well as incentives for economic growth, environmental protection and social development with equity.
Some of the capacity building actions undertaken by federal, state and civil society can be found in the sections on "Improving urban planning and design capacity and training urban planners at all levels of government" and "Strengthening the capacity of all levels of government to work with vulnerable groups to participate effectively in decision-making on urban and territorial development".
As mentioned in the transformative commitments, there are various federal government mechanisms and programmes that aim to support and strengthen local governments in the collection of revenues from their own sources, such as the programme to modernise the land registry, developed in section 1.1.2 “Access to adequate housing”, sub-section 3. “Establish tenure security”.
In addition, it is important to recognise the role of academia, the private sector and non-governmental and/or multilateral organisations in supporting cities in strengthening their municipal finances, through the development of technical inputs, strategies and proposals for schemes and practices to improve local governments' own revenue collection and generate greater independence to coordinate the improvement of the urban context and the optimisation of the basic services provided by the city, based on the co-creation of knowledge, solutions and the identification of good practices.
Among these, stands out UN-Habitat's contributions through its technical assistance to issue specific recommendations and proposals for mechanisms for local governments to improve their municipal finances and increase their own revenues through proper land management. An example of this is the work being done in Benito Juárez with the taxation/valuation system for the Equity Park. However, it remains a priority issue and an area of opportunity for further proposals.
Furthermore, the actions of other organisations such as WRI Mexico, ITDP and GIZ, and of the private sector, CSOs and academia contribute to generate proposals for mechanisms to strengthen models for the collection of urban rights as land management mechanisms that allow the distribution of burdens and benefits, and the financing of strategic projects and other catalytic interventions.
In Mexico, together with academia, civil society and non-governmental organisations, various programmes have been carried out to strengthen the capacities of authorities at different levels of government. ITESM together with UN-Habitat, jointly offer the New Urban Agenda Diploma that seeks to strengthen capacities for urban planning and implementation of strategic projects, integrating the fundamental principles of the NUA. Another example is the capacity building programme for municipal socio-economic recovery in the context of COVID-19 and its recently launched second phase for the co-creation of the Municipal Socio-Economic Recovery Plan of UN-Habitat and ITESM's C-Lab.
On the other hand, through technical spaces for dialogue such as forums, workshops, webinars, various academic institutions, collectives and foundations such as Placemaking, Hola Vecino, the Pedestrian League, MOVAC, and other individuals, work actively to contribute to capacity building of local governments on issues such as the inclusion of gender in city planning, design of public spaces, climate change, sustainable and pedestrian mobility, environment, use of data for decision making, among others.
The participation of the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT, by its Spanish acronym) is relevant for the development of technical-scientific activities in the country. In this context, the Council develops Strategic National Programs (PRONACES, by its Spanish acronym) that carry out research work on specific national problems, which due to their importance and significance, require urgent attention and a comprehensive, deep and broad solution.
These works pose problems or challenges, as well as the articulation of scientific-technical capacities and collaborate with other social actors. Each of the PRONACES proposes a general agenda that takes the form of national research and advocacy projects, which also address problems in their structural and dynamic complexity, in order to understand, propose, generate and/or accompany the implementation of concrete and structured actions that have an impact on the causes of the problems in a broad and profound manner.
The ten proposed national strategic programs will be carried out in the following thematic areas: health, water, education, human security, food security, toxic agents and polluting processes, energy and climate change, socio ecological systems, housing and culture.
Within this work there are interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research topics that are a priority, such as the design of instruments for sustainable socio-ecological territorial planning, measures for adaptation to global change (for example, urban development plans and land use planning).
Considering that e-governance refers to the use of information, innovation and communication technologies to make them available to people, including women, children, youth, persons with disabilities, etc., so that they can exercise their civic responsibility and encourage their responsible participation, various mechanisms have been implemented within the federal government that rely on information technologies and help foster digital governance.
In this sense, the RAN has been modernising the national rural cadastre since 2008, through the permanent programme for the Modernisation of the National Rural Cadastre, in order to identify and correlate its owners, possessors or usufructuaries, by information management and archiving through information technologies and computer, cartographic and documentary instruments, to strengthen the control of land tenure and the documentary security of social property.
The programme seeks to contribute to establishing an integrated, orderly, inclusive, sustainable and secure territorial system for agrarian nuclei. Some noteworthy data are the management and updating of information on the surface of the social property of more than 61 million hectares, updating 226 agrarian actions of registered acts that create, modify, transfer or extinguish rights over the lands of the agrarian centres, vacant and expropriated lands, 9438 updates of agrarian actions or legal acts that recognise, create, modify or extinguish the agrarian centres, among others.
For their part, non-governmental organisations promote various actions to facilitate the accessibility of information in the field of urban development. Among these actions is the development of tools, platforms, digital applications, among others, that seek to build a bridge for the different actors, for evidence-based decision-making, to enrich the debate between actors and to encourage citizen participation in urban planning processes.
One initiative that can be mentioned is Propulcity, promoted by WRI Mexico, in which a platform was developed to detonate and accelerate urban innovation to provide solutions to the challenges of Mexican cities, and whose first two editions have focused on the issue of mobility.
Likewise, we can highlight the work of innovation institutions for cities and development cooperation initiatives, which seek to detonate multi-stakeholder dialogue in urban development, the integration of proposals and solutions to the challenges of Mexican cities from the action of citizens and various actors. One example is the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO); also noteworthy are the initiatives of the British Embassy in Mexico with the Cities of the Future Programme implemented in the country.
Another relevant example to mention is the UN-Habitat initiative Participatory-Habitat Initiative which seeks to promote in Mexico to support local governments in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the NAU by means of a multidimensional approach to participatory budgeting, through digital tools. The pilot was carried out in the Mexican city General Escobedo, N.L.
The monitoring of urban development policies is important in order to verify the fulfilment of their objectives, which is why the implementing bodies must ensure this step as a fundamental mechanism that allows for efficient decision-making and the involvement of all relevant actors.
In this sense, organised civil society plays a fundamental role in monitoring public action at all levels of government. It highlights the contributions of the more than 34 citizen observatories with a presence in more than 21 Mexican states actively monitor the effectiveness of the implementation of policies, plans, programmes and other public actions in the country and raise or point out the need to take corrective measures when required. It also highlights the action of neighbourhood and/or residents' associations who actively contribute to monitoring the implementation of urban development policies in cities.
One example is the work of the citizen observatory Jalisco Cómo Vamos, which actively and constantly monitors quality of life indicators in the state of Jalisco, the metropolitan area of Guadalajara and the municipalities. Among its initiatives is the monitoring of actions around climate change, public safety, COVID-19, characterisation of the metropolitan citizen of the AMG and the public actions of the authorities through its projects "What have you done, Mayor" and "What have you done, Governor".
In order to strengthen technical and professional capacities for the proper management of land and territory, as well as for the administration, management and monitoring of information and instruments for land, agrarian, urban development and housing planning, SEDATU has undertaken actions since 2019 for the design and implementation of the Territorial and Urban Information System (SITU), which will provide municipalities, federal entities and metropolitan governance bodies with an IT platform to facilitate and enhance territorial planning.
In 2019, through a collaboration agreement with the IADB, planning activities began for the design, development and implementation of the system. In this first stage, a diagnosis of the territorial information systems and databases in the sector was carried out and a proposal for the conceptual design of the system was prepared.
In 2020, also with IADB funding, the development of the system began, and the definition of its scopes were defined. The system counts with a support team of experts in programming, geographic information systems, land use planning and public policies, mainly.
In the first two months of 2021, continuing with the development stage of the system, collaborations were established with RAN, CENAPRED and CONAGUA for the identification of information to be integrated into SITU; the proposal for inventories of geographic, documentary, statistical and indicator information to be integrated into the system was generated. In addition, the process of compilation, standardisation and homologation was initiated, and the development of the computer platform and the processing of the information was started.
On the other hand, the Integrated Earth Observation System (SIOT, by its Spanish acronym) is a strategy that has been implemented since 2020 through the SCT, whose objective is to monitor conditions in different regions of the planet. It has a range of possibilities ranging from national security, food sustainability, the management of disaster mitigation actions due to natural phenomena or the characterisation of the effects of climate change. In this way, it is intended to meet the information requirements of different institutions, addressing different aspects of the needs identified in the development of technologies and the exploitation of satellite remote sensing information.
As an example at the state level, the Metropolitan Information and Management System (SIGmetro, by its Spanish acronym), which operates in the state of Jalisco, concentrates information at the metropolitan scale of the nine metropolitan municipalities and integrates different layers of information elaborated by IMEPLAN related to matters of metropolitan interest and plans that the work related to territorial planning and the provision of public services be managed through it. The population can consult the databases and monitoring mechanisms, encouraging participation and transparency between citizens, institutions and municipal administrations.
In this area, the work of academia and other actors is especially relevant for the formulation of databases, geospatial information and the development of platforms and digital tools to facilitate access by different actors for the elaboration of plans, programmes or initiatives.
An example of this type of tool is “Urban Forest Mexico” digital platform, developed by Distrito Tec, to inventory trees and also to encourage community participation, where volunteers and neighbours are in charge of registering each tree.
UN-Habitat recently launched the Citiiq platform to monitor the response of cities in different countries to COVID-19, with an initial set of 1200. In the platform it is maintained a daily monitored track of the impact of COVID-19 at the city level, which is where the success of national strategies is measured and where enormous challenges are faced. Through this implementation, hotspots are identified, allowing national and local leaders to plan and implement responses.
500 new cities were added bringing the coverage to a total of 1700 cities worldwide. Daily scores and counts vary depending on the availability of data on a given day. Among the new cities included in this platform is Mexico.
Some of the results are positive in terms of reduced infection rates. New cases have decreased in half of the cities monitored; however, more than 17% of the cities show an increase in new cases.
In a collaborative effort between SEDATU and UN-Habitat, six workshops were held in order to raise awareness and involve strategic stakeholders. The workshops took place during February 2021 and their main objective was to standardize knowledge about the New Urban Agenda, learn about the contributions of strategic stakeholders to the implementation of the NUA, encourage their participation in the process of drafting the national report and generate a discussion around the transforming commitments. A broad call for participation was made among local, state and federal governments, academia and civil society organizations, bringing together more than 200 people from all sectors.
The information gathered in this report comes from the contributions of the different areas of SEDATU and its sectorized agencies, in addition to the inputs sent by 14 state secretariats. At the state level, at least 19 states shared information on the programs, actions and measures they have implemented, as well as projects that are in the process of execution, which provides the opportunity to gather information on how the NUA is implemented in different states of the country. For the collection of information on civil society, academia and the private sector contributions in the implementation of the NAU, a questionnaire was conducted to identify the actions carried out in the last four years by this sector. The questionnaire obtained 49 responses, mainly from organized civil society .
.