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Berkeley ETHSTD 196 - Mechanisms for Local Government and Public Participation

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Mechanisms for Local Government and Public Participation in the Binational Management of Hazardous Waste in the San Diego-Tijuana Border Region Alexandra Marinov Abstract The US-Mexico border region demonstrates the challenge of binational environmental management. The rapid economic and population growth of the region advanced by the North American Free Trade Agreement has caused numerous stresses upon the environment, including an increase in maquiladoras, manufacturing plants that assemble foreign components for re-export. Hazardous waste from maquiladoras represents a critical environmental issue in the San Diego-Tijuana border area due to the high concentration of these factories and their workers in the region, which has limited development of infrastructure to handle hazardous waste. A further complication in binational hazardous waste management stems from the political and economic differences between the two nations. Bilateral and trilateral institutions that were created to contend with such issues have designed mechanisms for public participation as part of their mission to have open and transparent organizational processes. The principal goal of this research is to establish a basic understanding of the mechanisms used by the binational organizations and programs to encourage public and local government participation in the San Diego-Tijuana border region. The obstacles and benefits of binational environmental cooperation are also assessed. Research methods included an integration of archival data analysis, a stakeholder analysis, and interviews with representatives from the environmental binational institutions, San Diego local government, and San Diego and Tijuana non-government organizations. The study concludes with policy recommendations for improvements in binational environmental cooperation and integration of public participation in binational programs and policies.Introduction The intersection of political boundaries and environmental degradation is problematic on multiple levels. The political nature of borders often impedes cooperation between neighboring countries on environmental issues, but the physical divide between nations is rarely a barrier to transborder pollution (Ingram 1994, Kourous 2000). The United States and Mexico face the characteristic political scenario of bordering countries with different sets of laws, institutions, and decision-making processes that can obstruct binational environmental cooperation. Political Background The two countries must contend with the unique dynamics of their existence as an industrialized nation and a developing country that share a border and mutually dependent economies. An increased focus on cross-border collaboration in the US-Mexico border region has been the general response to the trend of economic globalization in the two countries, advanced by agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (Husted 1996). Concerns voiced by environmentalists and border citizens of the intensified environmental degradation associated with an expected increase in trade led to the creation of the North American Agreement for Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), which was passed with NAFTA’s inception in 1993. The NAAEC, dubbed the Environmental Side Agreement to NAFTA, called for the establishment of multinational institutions to promote sustainable development and the protection and conservation of the environment of North America; to strengthen cooperation between the three North American governments on the improvement and enforcement of environmental regulations; and to promote “transparency and public participation in the development of environmental laws, regulations, policies” (NAAEC, Article 1). Three multilateral institutions were created to support the objectives and policies instituted under the NAAEC. These include (1) the trilateral North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), which facilitates general consultations on environmental issues to prevent potential trade and environmental conflicts; (2) the bilateral US-Mexican Border Environmental Cooperation Commission (BECC), which identifies, evaluates and certifies infrastructure projects in a community participation process; and (3) the North American Development Bank (NADBank), which provides loans to BECC-certified projects in US-Mexican border communities. As part of the movement towards transborder environmental cooperation between the US and Mexico, two federal programs were jointly established by the US Environmental ProtectionAgency (US-EPA) and the Mexican Environmental Ministry (SEMARNAP): (1) HAZTRAKS, which was created pre-NAFTA to track the movement of hazardous waste between the U.S. and Mexico, using documents shared by the two countries and (2) the Border XXI Program that consists of nine binational workgroups designed to address specific environmental problems in the context of ensuring interagency cooperation, participation by state and local institutions, and public involvement in the protection of the border environment. A central tenet to each of the binational organizations and programs’ charter documents is the inclusion of public participation in programs and policies. The San Diego-Tijuana Border Region The California-Baja California region constitutes the most populous and rapidly growing region of the US-Mexico border area. The industrial development of this area and the associated urban concentration of the border population has put considerable strain on the natural resources of the area and has resulted in increased environmental degradation. The rapid urbanization of the San Diego-Tijuana region, in particular, has limited the development of adequate infrastructure to cope with environmental problems. (Liverman 1999). The Mexican government’s implementation of the Border Industrialization Program in 1965, with its subsidized infrastructure, provisions for lax environmental and tax regulations, and cheap labor, allowed for the creation of maquiladoras, or assembly factories located in low-wage regions in which workers assemble imported materials for export. (McMichael 1996). As of 1999, Tijuana had the largest concentration of maquiladora industry in Mexico, with 788 plants and over 145,000 employees (Secretariat of Economic Development 1999). The growth of the maquiladora industry in Tijuana has contributed to the increase in hazardous waste from both


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Berkeley ETHSTD 196 - Mechanisms for Local Government and Public Participation

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