Drops of Change: Youth must be included to build water resilience to the impacts of climate change in Mexico

This post is part of a monthly series called “Drops of Change” by the North American Youth Parliament for Water (NAYPW), a chapter of the World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW). For more information on the NAYPW, you can explore their website or contact NAYPW at outreachnaypw@gmail.com.

Written by: (1) Juanalberto Meza Villegas [Degree in Geography from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and Master in Social Sciences from Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO - Mexico)] and (2) María José Medina Serrano [Degree in International Relations from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and Master in International Cooperation from Instituto Mora]. Both are members of the management team of the Mexican Youth Parliament for Water (Parlamento Mexicano Juvenil por el Agua).

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change defines resilience as the ability of a system and its component parts to anticipate, absorb, accommodate, or recover from the effects of a hazardous event in a timely and efficient manner, including through ensuring the preservation, restoration, or improvement of its essential basic structures and functions. In the case of the water sector, resilience has a multitude of components. Resilience can include: using innovative approaches and methods to avoid or reduce the waste, exploitation, and contamination of water; reducing the deterioration of  supply, sewerage, and sanitation infrastructure; and encouraging the recharge of aquifers. The multifaceted definition of resilience creates various ways young people can get involved, such as through volunteering, activism, academic research, and sustainable businesses.

Mexico has a Climate Change Law and a National Strategy on climate, and projects are being adopted in some states of the republic with the Strategic Plan 2017-2021 of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) which promotes Nature-based Solutions as tools to reduce the impact of climate phenomena in both urban and rural-agricultural populations. Yet, there is still much work to be done so that these initiatives are reflected in better public management that guarantees water security (both sustainable access to water and protection against water-related disasters), and the protection of vulnerable communities. Especially in cities, there is a need to address urban ecosystems and urban infrastructure, as well as governance and innovative financing mechanisms, to promote water resilience.

Left: Nature-based solutions are key to protect local environmental services, reduce climate vulnerability and strengthen water resilience. Source: Periódico Mensaje. Right: The infrastructure of urban areas, such as drainage and sewerage, is an element that plays an important role in preventing or mitigating water risks, such as impacts of floods. Source: The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

The hydrosocial cycle in the Valley of Mexico

The Valley of Mexico Basin, where Mexico City is located, is a topographically closed basin. This area is the most populated region in the country with more than 22 million inhabitants, includes portions of the states of Mexico, Hidalgo, Tlaxcala and Puebla, and is an economic center — 22% of the country's Gross Domestic Product is generated here. Since colonial times, great technical and financial efforts have been invested to expel rainwater from the basin, first through the Grand Canal and in recent times through the East Emitter Tunnel (Tunel Emisor Oriente). Expulsion of rainwater from the basin, in conjunction with a disorderly expansion of the urban sector and of the productive activities like agriculture, and the loss of hydrographic basins as a result of historic removal of water from Mexico City, has had problematic effects in other basins due to asymmetries in the hydrosocial configuration. As a result, certain municipalities receive discharges from the capital without having infrastructure nor adequate resources to prevent flooding.

To address this issue, since 2013, the capital government has presented a strategy to promote citizen education on sustainability and to improve green and blue infrastructure. The strategy uses a framework through four central axes: water, mobility, public space and biodiversity, that aimed at resilience to hydrometeorological phenomena, which are increasingly recurrent in a context of climate change. 

Implementation of green infrastructure in the City of Mexico. Source: Secretaría de Medio Ambiente

Although the current government of Mexico City has promoted an ambitious investment by 2022 in environmental programs such as Reto Verde and Sembrando Vida, the reality is that very risky conditions continue to prevail in neighboring municipalities of the state of Mexico and Hidalgo. An unfortunate example occurred at dawn on Tuesday, September 7 of 2021, when the city of Tula in the state of Hidalgo was under water after the overflow of the Tula river, leaving 17 people dead and damaging more than 31,000 homes. More than a “natural disaster”, as it has been called by the government authorities, this event could be considered a consequence of the way in which the discharge of water has been managed from Mexico City to the Mezquital Valley through the Tula River. That is, it is a political decision about those who will suffer the ravages of the floods: the inhabitants of the capital or the surrounding peripheries.

Flood in Tula, Hidalgo due to sewage and rainwater from Mexico City. Source: El País.

Youth participation in water resilience at the local level

What can youth do in the face of these events? In Mexico, youth represent a quarter of the entire population of the country, some 30.7 million. This group is greatly affected by the effects of climate change.especially those who live in places with greater poverty such as rural and peri-urban areas.

Youth must be included to participate in the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda, such as Sustainable Development Goal 16, to promote the construction of an active citizenry interested in public problems. Building resilience in Mexico is a continuous process that requires the involvement of various actors, which is why a lot of work is needed in terms of environmental and climate awareness and education, not only for society in general but also for public officials and businessmen to achieve their commitments and define responsibilities with clear goals.

Young people must be important actors for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. Source: United Nations.

We recognize that one of the main obstacles to this is the violence that surrounds environmental activists of all ages in Mexican territory, where in 2020 alone this group was the target of 18 murders, 65 attacks, and 90 assaults. Conflicts over water are increasingly frequent and it is common to see young people, especially from indigenous and vulnerable communities, involved in the defense of their resources.

Water is valued in different ways, from a commodity to a common good or a human right. Source: Consejo Consultivo del Agua

According to the UN, youth need inclusive support mechanisms that guarantee them the ability to continue fighting collectively and individually to restore the planet and protect life. One support mechanism is the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, known as the Escazú Agreement, which offers a regulatory framework that recognizes irreplaceable rights to move towards a more democratic and sustainable management of water sources.

Within the framework of this agreement, it is possible to think of strategies such as the implementation of workshops or educational programs that reduce the gap of information that exists about water management and the effects of climate change. It is necessary to teach and sensitize the new generations to the importance of citizen participation through the implementation of proposals with a local resilience approach.Without water resilience, water security won't be possible. To achieve this, public policies and resources are required to implement these programs with intergenerational perspective, especially in priority areas where there are problems of droughts and floods.

The climate and water crisis is becoming more evident and costly, but we still have time to create a decent future for all. And it is the youth with all their energy and ideas who must be given all the confidence to do so. We are #ThirstyforChange .