Priorities in sustainable development

In addition to the strengthening that has been given to the institutional framework with the creation of the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (CONANP) in 2000 and the National Forestry Commission in 2001. 

However, establishing the priority of sustainable development requires institutional changes at different levels that allow for the efficient operation and implementation of integrated policy decisions that go beyond secretarial jurisdictions. In other words, these changes must involve all sectors and the three levels of government. 

This is because the modus operandi of traditional state structures for formulating public policies continues to predominate and is inadequate to induce the transition to sustainable development, since it reproduces an institutional dynamic that does not favor information to the public, transparency in management and accountability, as well as the effective participation of interested parties and the definition of viable, scheduled goals subject to scrutiny and compliance with regulations and policies. 

In Mexico, environmental degradation and the depletion of natural resources have been increasing. The Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics (INEGI) has estimated through the System of Economic and Ecological Accounts of Mexico (SCEEM) that the negative impacts by determining the total costs of environmental depletion and degradation, in 2016 was equivalent to 4.6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This measurement is expressed through the Ecological Gross Domestic Product (GDP), an indicator that allows to identify the impact that the use and deterioration of natural resources has on the economy due to the economic activities of production, distribution and consumption. 

In addition, and synchronously, social aspects have deteriorated significantly since the implementation of the economic model of international openness and the emergence of neoliberal policies since 1982. This deterioration has manifested itself mainly in the weakening of formal employment and the purchasing power of wages, in the loss of quality of health care and education services, as well as in the increase in the cost of housing. 

In order to assess this problem, the National Population Council (CONAPO) created the marginalization index that reflects the state of social conditions at the state and municipalities. In 2005, the percentage of the urban population with a very high marginalization index was 5.1% and with a high marginalization index, 15.8%, while in 2010, the percentage rose to 4.6% at the very high marginalization level and to 20.1% at the high level; this shows what was previously indicated about the increasing deterioration of the economic and social conditions of the population. Continuing with the above, in 2005 the proportion of the urban population with a medium level of marginalization was 24.8%, with a low level of marginalization was 33.5% and with a very low level of marginalization was 20.9%; while in 2010 the percentages were 35.6%, 20.4% and 19.3%, respectively. 

Likewise, within the challenges to transition to sustainability, it is important to highlight the complicated process of transition to democracy, which had a turning point in the student movement of 1968, from which a social process was derived that sought to establish an electoral system representative of the different political forces of the country. The creation of the National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH) in 1990, the establishment of the Federal Institute of Access to Information in 2003; the constitutional reform in political-electoral matters, published on February 10, 2014, redesigned the Mexican electoral system and transformed the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) into a national authority: the National Electoral Institute (INE), in order to standardize the standards with which federal and local electoral processes are organized to guarantee high levels of quality in our electoral democracy. And the Attorney General's Office (PGR), in order to reaffirm at the national and international levels the conviction of the Government of the Republic to combat corruption by eliminating all practices of impunity, on March 12, 2014 published in the Official Gazette of the Federation Agreement A/011/14 by which the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Crimes Related to Acts of Corruption is created, which has as its objective the investigation and prosecution of crimes related to acts of corruption, with the exception of those committed by public servants of the PGR. These are part of the changes necessary for democratic life.