Sustainability Secretariat

UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE NUEVO LEÓN

SECRETARÍA DE SUSTENTABILIDAD 

What is sustainable development?

The concept of sustainable development is the result of concerted action by nations to promote a global economic development model compatible with environmental conservation and social equity.
 

Its history dates back to the 1950s, when concerns arose about the damage to the environment caused by the Second World War. However, it was not until 1987 that the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), chaired by Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, presented the report “Our Common Future”, also known as the “Brundtland Report”. in which the best-known definition of sustainable development is disseminated and coined:

Planta germinada

“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
.
(CMMAD, 1987:24)
 

Sustainable development has become a “political manifesto”, that is, it has been raised as a powerful proclamation that is addressed to citizens, civil organizations, companies and governments to promote actions, ethical principles and new institutions aimed at a common objective:
sustainability.
 

In accordance with the above, sustainable development is stated on three analytical axes: 

Sustainable development in Mexico

For decades, development policies in Mexico did not give importance to the economic and social costs of population growth. The unequal territorial distribution of the population, the impact of productive activities and urbanization on the quality of air, water and soil, ignoring the implications of the degradation and destruction of natural resources, caused the emergence of serious environmental crises, especially in metropolitan areas, as well as soil degradation caused by deforestation in rural areas.

Given the growing demand from civil society for the appearance of these crises, in the 1970s the first institutions were created to address the problems derived from pollution: in 1971 the Federal Law to Prevent and Control Environmental Pollution was promulgated; In 1972, the Undersecretariat for Environmental Improvement was created, within the framework of the Secretariat of Health and Public Assistance, and in 1976, the General Directorate of Urban Ecology was established within the Secretariat of Human Settlements and Public Works.

However, the concept of sustainable development as such began to be given importance in Mexico until the end of the eighties, thanks to the work carried out by research groups that promoted it from the academy and the official position of complying with international agreements that proposed its implementation. , thus moving towards a second stage of creating new agencies and laws to carry out this process aimed at sustainability at the national and local level.

Although the first precedent in the country dates back to 1983, when the Undersecretary of Ecology was created within the Secretariat of Urban Development and Ecology (SEDUE), with which new responsibilities were assigned and functions linked to the environment were regrouped that were dispersed in different federal agencies, it was in 1988 when the global process stirred by the “Brundtland Report” opened the way towards sustainability and particularly echoed in Mexico with the promulgation of the General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection (GLEBEP).

In 1992, SEDUE was transformed into the Secretariat of Social Development (SEDESOL) to promote a more articulated institutional framework between social and environmental policies. Shortly after, the Undersecretary of Ecology separated its regulatory functions and those of inspection and verification, giving rise to the National Institute of Ecology (INE) and the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA). In the same year, the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) was also created.

In 1994, Mexico took a great institutional leap with the creation of the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries (SEMARNAP), which strengthened government management considering ecological conservation and the sustainable use of resources. In 2000, SEMARNAP became the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) and the area of ​​responsibility for fishing was absorbed by the agricultural sector. And since that moment, various changes have occurred in the institutional engineering of the government sector associated with environmental management, which seek to better respond to the complex tasks involved in this activity. Some relevant laws that have been enacted are:

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