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Photo: Manuel VictoriaDefending the Veracruz Reef from a port expansion project
In the Gulf of Mexico, 27 coral reefs form a submarine mountain range running for miles between six islands. Hundreds of colorful fish species, sea urchins, starfish, and sea grasses share the reef with an abundance of other life forms. Fishing, sport diving, and beach tourism thrive along the coast. This is the magnificent Veracruz Reef, the largest coral ecosystem in the Gulf.
In 1992, Mexico’s government declared the Veracruz Reef System a Natural Protected Area. In 2004, it was listed as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention, a treaty for the protection of wetlands including reefs.
Despite the reef’s recognized significance, in 2013 the government reduced the size of the Natural Protected Area and approved a port expansion project. Local communities and organizations challenged the project's environmental permits, demanding protection of the right to a healthy environment.
On February 9, 2022, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation unanimously decided that the authorities violated the right to a healthy environment of Veracruz residents by authorizing the port expansion based on a fragmented environmental impact assessment. This means that the permits for the project are non-existent and that the impacts of the project on the health of the reefs must be studied again, this time in a comprehensive manner, and even the viability of the project.
The ruling is a historic precedent not only in Mexico, but for the entire region, as it allows access to environmental justice for the people neighboring an ecosystem affected by a project.
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Supreme Court orders protection of Veracruz's reefs and wetlands
Mexico’s high court unanimously ruled that authorities violated the right to a healthy environment by authorizing the expansion of the Port of Veracruz. Environmental authorities failed to use the best scientific information, analyze the port expansion in a comprehensive manner, and consider all of its impacts. The ruling implies that the project’s approvals are unfounded and that its impacts must be re-evaluated, this time in a comprehensive manner, to determine the viability of the project. Mexico City, Mexico — On February 9, residents of Veracruz won a victory before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation in a legal injunction filed to defend the Veracruz Reef System (SAV) and its environmental services against the expansion of the Port of Veracruz. The justices of the Court unanimously voted in favor of the draft ruling that protects the reefs of Veracruz and transforms the way the Environmental Impact Assessment procedure operates throughout the country. This decision underpins the protection of the right to a healthy environment, and it sets a new precedent that will change the way officials determine how projects are assessed by their environmental impact. The Court held that "the protection of wetlands is a national and international priority that has led our country to issue a strict regulation of this ecosystem and… any analysis made in relation to wetlands must be guided by a criterion of maximum precaution and prevention." The ruling pointed out that the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) violated the right to a healthy environment by authorizing the expansion project of the Port of Veracruz, since "it did not take into account the best scientific information available; it did not analyze or evaluate in a complete manner each one of the different environmental impacts that the project and its modification could cause, in addition to the fact that the project and the works related to it were analyzed in a fragmented manner." The Supreme Court’s ruling annuls the authorization for the port’s expansion and orders a complete reevaluation of the project’s environmental impacts and determination of the consequent viability of the project. "CEMDA filed this injunction, together with the community, to protect and contribute to the conservation of the Veracruz Reef System, as well as the reefs and the services they provide, since they are key to the well-being of the people living in the Veracruz-Boca del Río-Medellín conurbation," explained Xavier Martínez Esponda, CEMDA's Operational Director. The case sets a precedent that will transform the way in which Semarnat and state authorities conduct Environmental Impact Assessments in the country. Martinez Esponda pointed out that, "with this decision, the principles of prevention and precaution will have to become much more ingrained in the decision-making process. Likewise, authorities and investors should learn the lesson that it is more expensive, in all senses, not to present their projects in a complete manner, than to comply in time and form with the Environmental Impact Assessment." Background The Veracruz Reef System is a National Park and a wetland of international importance according to the Ramsar Convention. It has great environmental value as the largest reef system in the central region of the Gulf of Mexico. This reef system hosts the greatest biodiversity of species in the western Gulf of Mexico and is also home to several protected species, such as the critically endangered hawksbill turtle. The SAV also helps mitigate the impact of storm surges and hurricanes, which have increased in frequency and intensity as a result of climate change. The Port of Veracruz expansion project was proposed in the late 1990s and its implementation included plans for new breakwater works, access and navigation channels, land access, terminals, and port facilities. These works will damage reefs and seagrasses in the area, as they will be impacted by the increased sedimentation caused by the construction works. Due to the importance of the case, international environmental protection organizations supported the process. Earthjustice and the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) delivered a joint amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of CEMDA’s filing with the court. Sandra Moguel, AIDA's attorney, emphasized that "it is not the proximity of a project that determines who are the affected people and who should have access to justice to defend their right to a healthy environment." In its brief, AIDA explains that international law obliges the Mexican government to allow anyone whose fundamental rights are threatened by environmental harm to access judicial remedies, even if their connection to the threatened ecosystem is indirect or remote. Guillermo Zuñiga, an attorney with Earthjustice, emphasized that his ties to this reef are important and personal: "I grew up in Veracruz. I am a Xalapeño. That area gave birth to me, and I grew up swimming in the rivers and beaches of Veracruz with my family. I want the children of Veracruz to have the opportunity to enjoy the richness of its biodiversity as I did." Alejandra Serrano Pavón, a lawyer with the international organization Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW), was interested in the case because of the opportunity to encourage the Court to broadly interpret the right to access to justice in defense of the environment. ELAW presented an amicus brief that supported the filing, through which is provided examples from various countries around the world that recognize a broad interpretation of this right, which allows "any civil society organization or, at least residents of a place, to initiate a legal action to protect the environment." We widely celebrate this decision of the First Chamber of the Supreme Court, and we hope that in the process of executing the judgment, the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources complies with what it has been ordered to do under the highest standard of protection enshrined in 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. Underwritten by: AIDA Earthjustice ELAW CEMDA press contacts: Ricardo Ruiz, CEMDA, [email protected], 5559644162 Victor Quintanilla, AIDA, [email protected], 5570522107
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Six advances for Latin America’s reefs in 2018
In 2018, we joined people and organizations around the world in celebrating the International Year of the Reef. AIDA was part of a global movement to increase awareness of the value of reefs and the threats they’re facing. To advance reef conservation in the Americas, we took part in a variety of legal actions to protect reefs in Mexico and the Caribbean. As always, we’re proud to celebrate the small victories we’ve achieved on the road to environmental justice in 2018. Together with our supporters and allies we: Supported a case in defense of the Veracruz Reef In February, we presented an amicus brief in support of an amparo filed by local residents against the expansion of the Port of Veracruz. We outlined how Mexico’s approval of the project in 2013 violated the nation’s international environmental and human rights commitments. Just a year earlier, the government had reduced the area of the reef system, changing its boundaries to make the project viable. At the time of authorization, adequate scientific information was not available to understand how to avoid damaging the reefs and protect the services they provide to the people of Veracruz. To raise awareness of the issue, we also co-produced a documentary, Battle for the Reefs of Veracruz. Alerted the Ramsar Convention to threats to Puerto Morelos Reef We sent an Urgent Alert to the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention, alerting them to the threats to Puerto Morelos Reef National Park, a national protected area and Wetland of International Importance. Together with a coalition of civil society organizations, we solicited a visit of international experts to evaluate the risks facing the site, particularly changes in land use in coastal ecosystems due to massive and unsustainable tourism development. Created a Working Group on Threats to Mexico’s Wetlands In May, the Working Group on Threats was created within the National Wetlands Committee, which AIDA helped create in order to motivate Mexico to comply with its obligations to protect at-risk wetlands of international importance. Within the framework of this Group, efforts are being made to strengthen national actions to protect Ramsar ecosystems, including reefs and the herbivorous fish that make their home in them. Supported the protection of 10 species of parrotfish in Mexico’s Caribbean In October we presented a letter of support outlining international environmental and human rights arguments for the inclusion of 10 species of parrotfish on Mexico’s national list of at-risk species. While the inclusion has been acknowledged and accepted, official confirmation is expected early this year. Our efforts supported a proposal of the Health Reefs Initiative that seeks to legally protect parrotfish species, which are critical to maintaining a healthy coral reef ecosystem. Parrotfish and other herbivorous fish feed on algae that compete with corals for light and oxygen, thus enabling the reef to flourish. Helped Establish a Working Group on Corals in Costa Rica In coordination with the Ministry of Environment, we helped organize a working group of academic experts, members of civil society and competent governmental authorities that will propose comprehensive solutions to the problems facing the country’s coral ecosystems. Together we will work to ensure integral solutions to protect Costa Rica’s coral reefs. Supported a Working Group on Herbivorous Fish in Guatemala In coordination with the Healthy Reefs Initiative, academics from San Carlos University and members of the government, we’ve supported the creation of a working group to draft a technical-scientific document that outlines the information necessary for a ministerial decree to prohibit the fishing of herbivorous fish in the Guatemalan Caribbean and, thus, protect the nation’s reefs.
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Did you know coral reefs produce medicine?
“How can coral reefs contribute to modern medicine?” I wondered as I spoke to a group of doctors and nurses working on liver disease in Mexico. My uncle is part of the organization (Amihigo) and has long been interested in my work as a marine attorney with AIDA. When I got back from the meeting, the information I found backed up our discussion and clarified the link between our two worlds: coral reefs are natural, underwater pharmacies. The plants and animals living in reefs have developed chemical compounds to protect themselves against predators, fight diseases, and prevent the excessive growth of competing organisms. Corals have been recognized as an important source of new drugs to treat cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, bacterial infections, viruses and heart disease, among other serious illnesses, according to the US-based National Ocean Service. The pharmaceutical industry has found corals provide value in the development of new products. Certain corals, for example, stimulate the welding of broken bones. Components of a Caribbean sponge allow for the creation of Zidovudina, a medicine used to treat HIV. Despite these discoveries, the medical use of coral reefs is considered underdeveloped. As an environmental attorney, what I take away from this realization is that if coral reefs are not effectively preserved, their great potential for modern medicine will never be fully realized. It’s a real threat. Studies estimate that 30 percent of the world’s reefs are already seriously damaged, and that 60 percent could disappear by 2030 due to water pollution, destructive fishing methods, overfishing, and other unsustainable human activities. Compounding these is the growing threat of climate change. Several Latin American nations are blessed with large areas of coral reefs that provide environmental and social benefits. But many don’t do enough to protect that wealth. Mexico’s coastline extends for more than 11 thousand kilometers, featuring 5,100 square kilometers of islands, reefs and cays. Its coral reefs span six major regions: the Gulf of California and the Western Mexican Pacific Coast, the Revillagigedo Archipelago, the Marias Islands, the South Pacific Coast, the Gulf of Mexico Reef Corridor and the Campeche Bank, and the Mexican Caribbean. The loss and degradation of these rich reef systems is a growing problem across the country. Unsustainable and poorly planned urban and coastal development is causing sedimentation and pollution, resulting in the growth of microalgae that rob light and oxygen, effectively suffocating the corals. In the Veracruz Reef System, the largest in the Gulf of Mexico, the expansion of the Port of Veracruz is doing just that. To protect reefs, it’s imperative that governments act with caution when approving land use in urban development plans to avoid damaging coastal wetlands (lagoons, bays, mangroves, coastal dunes and sea grasses, among others), and that they adopt adequate measures for wastewater treatment. The protection and restoration of coral reefs and coastal wetlands should be prioritized over economic interests and short-term economic benefits. Effective reef conservation can also be supported by good regulation practices. Measures to protect key species such as the parrotfish from overfishing, for example, would go a long was to preserving the health of coral reefs. And we now know that the health of those reefs is directly tied to our own. It’s important the health industry—from doctors and patients to scientists and pharmacists—join the call to conserve our coral reefs, natural medicine banks that can help guarantee our rights to a dignified life and a healthy environment.
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