English

Chamizal park in Juárez declared ecological restoration zone




octubre 10, 2024
Photo: By La Verdad Juárez

By Staff / La Verdad Juárez

Translation: El Paso Matters

Spanish

More than 320 acres of Parque Chamizal have been designated as an ecological restoration zone – an area that will be restored and maintained to recover the ecosystem that has been damaged over time.

That designation was established in late September by former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador just a few days before the end of his six-year term.

The declaration sets in motion actions to “regenerate, recover and reestablish” the park’s conditions by increasing vegetation cover with native plants, improving soil quality, and creating and maintaining habitats such as artificial wetlands. 

Various ecological and climate action groups in Juárez over the years have demanded the preservation of the Chamizal Park, the largest park in the border city whose conditions had been deteriorating. At least a third of the federal land has been conveyed for use to various organizations – many without the proper process – over the last six municipal administrations.

Residents and community groups since 2021 have protested the conveyance of land and sought to rescue the park through legal actions and requests López Obrador.

The declaration states that property owners or possessors of real estate within the ecological restoration zone are obligated to conserve the area and allow the execution of the restoration actions.

When restoration actions present a conflict of current land use, the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources will determine the compatibility of the land use with the restoration actions and, where appropriate, “channel the matter to the competent authority to act within the applicable legal framework,” the declaration states.

The ecological restoration zone declaration also states the following:

  • Ecosystem restoration must be carried out in order to recover the continuity of ecological processes.
  • The reintroduction or repopulation of wildlife must be carried out with native species or with species compatible with the original ecosystems but must not compromise or impact the recovery of other native species.
  • The eradication or control of exotic, invasive exotic or harmful species must not impact the ecological and evolutionary processes.
  • Scientific research and collection, environmental monitoring and environmental education must be carried out in such a way that they do not affect the restoration process and do not involve the installation of infrastructure.
  • Environmental education must be carried out in such a way that it does not alter the restoration process, nor the habitat or viability of wildlife species and populations, and does not involve the installation of infrastructure.
  • Tourism and any other recreational activity may only be carried out outside the reforestation zones to be determined.
  • The construction and maintenance of infrastructure in the reforestation areas that are determined is only permitted for activities related to the restoration.

“El Chamizal is of historical, socioeconomic and cultural importance, since it is part of the identity of the people of Juárez, as a space for recreation and contact with the natural environment, immersed in the urban area of ​​more than one and a half million inhabitants,” the presidential decree states.

Now, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources is tasked with formulating and issuing the ecological restoration plan within 180 days from the declaration. The program must be fully implemented within 10 years.The park is part of the Chamizal Convention Act of 1964 that divided a large swath of park land between Mexico and the United States – splitting the park between Juárez and El Paso in what is now the Chamizal National Memorial Park.

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