Indigenous Communities Set Border Environment Agenda

Indigenous Communities Set Border Environment Agenda
By Talli Nauman

Representatives of the first peoples of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States have issued a joint communiqué they hope will set the new year’s agenda for protection of the environment they have shared since long before a national border separated them. Negotiators for 26 Mexican indigenous communities and U.S. tribes who felt their concerns were sidelined in a 2005 binational declaration on border environment, released their own statement in response. Last year marked the first time the Indian populations participated in the U.S.-Mexico Border 2012 National Coordinators Meeting, where they had a voice in the cross-boundary programs sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency. Yet they deemed it necessary to distinguish their priorities from those outlined at the meeting by the representatives of other jurisdictions in the 2,000-mile-long border area. The Native American leaders put forward recommendations for conservation of land, air, and water. Some of the counsel differs from that given by non-Indian citizens, while some of it reflects worries held in common.

This article originally appeared in The Herald Mexico / El Universal on Jan. 8, 2006. Talli Nauman is the IRC Americas Program Associate and editor at large (online at americas.irc-online.org).