Welcome to Ecoregion, a publication of the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). Ecoregion is designed to inform you of the CEC activities, accomplishments and future directions. In future issues, it is also intended to stimulate discussion on North American environmental issues, and to become a forum for trinational dialogue between environmentalists, scientists, industrialists, community leaders and government representatives in the three NAFTA countries.

Choosing a name for a publication which is going to three countries, in three languages, was not easy. The Secretariat of the CEC chose Ecoregion because it works in French, Spanish and English, and because - in one word - it sums up the CEC’s chief concern: the regional environment, the North American environment. In this first issue of Ecoregion, you will be introduced to the CEC Council of Ministers: Deputy Prime Minister of Canada and Minister of Environment Sheila Copps, Mexican Secretary for Environment and Natural Resources and Fisheries, Julia Carabias, and US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner. You will also become acquainted with the members of the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC), a body within the CEC which serves as a bridge to the public. Finally, you will learn about the structure and activities of the CEC’s Secretariat. These activities span the breadth of the continent, from nacec.Yucatan to the Yukon.