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Published in Spring 2006
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Logging in Tarahumara leads to factual record
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© Katia Opalka / CEC
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Indigenous communities in the Sierra Tarahumara mountains of western Chihuahua have waited several years for answers into their allegations that federal authorities in Mexico have failed to address illegal logging in their region. Many of the facts are now in, but some questions are still unanswered.
The factual record released by the CEC Secretariat in January provided detailed information on the processing of 28 complaints indigenous communities in the Sierra Tarahumara filed with environmental authorities between 1998 and 2000.
It shows that the Mexican government did not always respect time limits required by law. For the 16 cases for which authorities ordered corrective measures and/or payment of fines, Mexico did not provide the CEC Secretariat with information regarding whether corrective measures were enforced or fines paid.
For cases in which authorities determined the complaint merited pursuing criminal sanctions, Mexico did not provide the Secretariat with requested information regarding the existence or outcome of such proceedings.
Government authorities and complainants identified relations between indigenous communities and government, as well as federal-state cooperation and interagency cooperation, as challenges to the effective enforcement of environmental law in the cases covered by the factual record. The remoteness of indigenous communities and language barriers were additional challenges.
The CEC Secretariat’s 11th factual record also reports that “Indigenous communities are concerned about
the independence of federal environmental enforcement staff, and federal authorities acknowledge that the number of inspectors is too low and their salaries
are not in line with those in the rest of the federal
civil service.”
The citizen submissions mechanism of the CEC enables the public to play a whistle-blower role on matters of environmental law enforcement. Under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, any person or nongovernmental organization may submit a claim alleging that a NAFTA country has failed to effectively enforce its environmental law.
In developing the Tarahumara factual record, the Secretariat considered publicly available information, information provided by the three governments, and technical information provided by independent experts.
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