Mexico could be sanctioned for alleged environmental violations due to the harmful effects of agave cultivation in Jalisco.
Mexico does not get out of an environmental controversy when it is already immersed in another, and now a new front is opening with the United States and Canada within the framework of the T-MEC, due to alleged violations of the legislation on the matter due to the harmful effects of agave cultivation in Jalisco, which could represent trade sanctions for our country.
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CCA), created under the trade agreement, announced that on April 11, a citizen of Mexican origin filed a complaint based on Chapter 24 of the T-MEC, in order to avoid the excessive use of water, – increasingly scarce -, in the production of this plant used for the manufacture of tequila.
“In the petition SEM-23-003, it is asserted that the production of agave —because it is an intensive industry in the use of resources and that involves extensive change in land use— is causing extensive deforestation in the state of Jalisco, which in turn contributes to desertification in already semi-arid areas; the occurrence of large avalanches or landslides and floods in some municipalities, and the depletion of aquifers, ”he revealed.
In the petition to the CEC, it is also stated that the wastewater generated in the tequila manufacturing process (known as “vinasses”) is not being properly managed, which infiltrates the subsoil and is discharged —in unauthorized manner—into the Zula River, producing as a consequence a significant deterioration in the quality of the water.
“The petitioner is concerned that no tequila factory has effective systems for the adequate treatment of stillage, as well as the lack of application of the corresponding legal provisions by Mexico.”
The petitioner cites various legal instruments, including the Constitution
Policy of the United Mexican States, the General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection (LGEEPA), the National Water Law (LAN), the Agrarian Law and the Official Mexican Standard NOM-EM-037-FITO-2002″, he pointed.
In this regard, the CCA reported that the Secretariat will review the petition within a period of 30 days and determine if it meets the requirements of Article 24.27 of the T-MEC, in order to follow up on it and, if applicable, open a file.
Just last February, another Mexican citizen filed a complaint about the massive planting of avocados in Michoacán, which was added to files opened against Mexico for the vaquita, the loggerhead turtle and the so-called Mayan Train.
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