WILD

US, Canada and Mexico announce cooperation on wilderness

On Friday night (November 6 2009) Mexico President Calderon announces groundbreaking multi-national cooperation with Canada and U.S. on wilderness conservation.  On Saturday afternoon, the Memorandum of Understanding was signed in the WILD9 plenary session.

The MOU (available for download in ENGLISH, SPANISH and FRENCH) provisions address ecosystems, migratory wildlife, and natural resources that do not start and end with geographical boundaries. This MOU also encourages cooperative efforts to conduct and share scientific research.

The character of this agreement is cross-cultural, and respects native approaches to conserving wild nature, accommodation for indigenous customs, priorities for species survival, and national environmental policy.

This timely agreement recognizes the growing evidence of the importance of wilderness conservation in climate change adaptation and mitigation and monitoring for climate change effects.

The seven agencies responsible for wilderness management signing the MOU today are: the Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources through the National Commission on Protected Areas (CONANP) of the United Mexican States; the Parks Canada Agency of the Government of Canada; the National Park Service, Fish & Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management of the U.S. Department of Interior, and the Forest Service and Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The MOU process was facilitated by the WILD9 Executive Committee and is the result of 18 months of work by the North American Governmental Advisory Committee chaired by Ernesto Enkerlin-Hoeflich, National Commissioner, CONANP, in Mexico.

“Mexican legislation currently allows for incorporating the concept of wilderness in our protected area operations and private lands certification,” said Enkerlin-Hoeflich. “We are close to having it formally incorporated into environmental law. This MOU builds on our tradition of trilateral cooperation. It will greatly benefit Mexico as it shares and learns from the Canadian and U.S. experiences such that wilderness conservation, while respecting each country’s institutions and regulations, works seamlessly in North America.”

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