Border Trade and Environment Project

The Border Trade and Environment Project was the core of TCPS' work in the Texas / Mexico border region. From 2000 to 2003, and in conjunction with partner organizations in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, TCPS produced a series of reports examining how various issues - from hazardous waste to water management to forestry - are linked to NAFTA and U.S./Mexico economic integration. These reports found that in some cases NAFTA had exacerbated existing environmental and social problems. In addition, in 2003, we held a series of forums to highlight these concerns. Our aim was to increase public awareness of these issues, and of the performance of binational and trinational environmental institutions set up in part to "mitigate" the impacts of free trade.

Key elements of the project included:

• Preparing, in partnership with Mexican non-governmental organizations, analyses of the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and U.S. / Mexico economic integration on the environment of the border region; and

• Monitoring and increasing public awareness of the performance of various U.S. / Mexico border institutions.

In addition, TCPS worked with a variety of other organizations to support border community groups dealing with environmental and public health issues. With the Latin American Area Center at the University of Arizona and Proyecto Fronterizo de Educación Ambiental, we co-hosted an annual meeting on border environmental issues.

Highlights

• English Summary Document on Impacts of Industrialization and Growth of Maquiladora Industry in Aguascalientes (full report)

• Report in Spanish on Impacts of Industrialization and Growth of Maquiladora Industry in Aguascalientes (full report)(annex of tables)

• Report in Spanish on Agricultural Groundwater Use in Sonora (full report)

• English Summary Document on Agricultural Groundwater Use in Sonora (full report)

• Report in Spanish on Proposed Plan Plueba-Panamá and Highway in Oaxaca (Cover, full report)

• English summary document on Proposed Plan Plueba-Panamá and Highway in Oaxaca (Cover, full report)

• Report in Spanish on Incineration in TABASCO ( Cover, full report)

• English summary on Hazardous Waste Incineration in Tabasco (full report)