Interpretación de los resultados de la evaluación del plato Dulce de zambo

The environment is one of the highest priorities for both the United States and Mexico. It is clear that the future of ecosystems and humans as a species depends on the wellbeing of the planet, but this is in danger due to serious effects generated by climate change. Although, awareness on this pressing issue has increased during recent years, better answers and clearer commitments are still needed from governments, businesses and citizens in order to decrease pollutant emissions that exacerbate the warming process on Earth.

The list of tasks that should be un- dertaken to mitigate the effects of green- house gases (GHG) seems unending. The Foundation has concentrated on a critical aspect to contribute to their minimization: development of tools to accurately mea- sure them in Mexico, with assistance from institutions in the United States that have a long trajectory in this field.

Once these tools are on hand, it will be possible to accurately know the amount of GHG emissions generated by industry in Mexico, which will provide a solid basis to establish specific com- mitments to reduce these emissions and evaluate if they are actually being complied with.

Another aspect that also determines the wellbeing of our society is health

Environment and Health

care. Infectious diseases and those that are food borne constitute topics of great importance in public health, and topics of common interest to Mexico and the United States due to the constant ex- change between both countries, both in relation to people and to food.

The Foundation has worked with the U.S. and Mexican health authorities to facilitate the development of Early Warning Disease Surveillance in order to make a timely detection of an infectious outbreak that could affect public health and to strengthen binational collabora- tion in this important field.

In order to guarantee the quality of the foods we consume, the Foundation’s program on food safety has continued to work with food companies to assist them in adopting measures that gua- rantee the safety and quality of their products, many of which are targeted to the export market.

FUMEC focuses part of its efforts on facilitating the development and implementation of the best practices in these fields.

The main advances and perspectives of environment and health programs su- pported by the Foundation are presented in this section.

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Context

Climate change is the most important en- vironmental challenge we face. Scientific evidence indicates that this phenomenon is strongly affected by the level of green- house gases (GHG) currently being relea- sed into the atmosphere. A great deal of these gases is generated by industrial and transportation activities.

In Mexico, the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) is developing tools for industries to prepare their own GHG inventories and identify reduction opportunities for these emissions. In addition, the Ministry has partnered with the World Resources Institute (WRI) in

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Climate Change

order to adopt the GHG protocol, an international standard to estimate emis- sions generated by industry.

As a part of this effort, SEMAR- NAT, FUMEC and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with assistance from Environ- ment Canada, agreed to develop me- thodologies and tools to evaluate GHG emissions customized to Mexican indus- tries. In 2006, a GHG estimation tool was adapted to the pulp and paper sector and, based on this experience, contact was initiated with the Federal Electri- city Commission (CFE) to explore the manner to develop a similar tool for the power generation sector.

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Electricity generation contributes with the largest portion of GHG emissions in Mexico

Other institutions involved Sponsors

Environmental Protection Agency.

1 _{The expression “criteria pollutants” refers}

to common pollutants that are harmful to

human health, such as carbon monoxide,

oxides of sulfur, oxides of nitrogen, ozone, particulates and lead. They are called as

such since they were object of studies pu-

blished in criteria documents for air quality.

Achievements

Strengthening GHG measuring capa- bilities in the Electrical Power Sector With technical assistance from the EPA and backing from SEMARNAT, the Foundation developed a GHG and criteria pollutant1 _{emissions estimation}

methodology for the electrical power generation sector in Mexico. Currently, this tool is used by the Federal Electri- city Commission (CFE), which produ- ces most of the GHG emissions in the country due to the large quantity of fuel that it consumes.

This tool strengthens the capabilities of CFE to report GHG emissions in required programs, such as the Registry of Emissions and Transfer of Pollutants (RETC) of SEMARNAT. Also, this will allow the Ministry to compile a better inventory of emissions, develop policies focused on fighting climate change and enhancing its international reporting.

Cap and Trade Workshop

In March 2008, a cap and trade workshop was held in order to explore the possibi- lities of conducting these exchanges in Mexico. During the event, it was conclu- ded that the current scenario presented difficulties to develop agreements of this type, since the businesses that are the greatest contributors of pollutants in Mexico belong to the State and do not have the freedom to negotiate, as do private enterprises.

Perspectives

The Foundation is working to develop a long-term project with CFE to prepa- re emissions inventories and emissions factors for their main power generation plants. In addition, it expects to explore how to continue to strengthen emissions estimation capacity and inventory develo- pment in two other sectors.

Context

The border between Mexico and the United States is characterized by its great dynamics and multiplicity of cultures, but also by the great complexity of the issues it presents. In this region, atten- tion to health topics demands a bina- tional focus in order to maintain me- chanisms to exchange information and foster collaboration between authorities and professionals in both countries. The appearance of influenza type A (H1N1) in 2009 reaffirmed the need to have effective communication channels bet- ween both countries in order to protect public health.

The Early Warning Infectious Di- sease Surveillance (EWIDS) program, was initiated in 2006 with the aim of strengthening four critical areas: epi- demiological surveillance, diagnostic capacity of laboratories, education and training of health staff, and use of infor- mation and communication technolo- gies. The Mexican section of the United States-Mexico Border Health Commis- sion (USMBHC) coordinates efforts from federal and state institutions that develop the project in the six Mexican border states where EWIDS operates, and FUMEC channels funds from the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

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