Mexico
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Mexico is a large North American nation located between the United States to the north and the Central American nations of Guatemala and Belize to the south.
Mexico's main environmental issues include scarcity of hazardous waste disposal facilities; rural to urban migration; scarce and polluted natural fresh water resources in the northern parts of the country, inaccessible and poor water quality in central regions and extreme southeast regions; raw sewage and industrial effluents polluting rivers in urban areas; deforestation; widespread erosion; desertification; deteriorating agricultural lands; serious air and water pollution in the national capital and urban centers along US-Mexico border; and land subsidence in Valley of Mexico caused by groundwater depletion. The Mexican government considers the lack of clean water and deforestation national security issues.
Background
The site of advanced Amerindian civilizations, Mexico came under Spanish rule for three centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century. Mexico is located within Middle (that is, Central) America. It borders the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, between Belize and the United States; and it borders the North Pacific Ocean, between Guatemala and the United States.
A devaluation of the Mexican peso in late 1994 threw Mexico into economic turmoil, triggering its worst recession in over half a century. The nation continues to make an impressive recovery. Ongoing economic and social concerns include low real wages, underemployment for a large segment of the population, inequitable income distribution, and few advancement opportunities for the largely Amerindian population in the impoverished southern states.
Elections held in 2000 marked the first time since the 1910 Mexican Revolution that an opposition candidate—Vicente Fox of the National Action Party (PAN)—defeated the party in government, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He was succeeded in 2006 by another PAN candidate Felipe Calderon.
Geography
Location: Middle America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, between Belize and the United States and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Guatemala and the United States
Geographic Coordinates: 23 00 N, 102 00 W
Area: 1,972,550 sq km (1,923,040 sq km of land, 49,510 sq km of water)
arable land: 12.66%
permanent crops: 1.28%
other: 86.06% (2005)
Coastline: 9,330 km
Maritime Claims: Territorial sea to 12 nautical miles, contiguous zone: 24 nautical miles, exclusive economic zone to 200 nautical miles, continental shelf to 200 nautical miles or to the edge of the continental margin.
Natural Hazards: Tsunamis along the Pacific coast, volcanoes and destructive earthquakes in the center and south, and hurricanes on the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean coasts
Terrain: High, rugged mountains; low coastal plains; high plateaus; desert; highest point is Volcan Pico de Orizaba (5,700 m).
Climate: Varies from tropical to desert
Capital: Mexico City (Distrito Federal)
Ecology and Biodiversity
Mexico is one of the most biologically diverse countries, and is home to more mammal species than any other country in Central America. With over 200,000 different species, Mexico is home of 10–12% of the world's biodiversity. Mexico ranks first in biodiversity in reptiles with 707 known species, second in mammals with 438 species, fourth in amphibians with 290 species, and fourth in flora, with 26,000 different species. Mexico is also considered the second country in the world in ecosystems and fourth in overall species. Approximately 2,500 species are protected by Mexican legislations. The Mexican government created the National System of Information about Biodiversity, in order to study and promote the sustainable use of ecosystems.
The Mesoamerica Biodiversity Hotspot begins in central Mexico and extends south to the Panama Canal. A small section of the California Floristic Biodivresity Hotspot extends into the northwestern most corner of Mexico. Covering Mexico's main mountain chains is the biologically diverse area known as Madrean pine-oak woodlands. Mexico is also home to a number of terrestrial ecoregions, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund:
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation has also defined more broad ecoregions within Mexico. The North American Deserts ecoregion extends into north central Mexico. In northeastern Mexico lies the Great Plains ecoregion that were once covered with natural grasslands. The Temperate Sierras ecoregion comprises the major Mexican mountain ranges. The Tropical Dry Forests ecoregion occupies the Northern Gulf Coastal Plain, the north of the Yucatán Peninsula and the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, covering almost 13 percent of Mexico. The Tropical Humid Forests ecoregion encompasses the Gulf Coastal Plain, the western and southern part of the Pacific Coastal Plain, most of the Yucatán Peninsula and the lowlands of the Chiapas Sierra Madre, which continue south to Central and South America.
Mexico is also home to a wide variety of coastal mangrove ecoregions as defined by the World Wildlife Fund:
- Alvarado mangroves
- Marismas Nacionales-San Blas mangroves
- Mayan Corridor mangroves
- Mexican South Pacific Coast mangroves
- Northwest Mexican Coast mangroves
- Petenes mangroves
- Ría Lagartos mangroves
- Tehuantepec-El Manchon mangroves
- Usumacinta mangroves
And is surrounded by several important marine ecosystems: the California Current large marine ecosystem to the northwest, the Pacific Central-American Coastal large marine ecosystem to the southwest, the Gulf of California large marine ecosystem between Baja California and mainland Mexico, and the Gulf of Mexico large marine ecosystem to the east.
Protected Areas
In Mexico, 170,000 square kilometres are considered "Protected Natural Areas." These include 34 reserve biospheres (unaltered ecosystems), 64 national parks, 4 natural monuments (protected in perpetuity for their aesthetic, scientific or historical value), 26 areas of protected flora and fauna, 4 areas for natural resource protection (conservation of soil, hydrological basins and forests) and 17 sanctuaries (zones rich in diverse species). One of the most ecologically intact ecosystems in the world, valuable both to science and for its fisheries, is the Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California of Mexico. On the eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula in the State of Quintana Roo lies the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve where when possible, boundaries were defined to coincide with natural features: bounded by the Caribbean Sea and the barrier reef to a depth of 50 meters in the east; the junction between the marshes and semi-evergreen forests in the south-east; and the junction of Chetumal and Espiritu Santo Bays catchment basin in the south. The Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaíno consists of two lagoons which lie in the central part of the Baja California peninsula, between the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean.
Environmental international agreements
Mexico is party to agreements on Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
People and Society
Population: 111,211,789 (July 2009 est.)
Age Structure:
0-14 years: 29.1% (male 16,544,223/female 15,861,141)
15-64 years: 64.6% (male 34,734,571/female 37,129,793)
65 years and over: 6.2% (male 3,130,518/female 3,811,543) (2009 est.)
Population Growth Rate: 1.13% (2009 est.)
Birthrate: 20.04 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death Rate: 4.78 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net Migration Rate: -3.61 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Life Expectancy at Birth: total population: 76.06 years (2009 est.)
Total Fertility Rate: 2.34 children born/woman (2009 est.)
Languages: Spanish only 92.7%, Spanish and indigenous languages 5.7%, indigenous only 0.8%, unspecified 0.8%; note - indigenous languages include various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional languages (2005)
Literacy: 91% (2004 est.)
Economy
Mexico has a free market economy in the trillion dollar class. It contains a mixture of modern and outmoded industry and agriculture, increasingly dominated by the private sector. Recent administrations have expanded competition in seaports, railroads, telecommunications, electricity generation, natural gas distribution, and airports. Per capita income is one-fourth that of the US; income distribution remains highly unequal. Trade with the US and Canada has nearly tripled since the implementation of NAFTA in 1994. Mexico has 12 free trade agreements with over 40 countries including, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, the European Free Trade Area, and Japan, putting more than 90% of trade under free trade agreements. In 2007, during its first year in office, the Felipe CALDERON administration was able to garner support from the opposition to successfully pass a pension and a fiscal reform. The administration continues to face many economic challenges including the need to upgrade infrastructure, modernize labor laws, and allow private investment in the energy sector. CALDERON has stated that his top economic priorities remain reducing poverty and creating jobs.
GDP: (Purchasing Power Parity): $1.559 trillion (2008 est.)
GDP: (Official Exchange Rate): $1.143 trillion (2008 est.)
GDP-real growth rate: 1.4% (2008 est.)
GDP- per capita (PPP): $14,200 (2008 est.)
GDP- composition by sector:
agriculture: 3.7%
industry: 34.1%
services: 62.2% (2008 est.)
Industries: food and beverages, tobacco, chemicals, iron and steel, petroleum, mining, textiles, clothing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, tourism
Energy
The oil sector is a crucial component of Mexico’s economy. While its importance to the general Mexican economy has declined, the oil sector still generates over 10 percent of the country’s export earnings and one-third of government revenues. Another important part of the Mexican economy is the maquiladora sector, consisting of manufacturing plants located near the U.S. border. The maquiladora plants import raw materials from the United States, and then re-export the finished products duty free to the U.S. Other key economic sectors include the nonfuel mining sector and the manufacturing of automobiles and machine tools.
In July 2006, Felipe Calderon was elected as Mexico’s new president. The results of the election could have an important effect on the country’s energy sector, due to the strong state presence in the sector. According to press reports, Calderon has talked of allowing private companies to participate in new upstream energy projects, which could help stem Mexico’s declining crude oil production and lessen natural gas imports. In December 2006, Calderon appointed Jesus Reyes Heroles, a former energy minister and ambassador to the United States, as the new head of state oil monopoly Pemex, and Georgina Kessel as Energy Secretary.
Further Reading
Editor's Notes
- A more detailed country profile on Mexico may be found at: The CIA World Fact Book.
- Website of the Government of Mexico
- Sito Oficial del Gobierno de México
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