Las políticas públicas de la restauración ambiental en México: limitantes, avances, rezagos y retos
In spite of the profound deterioration of Mexican natural ecosystems and the negative effects that this process has caused on the quality of life of the human population, environmental restoration has not yet become a priority public policy. Restoration activities such as reforestation and soil improvement have been promoted since the beginning of the 20th century; however, the priority has been put on reforestation of green urban areas and on the recovery of agricultural soil. It was not until the mid 1990’s that an integral vision of restoration was included. For example, regarding reforestation, compact rural areas were prioritized through the introduction of native species. Although this was an important step, production and planting is still emphasized and not enough attention has been put on survival rates of the plants or the consolidation of reforested areas. Other important programs are the recovery of threatened priority species, the elimination of exotic species, and the recovery of degraded lands in priority regions such as the humid tropics, among others. There is significant progress in the programmatic platform, allocation of economic resources, and institutional strengthening. However, there is a need to consolidate and harmonize an adequate legal framework, increase efforts to build technical and scientific workgroups with a long term, interdisciplinary and integral vision that influence and promote innovative public policy for environmental restoration