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Introduction
Due to its coastal extension, Mexico is among the first 15 countries in the world and, regarding its geographic location, it concentrates a high diversity of coastal ecosystems and species. However, global climate change is causing impacts on coastal environments, reducing the extent of wetlands, promoting the degradation of reefs, decreasing the catchable biomass and increasing both, coastal erosion and predisposition to floods, threatening socio-ecological systems (IPCC, 2019).
Unlike other coastal countries, Mexican development as a nation occurred mainly in the interior of the country, with a narrow vision towards the coasts, where growth was limited until recently. Gutiérrez & González (1999), point out that at the beginning of the 20th century, less than 10 % of the urban population lived near the coast and it was until the middle of that century when it increased significantly, with levels close to 16 % of the urban population of the country, which in turn represented between 3 and 5 % of the total.
Recently, Azuz-Adeath & Rivera-Arriaga (2009) have mentioned that by 2005, the population settled in coastal municipalities signified 15 % of the total, and just over a third of the population of the 17 coastal states, which activated some planning strategies for their development. Despite this, the Mexican coastal zone (ZCM), which includes 150 municipalities, has followed a disordered growth, leading to high levels of risk and vulnerability, due to the increase in productive activities and the associated environmental disturbance, in addition to greater exposure to extreme meteorological events, accentuated by climate change.
Consequently, the Mexican government created initiatives at the federal level to promote the sustainable development of this zone, being the Environmental Strategy for the Integrated Management of the Coastal Zone of Mexico (INE, 2000) and the Integrated Management Program of the Coastal Zone (SEMARNAT), approved during the 2000-2006 six-year term, two important actions that laid the foundations for the management of the coastal zone, with limited results and without social linkage (Silva et al., 2014), which implies the need for a comprehensive vision, with inter- and trans-disciplinary approach.
Later, in 2008, the Inter-Ministerial Commission for the Sustainable Management of Seas and Coasts (CIMARES) was created, chaired by the Ministry of the Navy (SEMAR), which drafted the National Policy on Mexico's Seas and Coasts (Comprehensive management of the most dynamic regions of the national territory), published in the Official Journal of the Federation (DOF, 2018). Such document recognizes, among other issues, that "the federal legal and regulatory framework applicable to marine and coastal zones is broad, but lacks comprehensiveness", requiring the analysis of available legal instruments to create strategies, mechanisms and lines of action necessary to optimize coastal development (Section I. Current Status and Trends of Marine and Coastal Zones of Mexico).
Despite these efforts, the population in the ZCM has grown without adequate planning, with rates of increase higher than the national average. This increase has been concentrated in a limited number of states, mainly Quintana Roo, Baja California (BC) and Baja California Sur (BCS), following the global trend of displacement towards coastal areas. Although the growth rate in the ZCM seems to have stabilized, and even reduced, ten of the municipalities with the highest growth rates and the largest population size are located in the northwest of Mexico, in the states of BC, BCS, Sonora and Sinaloa, with growth forecasts of 4 to 26 % in the coming decades (Azuz-Adeath et al., 2019).
Such growth will have an impact on coastal environments and resources, with a probable increase in risks and threats to socio-ecosystems, because of climate change, which particularly modifies the precipitation regime. Although there is no conclusive evidence, a reduction in the total annual volume of rainfall throughout the country is predicted but associated with a greater number of extreme events in localized areas, as is the case of northwestern Mexico (Berlanga-Robles et al., 2021; González-Rodríguez et al., 2021; Shamir et al., 2021). To neutralize adverse effects, it is necessary to strengthen public policies, including legal instruments that provide certainty on prevention and response mechanisms in extreme circumstances, promoting environmental conservation and the safeguarding of goods, livelihoods and, particularly, lives.
The implementation of various strategies to strengthen the processes of adaptation to climate change is vital (Mesta, 2017), being necessary the creation and reinforcement of spaces and mechanisms for citizen participation, facilitating access to specific information on prevention, action and response procedures. This will facilitate the promotion of current legal instruments, allowing more active and efficient participation, so that adaptation strategies to climate change, developed at all levels of government, can be successfully implemented.
There is significant progress regarding the dissemination of available legal instruments on environmental matters and issues of planning and sustainability in the coastal zone (Quijano & Rodríguez-Aragón, 2004; Saavedra, 2004; Carmona, 2013; Rodríguez, 2013, Mesta 2017), although of a genera kind, highlighting elements at the federal level. Even so, there are limited studies related to legal instruments regarding the presence of events derived from climate change and their effects on socio-ecosystems, so this paper aims to analyze the legal framework related to extreme precipitation events, and their repercussions on the population, particularly for the northwestern region of Mexico, determining possible strengths, gaps and topical issues in regulations.
Conceptual and methodological framework
Though there is no universal definition, an extreme precipitation event (EPE hereafter) will be understood as rainfall episodes with volume above the annual daily average, and above 90 % of the distribution of their values. Furthermore, due to their intensity or persistence, these events have the potential to drastically modify the physical characteristics of a region (Montijo & Ruiz-Luna, 2018). Also, an EPE can cause damage to populations in vulnerable situations, due to their geographical exposure, because they are settled in irregular areas or simply because they lack the necessary infrastructure to cope with unusual meteorological conditions. In this sense, the coastal zone of northwestern Mexico, defined as the total number of municipalities with a coastline (32) in the states of BC, BCS, Sonora and Sinaloa, is particularly vulnerable to EPE because of tropical and extratropical cyclones and storms.
Events of this nature have received more attention in recent years, due to changes in precipitation patterns, which produce severe droughts, but also increase the number and intensity of EPE, causing human losses and exponentially increasing the value of population losses (WMO, 2021).
Despite this, there is no specific legal framework in Mexico regulating prevention or response actions in the case of EPE. Therefore, an analysis of the current legislation at the national level is proposed, following a hierarchical scale, starting with the Supreme Law (Federal Constitution), to continue with the regulations on prevention and response to EPE in the three levels of government (Federal, State and Municipality) particularizing in the geographic area of interest, following a chronological order regarding its official publication date.
Consequently, the analysis is based on the fact that articles 40 and 115 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States (DOF, 2021a), establish that it is the will of the Mexican people to constitute a representative, democratic Republic, made up of free and sovereign States in all matters concerning their internal regime; but integrating a Federation established according to the principles of the fundamental law, that the States must adopt, for their political and administrative organization, the Free Municipality.
From the interpretation of Article 133 of the Constitution (DOF, 2021a), it is derived that the Laws of the Congress of the Union to which it refers, correspond to federal laws that have the particularity of affecting the three orders of government, Federal, State and Municipal, whose issuance comes from constitutional clauses that constrain the legislator to dictate them and against which there cannot exist legal norms of lower hierarchy that contravene them. Therefore, the principle of "Constitutional Supremacy" implicit in the text of the article, clearly translates into the fact that the General Constitution of the Republic, the General Laws of the Congress of the Union and the International Treaties that are in agreement with it, constitute the "Supreme Law of the Union", which subsequently must permeate at the state and municipal level, as a binding guideline.
From this perspective, the EPE issue must be analyzed considering global climate change as a central theme, which causes serious environmental, economic and social problems, representing one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. Therefore, it must be addressed comprehensively, with measures that respond to the magnitude of the challenge, through legal instruments that promote adequate global and local governance.
In this regard, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has established, with a high level of certainty, that global warming is unequivocal and is generating extreme changes, exposing coastal communities to climate-related hazards including hurricanes and storms of greater intensity and magnitude (IPCC, 2019).
This change is, in principle, a consequence of the increase of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere (mainly CO2), which alters temperature and precipitation patterns. Its effect is increasingly palpable, altering not only the average regional climate, but also its extremes, with increases in the average temperatures, favoring the presence of more frequent and intense meteorological phenomena, so it is estimated that by the middle of this century, we will have significantly transformed our way of life (Easterling et al., 2000; WMO, 2021).
Considering the above and due its physical and geographical characteristics, Mexico is a country particularly vulnerable to climate change, having faced adverse situations as a result of the effects generated by the growing number of extreme hydro-meteorological phenomena that have produced human losses and high economic and social costs, being the main cause of disasters and economic losses in the country (DAGR, 2021).
In particular, coastal communities in northwestern Mexico are increasingly suffering the effects of climate change, considering population growth and the rise in the frequency of EPE, especially in southern Sinaloa and BCS (Berlanga-Robles et al., 2021). This is happening without a general regulatory framework that normalizes actions to prevent the negative effects of these meteorological phenomena, nor a legal structure supporting recovery measures and promoting resilience to these changes.
With the above considerations, we proceeded to compile and analyze the relevant documentation, looking first the concerning to the "Supreme Law", which includes the International Treaties and General Laws that directly intervene in the subject, to subsequently analyze whether such federal guidelines are effectively irradiating to the state and municipal levels.
Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement on Climate Change represents the most recent and important global action plan to limit global warming, and its distressing consequences for vulnerable populations around the world. It is an international treaty that Mexico signed and is therefore part of its "Supreme Law".
Once concluded the activities in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Paris, France (CMNUCC, 2015), the 195 participating countries unanimously approved the adoption of the Paris Agreement, which aims to keep the global average temperature below 2 °C compared to pre-industrial levels, seeking to limit this increase to 1.5 °C. The Agreement also seeks to increase the capacity to adapt to the negative effects of climate change, promoting climate resilience and development based on low GHG emissions. It should be noted that this agreement included Mexico's proposal to create early warning systems against extreme events, as a right of the population to know immediately about their situation of vulnerability and risk in the face of extreme weather events related to climate change.
Also, Agreement aims to "strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication efforts". It establishes mechanisms to mitigate GHG emissions and support sustainable development. It also recognizes the importance of avoiding, minimizing and addressing loss and damage from negative impacts, including extreme weather events.
Contracting countries or Parties, submitted national action plans to reduce their emissions and agreed to report to society on the extent to which they are meeting their targets to ensure transparency and monitoring. The European Union and some developed countries agreed to finance the fight against climate change by helping developing countries to reduce their emissions and to increase resilience to the effects of severe weather events.
Consequently, the Government of Mexico committed to reducing the vulnerability of the population through the implementation of early warning systems, risk management plans and hydro-meteorological monitoring. There is also a commitment to invest resources to address disasters caused by extreme weather events; to reduce by at least 50 % the number of municipalities that are in the category of highest vulnerability within the Special Program on Climate Change 2014-2018 (DOF, 2014), as well as to prevent more municipalities from falling into that category, by relocating irregular human settlements that are situated in disaster-prone areas.
General Law on Climate Change
The General Law on Climate Change (LGCC), was published in the Official Journal of the Federation (DOF) on June 2012, but considering the responsibilities acquired in the Paris Agreement and other treaties, it has numerous reforms, the most recent being published in November 2020 (DOF, 2020a).
Among the objectives of the LGCC that can be associated with EPE in northwest Mexico, are to guarantee the right to a healthy environment and to distribute the faculties (concurrent) of the federation, the federative entities and the municipalities in the elaboration and application of public policies for adaptation to climate change, to regulate actions for mitigation and adaptation; reducing the vulnerability of the population and ecosystems of the country to its adverse effects. Also, promote the transition towards a competitive, sustainable economy, with low carbon emissions and resilient to extreme events associated with climate change.
The Early Warning Systems are established as a set of instruments for measuring and monitoring land, sea, air and space, which, organized in harmony with the National Civil Protection System, can warn the population, in an expeditious manner and through electronic means of telecommunication, about their situation of vulnerability and risk in the face of large-scale hydro-meteorological phenomena related to climate change. It is also proposed to prepare and, if necessary, update, publish and apply the National Risk Atlas, as well as state and municipal risk atlases, giving preferential attention to the most vulnerable and at-risk populations, such as islands, coastal areas and river deltas.
Regarding civil protection, urban development and human settlements, it is instituted that the Federation, the Federal Entities and the Municipalities will create programs that consider the effects of climate change, giving preferential attention to the most vulnerable populations and those most at risk of extreme events.
This law also determines the need to create environmental protection and contingency plans, with specialized human resources in highly vulnerable areas, protected natural areas and biological corridors in the face of extreme meteorological events, as well as mechanisms for immediate and expeditious attention in areas impacted by the effects of climate change, as part of civil protection plans and actions.
As part of the LGCC, the National Fund for Climate Change was created (DOF, 2012), with the purpose of receiving and distribute financial resources (public and private, national and international) to support the implementation of adaptation and mitigation actions contained in the strategy, the national program and the programs of the federal entities and municipalities. In addition, an institutional model is defined for the three levels of government and society, to coordinate efforts in terms of adaptation, mitigation and disaster management, through a National Climate Change System (SINACC), integrated by an inter-ministerial commission, chaired by the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC).
General Law of Civil Protection
The General Civil Protection Law (LGPC), also published in the DOF on June 6, 2012, last amended in November 2020 (DOF, 2020b), will be valid until its replacement by the General Law on Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management and Civil Protection, not yet published.
With the above consideration, it is established that the LGPC is of public order and social interest and its purpose is to establish the basis to coordinate and distribute powers in matters of civil protection. It also expresses that the organization and provision of civil protection policy is the responsibility of the Mexican Nation, which shall carry them out under the terms of this Law and its regulations, through the federation, the states and the municipalities, in their respective areas of competence. Emphasis is placed on hydro-meteorological phenomena, defined in the LGPC as disturbing agents produced by the action of atmospheric agents, such as: tropical cyclones; extreme rainfall; rain, river, coastal and lake floods; snow, hail, dust and electricity storms; frost; droughts; warm and cold waves; and tornadoes.
Therefore, the inclusion of the LGPC is a relevant part of our present, since its implementation is relevant in reducing vulnerability at the federal, state and municipal levels. From reading the explanatory statements contained in the LGPC initiative, it can be inferred that global warming was a key consideration in its conception. Consequently, it includes climate change, whose effects translate into disturbances in the balance and productivity of ecosystems, becoming risks or disasters for vast population sectors in conditions of poverty and vulnerability, as some of those located in northwestern Mexico.
In that sense, considering Mexico and particularly the northwestern region, a significant increase of EPE is predicted due to alterations in the so-called North American Monsoon (Peterson et al., 2008; Hoell et al., 2016; Montijo et al., 2020), with more evident changes during September to October, with a possible reduction in the number of events, being these more intense (Kunkel et al., 2008; Arriaga-Ramírez & Cavazos, 2010).
Consequently, in terms of civil protection, risk atlases are necessary at the national, state and municipal levels, and they must be maintained as permanently updated instruments, easily accessible to the population, due to the dynamic nature of the risk itself. Their elaboration must follow the guidelines of the National Center for Disaster Prevention (CENAPRED), which constitute the reference framework for the development of policies and programs in all stages of Comprehensive Risk Management.
Also, the LGPC establishes that in emergency situations, assistance to the population must be a priority function of civil protection, so that the coordinating bodies must act jointly and in an orderly way, and the Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA) and SEMAR will be informed so that they can implement their respective Plans of Assistance to the civil population in case of disasters.
In order to provide relief in case of emergency, it has been proposed that the first authority that has knowledge of the emergency provide immediate assistance, informing the specialized civil protection authorities. The first instance of specialized action falls on the municipal authority or the corresponding territorial demarcation, which must be aware of the emergency. In addition, the municipal civil protection unit will be in charge of monitoring and implementing security measures.
Eventually, the emergency or disaster could exceed the response capacity of the municipality, so the next instance in the hierarchy and even higher federal instances (if necessary), must act following the programs established for this purpose, in the terms of the applicable legal provisions. In risk management actions, priority must be given to vulnerable social groups, with limited financial resources.
General Law on Human Settlements, Land-Use Planning and Urban Development (LGAHOTDU)
The LGAHOTDU was published in the DOF (28/11/2016), but it was recently reformed (DOF, 2021b). This law defines Comprehensive Risk Management as the set of actions aimed at the identification, analysis, evaluation, control and reduction of risks, considering their multi-factorial origin and in a permanent construction process. This involves the three levels of government, as well as different sectors of society, facilitating the implementation of public policies, strategies and procedures that combat the structural causes of disasters and strengthen the resilience or resistance capacities of society. It includes the identification of risks and, where appropriate, the process of risk formation, forecasting, prevention, mitigation, preparedness, relief, recovery and reconstruction.
It also defines resilience as the capacity of a system, community or society, potentially exposed to a disaster, to resist, assimilate, adapt and recover from its effects in the short term and efficiently, through the preservation and restoration of its basic and functional structures, to achieve better future protection and to improve risk reduction measures.
This law expressly and punctually provides legal elements for emergencies, prevention, mitigation, and resilience in the face of risks and the effects of climate change and natural phenomena. It considers strategies and projects for the integral development of metropolitan areas or conurbations, which articulate the different ordinances, plans or programs of social, economic, urban, tourist, environmental and climate change development influencing its territory. Also involves the application of technologies to preserve and restore ecological balance, protect the environment, promote actions for adaptation and mitigation of climate change, reduce costs and improve the quality of urbanization.
Likewise, it establishes the concurrence of the federation, the federative entities and municipalities, for the planning, management and regulation of human settlements in the national territory, since everyone, without distinction, has the right to live and enjoy cities and human settlements in sustainable, healthy, productive, equitable, fair, inclusive and, essentially, safe conditions. Therefore, the LGAHOTDU, links the need to consider the effects of climate change and risk prevention in urban development policies, land use planning and human settlements.
Urban development plans or programs must consider the official Mexican standards issued on that concern, as well as risk atlases, for the definition of land use, destinations and reserves. Authorizations for construction, building and, in general, infrastructure works granted by the Mexican government must be preceded by a risk analysis and, if necessary, mitigation measures for their reduction must be defined. Thus, the activities carried out by the Mexican State in its three levels of government, to organize the territory and human settlements, must be carried out in accordance with the LGAHOTDU, as the Supreme Law of the Nation.
General Law on Integrated Disaster Risk Management and Civil Protection (LGGIRDPC)
Although it has not been published yet in the DOF, the LGGIRDPC was approved in December 2020 and is currently in the process of approval by local congresses, which also implies the adaptation of the corresponding legal frameworks for their harmonization with the new law (Cámara de Diputados, 2020). Once published, it will replace the General Law on Civil Protection (LGPC).
According to information derived from official communications from the Chamber of Deputies (LXIV Legislature), this new law seeks to position Mexico as a preventive country in terms of disasters caused by natural phenomena, following international standards.
Once the current administration considered inoperative and canceled the Emergency Assistance Fund (FONDEN) and the Natural Disaster Prevention Fund (FOPREDEN), the new law seeks to guarantee resources for immediate and timely attention of the population in emergency and/or disaster situations, establishing new rules for the application of the resources assigned to these funds.
At the same time, it seeks to promote a culture of prevention against the impact of natural phenomena, to prevent and reduce risks, and attend to emergencies and disasters of natural origin, granting greater autonomy to state entities, for which there will be efficient financing mechanisms developed to assist in these tasks.
National Risk Atlas
CENAPRED is the national institution dependent on the Ministry of the Interior, in charge of preventing and attending to all-natural disasters in the country and guaranteeing the integrity of people, with the help of other institutions and with the support of a budget allocated for this purpose, although the budget to attend disasters has historically been much larger than that allocated to prevention (Montijo & Ruiz-Luna, 2018).
Knowing, studying and analyzing how, when and where storms, hurricanes and many other natural phenomena will occur allows us to design strategies to adapt the emergency protocols that are carried out before, during and after any catastrophic natural event. Based on this, Risk Atlases, as defined in the LGCC, in the LGPC and even the LGAHOTDU, are dynamic reports whose risk assessments in vulnerable human settlements, regions or geographic areas consider current and future climate scenarios. In addition, they are an information system on disturbing agents and expected damages, resulting from a spatial and temporal analysis of the interaction between hazards, vulnerability and the degree of exposure of the affected agents.
These systems integrate information required for prevention and guidance on geological, hydro-meteorological, geochemical and other phenomena to which a community and its environment are exposed, as well as being a tool for the prevention of danger and risk in a municipality or state, and to guide decision-making in urban development plans and land use management.
In accordance with the Agreement on the minimum content guide for the preparation of the National Risk Atlas, published in the Official Journal of the Federation (DOF, 2016a), CENAPRED disseminates on its official website, the National Risk Atlas, from information generated in CENAPRED itself, the National Seismological Service, the Earth Observation Laboratory (LANOT) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), through monitoring and warnings of natural phenomena that can produce disasters. On this basis, the State Risk Atlases (http://www.atlasnacionalderiesgos.gob.mx/archivo/cob-atlas-estatales.html) are also published, as well as the Municipal Atlases (http://www.atlasnacionalderiesgos.gob.mx/archivo/cob-atlas-municipales.html).
Once the compilation and analysis of the legal framework related to EPE at the federal level has been completed (Figure 1), it is necessary to analyze how it affects at the state and municipal level in the coasts of northwest Mexico: Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora and Sinaloa.
Baja California
The Law on Prevention, Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change for the State of Baja California was published in the Official Journal (POE) on June 1, 2012 and later corrected (POE, 2018). It establishes the bases for institutional coordination among the agencies of the State Government, the Municipalities and the Federal Government in matters of vulnerability, risk, prevention, adaptation and mitigation to climate change. It is a priority to prepare and permanently update the state and municipal risk atlases on climate change, as well as other studies and diagnosis that are considered necessary for compliance with the provisions of the Law itself.
On the other hand, the Law of Civil Protection and Comprehensive Risk Management of the State of Baja California (POE, 2017), is clearly aligned with the LGPC, and so expresses it explicitly. This law provides the basis for the integration, coordination and operation of the State and Municipal Civil Protection Systems. Also for the prevention, mitigation, relief and protection of people, their properties and the environment, as well as the restoration and operation of essential public services and strategic systems in cases of emergency and disaster, caused by geological and hydro-meteorological factors, among others; basically through the State Civil Protection System, as an integral part of the National System, which is articulated with the Municipal System.
Furthermore, the Urban Development Law of the State of Baja California was published in the Official Journal (06/24/1994), but has had reforms and modifications, the last one on 2021 (POE, 2021). Its provisions are consistent and specifically address the provisions of the General Law of Human Settlements, Territorial Ordering and Urban Development of November 28, 2016 (DOF, 2016b).
Unlike other states, Baja California has few municipalities: Tijuana, Mexicali, Tecate (the only non-coastal municipality), Playas de Rosarito and Ensenada, which is the largest and has coastline on both sides of the peninsula. All of these municipalities have published their risk atlases. In addition, the state has a very complete State Civil Protection System, which includes meteorological reports, risk atlases, contingency plans for risks from hydro-meteorological phenomena and other real-time alerts (http://www.proteccioncivilbc.gob.mx/Programas/MonitoreoRiesgos.html).
Baja California Sur
Similarly, Baja California Sur (BCS) is made up of five municipalities: Comondú, Loreto, Mulegé, Los Cabos and La Paz. The last two have a population above 500,000 inhabitants each, which represents about 75 % of the state total, being very vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather events, as has been observed in recent years. Despite this, BCS has not enacted its Climate Change Law.
Instead, the state has other legal instruments such as the Law of Ecological Equilibrium and Environmental Protection of the State of Baja California Sur (30/11/1991), with its latest reform published on 2018, which defines climate change, but does not recommend guidelines for dealing with its effects according to the LGCC (Congreso del Estado de BCS, 2018). It also establishes the concurrence of the state and the municipalities to define the principles of environmental policy and the need to regulate the instruments for its application; to carry out the actions that are necessary to preserve and restore the ecological balance, as well as to protect and improve the environment in relation to the assets and areas subject to state jurisdiction. However, it is not a law applicable to cases of extreme precipitation in the state or its municipalities, all of them coastal, so they are particularly vulnerable to this type of environmental contingencies.
The Urban Development Law for the State of Baja California Sur was published in the Official Journal of the State on July 22, 1994, although its last reform was on September 10, 2018 (BOGE, 2018). It indicates that the attributions in matters of territorial planning and urban development of population centers will be exercised concurrently by the State Executive and the municipal authorities, within the scope of jurisdiction and competence determined by the General Law of Human Settlements, but it does not refer to climate change, nor to the risks that extreme rainfall could cause.
On the other hand, the Law of Civil Protection and Risk Management of the State and Municipalities of Baja California Sur, was published in September 2015, and later reformed in 2017 (BOGE, 2017). It aims to establish the basis for coordination and collaboration with the Federation, with other Federal entities and with the municipalities of the state, as well as agencies and institutions of the public, private, social and academic sectors, to protect and preserve the fundamental possessions such as human life, health, family, heritage, the productive plant and the environment, in matters of civil protection.
It defines the State Civil Protection System as the organic and articulated set of structures, methods, norms, instances, principles, instruments, policies, procedures, services and actions, whose objective is to safeguard the life, physical integrity and health of the population, its goods and its environment, as well as the infrastructure, the productive plant and the environment, before the occurrence of any disturbing agent, as well as in the reduction of disaster risks.
Likewise, it provides that through the State Civil Protection Council, the creation of programs, studies, research, new methods, systems, equipment and devices will be promoted to prevent and control the adverse effects of the occurrence of a disturbing agent.
The municipalities of Baja California Sur, except Loreto, have Risk Atlases, but they are obsolete. Even in May 2020, the State Legislature urged the State Coordination of Civil Protection and the City Councils of Loreto, Comondú, Mulegé, Los Cabos and La Paz, to develop and update their Municipal Risk Atlas, to provide effective civil protection for the population (Congreso del Estado de BCS, 2020).
Sonora
Since the celebration of the United Nations General Conference in 2015 and the recognition of climate change as one of the main challenges of humanity, the State of Sonora considered a necessity the creation of a specific law on climate change, because although the Law of Ecological Equilibrium and Environmental Protection of the State, reformed on 2018 (BOE, 2018a), contains a chapter focused on the prevention and control of air pollution, those provisions have not assumed the framework of competences, objectives, policies and instruments that the LGCC indicates.
Considering the cross-cutting nature of the issue, rather than reforming environmental provisions to adapt them to the issue of climate change and its effects, a specific law was created to address all those provisions that, in the terms of the General Law itself, are linked to the actions of the federal entities, states and municipalities, and are different from those established by the LGEEPA. Thus, on November 27, 2017, the Climate Change Law of the State of Sonora was published (BOE, 2017).
Consequently, on June 11, 2018, the Civil Protection Law for the State of Sonora was also published (BOE, 2018b), envisaging among the various homologations with respect to the LGPC, the organization and creation of operational, logistic and technical capacities. In addition, involved the professionalization of public institutions of the State and its municipalities, to constitute civil protection capacities to deal with natural events, which may generate threat, emergency, incident, disaster and risk, in addition to identifying and implementing actions among the public, social and private sectors to prevent the risk of disasters, to reduce the vulnerability of the population and its assets. Besides this, concepts such as risk atlas, climate change, comprehensive risk management, mitigation, resilience, risk, simulation, vulnerability and disaster zone, among others, are integrated. In this sense, it considers the elaboration, development and updating of the State Risk Atlas, as well as the Municipal Atlases.
Following the regulation of the Special Civil Protection Programs, it is also provided that these must be prepared for the rainy and hurricane season, among others, by the State and Municipal Civil Protection Coordination. Consequently, the municipalities of the State must issue the corresponding regulatory dispositions and install the Municipal Civil Protection Councils. Thus, the State Civil Protection Program 2019-2021 was published in the state official bulletin (BOE, 2019).
On the other hand, the Law of Land Management and Urban Development of the State of Sonora, was published on September 28, 2006, recently amended and published with the Civil Protection Law (BOE, 2018c)
The state of Sonora is made up of 72 municipalities, but only 13 have littoral, and of them only Caborca, Empalme, Guaymas, Hermosillo, Huatabampo, Pitiquito, and Puerto Peñasco have Risk Atlases. The remaining six (San Luis Río Colorado, San Ignacio Río Muerto, Bácum, Cajeme, Benito Juárez, Etchojoa) lack this instrument, at least while the present study was carried out.
Sinaloa
Although enacted in 2013, the most recent amendment to the Environmental Law for Sustainable Development of the State of Sinaloa was published in the official bulletin, being the main element to meet the objectives related to preservation, restoration of ecological balance, environmental protection and sustainable development, but without directly addressing the effects of climate change, including those from EPE in the entity (Congreso del Estado de Sinaloa, 2020a).
This gap was filled with the enactment of the State Law on Climate Change (Congreso del Estado de Sinaloa, 2020b), which aims to "establish clauses to achieve adaptation to climate change and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions".
Likewise, as part of its specific objectives, it contemplates, among others, the regulation of actions for the mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and the reduction of the vulnerability of the state’s population and ecosystems to the adverse effects of climate change to create and strengthen the capacities to respond to the phenomenon.
As the LGCC, this law incorporates terms such as adaptation, climate change, risk, environmental services and vulnerability and within its attributions, is the promotion of social participation in the formulation of state policy on climate change and collaboration with research institutions, national or foreign, for the implementation of projects on climate change, energy efficiency and renewable energies, without explicitly mentioning the risks of hydro-meteorological phenomena.
It should be noted that this law emphasizes ecological land use planning, even at the municipal level, a level at which climate change policies must also be formulated and conducted. Finally, it should be noted that it is in Chapter IV on Adaptation, where the corresponding integral risk management is included, in line with the LGGIRDPC (unpublished), which contemplates the reduction of exposure to hydro-meteorological disasters, "through planning, assurance, soil restoration and rehabilitation of beaches and hydrographic basins, valuing and preserving the regulation services of coastal, forest, mountain and agricultural ecosystems”.
Finally, there is the Law of Land Management and Urban Development of the State of Sinaloa, published in 2018 and recently reformed (Congreso del Estado de Sinaloa, 2020c), which seeks harmonization between planning based on ecological land use planning, respect for human rights and the safety of the inhabitants, incorporating social participation.
The State of Sinaloa is formed by 18 municipalities, 10 of them with a coastline (Ahome, Guasave, Angostura, Navolato, Culiacán, Elota, San Ignacio, Mazatlán, Rosario and Escuinapa), all of them with Risk Atlases, although they lack a uniform format and content.
Conclusions
Firstly, we concluded that there is no legal framework in Mexico that specifically regulates the effects of extreme precipitation, but there is a legal framework that contemplates the effects of climate change, including rainfall, tropical storms, hurricanes and, in general, extreme meteorological phenomena.
At the Federal level, the General Laws dealing with Climate Change, Civil Protection and Human Settlements, are the main legal support to prevent, mitigate and respond to disasters caused by EPE, which are considered unusual phenomena, although they are increasing in frequency and intensity, causing disasters of great magnitude in populations particularly vulnerable to their effects.
Prior to the current federal public administration, the content of these laws legally supported programs and financial instruments such as the National Program against Hydraulic Contingencies (PRONACCH) of the National Water Commission (CNA), the National Civil Protection System (SINEPROC), the Natural Disaster Fund (FONDEN, cancelled on July 28, 2021), and the emergency plans against disasters from the Marine Ministry (SEMAR, 2018) and the National Defense Ministry (SEDENA; https://www.gob.mx/sedena/acciones-y-programas/plan-dn-iii-e), whose purpose is to respond to natural disasters such as those generated by EPE in the country.
These regulations also support the creation of the Climate Change Fund as a trust to attract and distribute public, private, national and international financial resources to support and finance projects aimed, among other goals, to adapt to climate change and mitigate its effects. However, part of these programs and the allocated economic resources have been cancelled or will be modified once the General Law on Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management and Civil Protection (LGGIRDPC) and its respective regulations enter into force.
Considering the current legislation and that which will be published soon, it is established that the legal framework related to EPE at the national level, is very complete, also deriving from commitments acquired at the international level, within the framework of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change. However, at the state and municipal levels, does not happen the same, having detected a significant lag in terms of guidelines to mitigate the effects of EPE (Table 1).
Table 1. Laws and legal instruments related to extreme precipitation events and their effects on socio-ecosystems in the coastal zone in northwest Mexico at the State and Municipal level. Includes date of publication and date of last reform (LR)
| ESTADO (STATE) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baja California | Baja California Sur | Sonora | Sinaloa | |
| Ley Estatal de Cambio Climático (State Law on Climate Change) | Ley de Prevención, Mitigación y Adaptación del Cambio Climático. para el Estado de Baja California 2012 | No identificado (Unidentified) | Ley de Cambio Climático del Estado. 2017 | Ley Estatal de Cambio Climático. 2020 |
| Ley Protección Civil (Civil Protection Law) | Ley de Protección Civil y Gestión Integral de Riesgos del Estado de Baja California. 2017 | Ley de Protección Civil y Gestión de Riesgos para el Estado y Municipios de Baja California Sur 2015 | Ley de Protección Civil para el Estado de Sonora. 2018 | Ley de Protección Civil para el Estado de Sinaloa 2013; LR 2017. |
| Ley de Desarrollo Urbano (Urban Development Law) | Ley de Desarrollo Urbano del Estado de Baja California 1994; LR 2019 | Ley de Desarrollo Urbano para el Estado de Baja California Sur 1994. LR 2018 | Ley de Ordenamiento Territorial y Desarrollo Urbano 2006; UR 2011 | Ley de Ordenamiento Territorial y Desarrollo Urbano del Estado de Sinaloa 2018. UR 2020 |
| Ley de Protección al Ambiente (Environmental Protection Law) | Ley de Protección al Ambiente para el Estado de Baja California. 2001 | Ley del Equilibrio Ecológico y Protección del Ambiente del Estado de Baja California Sur 1991; LR 2018 | Ley del Equilibrio Ecológico y Protección al Ambiente del Estado de Sonora. 2008 | Ley Ambiental para el Desarrollo Sustentable del Estado de Sinaloa 2020 |
| Atlas Estatal de Riesgos (State Risk Atlas) | Atlas de Riesgos del Estado de Baja California. Actualización e Identificación de Peligros. 2014 | No identificado (unidentified) | No identificado el documento oficial | Atlas Estatal de Riesgos (undetermined.) |
| Total de Municipios costeros CM (Total Coastal municipalities CM) | 4 | 5 | 13 | 10 |
| CM con Atlas de riesgo. Periodo de publicación (CM with Risk Atlas. Publication period) | 4 (2000 -2015) | 4 (2011 - 2013). | 6 (2011 - 2013) | 10 (2011 - 2020) |
The most evident case is in BCS, where there is no State Law on Climate Change, which is a very relevant legal gap that is not filled with civil protection or urban development laws, which are also not up to date. In the case of Sinaloa, this lack was recently amended with the enactment of the Climate Change Law for the state in 2020 (Congreso del Estado de Sinaloa, 2020b).
On the other hand, Sonora has a Climate Change Law, but it requires the updating of other laws and legal instruments to confront the effects of global warming, its consequences on the climate and its impact on the population. In this sense, the State of Baja California is the federal entity that has the most complete legal framework related to extreme phenomena associated with climate change. Its laws on civil protection, human settlements, and climate change are in line with the guidelines of the general laws that regulate these issues, and are already in force.
Regarding the issue of risk atlases at the state and municipal levels, the absence or obsolescence of these instruments stands out, when they should be continuously updated. Although CENAPRED generated a guide for their elaboration (DOF, 2016b), its guidelines have not always been followed, sometimes developing very extensive documents, with high technical complexity, impractical, with information that is neither updated nor easily accessible to the population.
It should be noted that, with Mexico's ratification of the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL, 2021)
, known as the "Escazú Agreement", which entered into force on April 22, 2021, the country is obliged to guarantee access to environmental information, public participation in decision-making processes and access to justice in environmental matters. Therefore, it is required that the information related to EPE be accessible in a clear way and in real-time, for prevention purposes, which is possible thanks to the current technological media, which allow communication with great precision, ease of handling and low cost.
As an example of proactivity, BC has a Contingency Plan for Hydro-meteorological Risks (Gobierno del Estado de Baja California, 2016), which describes the generalized actions to be followed in the event of a major emergency or disaster. Its municipalities have Civil Protection offices, which have their own protocols and contingency plans for hydro-meteorological risks, acting as the first level of response to any emergency in their respective municipality. Additionally, the State Civil Protection System publishes an interactive system on its website, which includes real-time meteorological information, alert status, warnings and notices, and municipal risk atlases with clear and schematic information, so that the population is aware of what to do, at the community level and even at the family and personal level. This is probably the correct way to present a civil protection plan, incorporating the guidelines of our Supreme Law, in the face of extreme meteorological phenomena.
It is evident that there are legal bases and they are vast, being part of the first-order human rights (right to life, health and welfare) protected by the Federal Constitution, as well as various international instruments signed by Mexico. Therefore, it is essential to keep the legislation up-to-date and take actions at the municipal level to reduce backlog and observe this essential social responsibility, which is also a commitment adopted in the Paris Agreement.
Having an up-to-date environmental legal framework at the state level is of utmost importance, not only for the northwestern states of Mexico, but in general, as it will allow the implementation of civil protection programs and plans at the municipal level, considering population density, economic activities, urban infrastructure and climate, among other aspects.
A solid legal framework on extreme precipitation phenomena and other predictable environmental risks, unlike earthquakes and fires, will be useless if it is not translated into timely warning systems for the population, so it is essential to update, simplify and disseminate regulations and contingency plans at the local level, particularly for coastal municipalities, without seeking to make them definitive, but rather dynamic and perfectible.
