In 2012, the Mexican federal government agency, the National Commission for Protected Nature Areas (CONANP) and the Guerrero state Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources initiated the legal process to establish a Biosphere Reserve in La Montaña region of Guerrero. This involved quietly trying to convince some communities in the Alta Montaña region to acceptContinue reading “2012-2013 Decree to establish La Montaña Biosphere Reserve, and regional mobilization of indigenous communities against the initiative”
Subsoil Key Actors Category Archives
1992 Mexican Mining Law
The 1992 Mining Law and subsequent reforms established the legal framework to facilitate foreign capital investment in the exploration and exploitation of the nation’s mineral resources. Article 6 states that “the exploitation, exploration and benefit of the minerals […] are of public utility” and as such “will have precedence over any other use or exploitationContinue reading “1992 Mexican Mining Law”
1992 Mexican Agrarian Law
The 1992 Agrarian Law regulated the constitutional reforms of the same year, creating the agrarian courts and prosecutor to handle land disputes and reforming the Agrarian Land Registry. It maintained the ejido and agrarian community as legal entities alongside extended forms for private involvement in the rural economy. Above all, it established the right ofContinue reading “1992 Mexican Agrarian Law”
2011 Constitutional reforms in relation to human rights treaties
In 2011, after many years of campaigns for clearer constitutional protection of international human rights norms, reforms to Article 1 of the Constitution were enacted. These recognised the constitutional status of international human rights treaties and required laws relating to human rights to be interpreted in conformity with the constitution and human rights treaties, applyingContinue reading “2011 Constitutional reforms in relation to human rights treaties”
1992-2001 Constitutional Reforms to recognise Mexico’s pluricultural identity and Indigenous rights
There has been a long struggle for the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples in Mexico. An important achievement of this movement was the 1991 ratification by the Mexican government of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention 169 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). In 1992, article 4 of the Constitution was reformed toContinue reading “1992-2001 Constitutional Reforms to recognise Mexico’s pluricultural identity and Indigenous rights”
1992 Reform of Article 27 of Mexican Constitution
Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution establishes all land within the country’s borders as originally belonging to the nation, which grants rights of possession in the form of property. The nation maintains the right to impose forms of private ownership on the basis of public interest, and to regulate the exploitation of natural resources forContinue reading “1992 Reform of Article 27 of Mexican Constitution”
2012-2013 Creation and reconfiguration of Montaña de Botaderos National Park
On 8 October 2012, the Honduran Congress passed a law (Legislative Decree 127-2012) creating the Montaña de Botaderos National Park to protect local biodiversity and ecosystems and as part of commitments to maintain the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (in 2017, the park was renamed Montaña de Botaderos Carlos Escaleras National Park, after a murdered environmental activist).Continue reading “2012-2013 Creation and reconfiguration of Montaña de Botaderos National Park”
1998-2013 Honduran Mining Laws [ASP1 and ASP2]
In 2013, the Honduran Government, led by President Porfirio Lobo Sosa of the National Party of Honduras (PNH), enacted a new General Mining Law (the “2013 Mining Law”). This law revoked the 1998 Mining Law and lifted a moratorium on new mining concessions. The drafting of the 2013 Mining Law involved input from experts assignedContinue reading “1998-2013 Honduran Mining Laws [ASP1 and ASP2]”
2006- Popular Law Drafting and Legislative Activities on the Right to Water
In El Salvador, the right to water and legislative initiatives protecting that right are closely linked to the socio-environmental and political struggle around metallic mining. For instance, in 2006 (the same year that a popular draft law to ban metallic mining was first proposed), a General Water Law was drafted by a group of aboutContinue reading “2006- Popular Law Drafting and Legislative Activities on the Right to Water”
2006 De facto Moratorium on Mining imposed by successive Salvadoran governments
In 2006, the Salvadoran government, led by the traditionally business-friendly party, Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) imposed a “de facto” moratorium on all mineral-related concessions in El Salvador. While not expressed in any formal document or policy, the moratorium was implicit in the fact that the government never granted Pacific Rim Mining Corporation an exploitation concessionContinue reading “2006 De facto Moratorium on Mining imposed by successive Salvadoran governments”
