The state of the environment in Mexico |
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| Authors: | Manuel Bollo Manent José Ramón Hernández Santana Ana Patricia Méndez Linares |
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| Institution: | 1. Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Antigua carretera a Pátzcuaro 8701, Exhacienda de San José de la Huerta, C. P. 58190, Morelia, Michoacán, México
2. Instituto de Geografía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Circuito Exterior s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, C. P. 04510, Toluca, México D. F.
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| Abstract: | The present work evaluates the state of the environment in Mexico based on indicators of the present status of the country’s natural resource management, social and economical conditions and anthropogenic modifications. The Mexican environment is interpreted as a spatially open system having a historical character that is essentially determined by the continual interaction between nature, society and economy. The landscape approach is followed, considering as units of territorial analysis each one of the 145 biophysical environmental units included in the national physiographic regionalization. The assessment of 16 indicators for each biophysical environmental unit was made considering their regional environmental integrity problems, the degree of disarticulation of their structure and function, and the alteration of their territorial structure, all of which determine whether or not they accomplish their environmental functions and achieve environmental stability. The classification of the state of the environment included 5 categories in 8 combinations represented in the map of the state of the environment in Mexico for the year 2008. The map shows that nearly 47.10% of the country’s surface has an environmental status ranging between unstable and critical, the problematic areas being mostly concentrated in the southeast and center of the national territory. |
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