Juárez, Ciudad Juárez (FUA), Mexico
City population: 2539946
Duration: in planning stage – unknown
Implementation status: In planning stage
Scale: Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level
Project area: 1578900 m2
Type of area: Public Greenspace Area, Mixed-use development (combination of residential, commercial, and/or industrial)
Last updated: September 2024

“El Chamizal is a site of significant sociocultural importance and a key part of the identity of the people of Juarez. It is frequently visited by over 200,000 people seeking a space for recreation and enjoyment.” Located along the Rio Bravo/Grande river, El Chamizal is a park and a riparian area (Ref 2). Despite its popularity, the park has been suffering three decades of irregular management by the Municipal Government of Juárez and is facing issues such as accelerated desertification, soil degradation, and biodiversity loss. (Ref.2) To counteract some of these challenges, in February 2024, the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) and the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (Conanp) designated El Chamizal Park, spanning 327 hectares, as a Zone of Ecological Restoration (ZER) (Ref 1). The restoration plan involves dividing the park into four distinct zones, each with specific recovery actions (Ref 1; 2). Zone A, covering 107.3 hectares, is designated as a conservation area where reforestation with native species must commence. Zone B, which spans 47.8 hectares, also requires reforestation with native plants. Zone C, encompassing 12.7 hectares, consists of flooded or floodable plains that must remain in their current state. However, the surrounding ecosystem in this zone needs restoration with native aquatic plants to aid in stormwater purification. Zone D, at 159.8 hectares, contains existing infrastructure—such as buildings, installations, and communications—that must remain unchanged (Ref 3, p. 96). The project proposal is still awaiting implementation.

Entrance to the Park
Entrance to the Park
Retrieved from: https://yociudadano.com.mx/cruceros-de-juarez-en-top-nacional-de-siniestros-viales/

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Blue infrastructure
  • Rivers/streams/canals/estuaries
  • In-land wetlands, peatlands, swamps, and moors
  • Parks and urban forests
  • Large urban parks or forests

Key challenges

  • Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
  • Climate change adaptation
  • Climate change mitigation
  • Environmental quality
  • Air quality improvement
  • Soil quality improvement
  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Habitat and biodiversity restoration
  • Water management (SDG 6)
  • Flood protection
  • Improvements to water quality
  • Water security
  • Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
  • Preservation of natural heritage
  • Health and well-being (SDG 3)
  • Creation of opportunities for recreation
  • Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
  • Sense of community and community engagement

Principal problems in Functional Urban Area (FUA)

  • Climate-Related Hazards
  • Urban flooding (stormwater)
  • Drought
  • Heat stress & Extreme temperatures
  • Environmental Degradation
  • Biodiversity loss
  • Deforestation and forest degradation
  • Soil degradation and loss
  • Physical water retention and availability
  • Desertification
  • Health, Well-being and Social cohesion
  • Inadequate access to recreational opportunities

Key priorities

Climate action (adaptation and/or mitigation), Biodiversity (conservation and/or restoration)

Focus

Maintenance and management of urban nature, Maintenance or upgrade of exisiting green spaces (e.g. parks), Management and improved protection of rivers and other blue areas, Restoration, protecion and sustainable manage floodplains, Restoration of riparian vegetation, Ecological restoration of ecosystems, Soil remediation and revegetation, Remediation activities of sites with very poor environmental quality, Protection of natural ecosystems, Habitat restoration, Habitat conservation

Project objectives

The main objectives of the intervention: - Biodiversity conservation: recover degraded soils, clear invasive alien species, reintroduce native elements and increase vegetation cover to restore native, riparian ecosystems that harbour valued, endemic or endangered species (Zone A, B, C). - Restore the ecological function: upgrade the ecological function to enhance the ecosystem services delivered (air quality, pollination, temperature regulation, carbon sequestration, quality green space area for recreation, mitigating riverbank erosion, mitigating desertification, increasing water retention) (Zone A, B, C). - Adress water stress: maintain or increase wetland habitat to enhance the ability to retain and purify water (Zone C). - Public engagement: engaging with local communities and landowners in the conservation efforts (all zones). - At least discouraging the expansion of urban infrastructure in Zone D. - Cultural function: restoring a site of shared heritage and identity i.e. of historical and cultural relevance to border communities (Ref 3)

Implementation activities

1) To elaborate the technical report justifying the ZER: a) Office work to identify the land use, potential stressors, vegetation type, species of Chamizal. Creation of maps incorporating high-resolution satellite image. b) Field work to verify the types of vegetation and floristic composition present in the proposed ZRE. Field trips were carried out in teams made up of specialists and local personnel. Drones were used in inaccessible locations. c) The data was then processed, analysised or mapped. 2) The workgroup dafted a document which makes a proposal of 14 actions of ecosystem restoration or conservation and 7 activities that should be avoided or prohibited in El Chamizal (including prohibiting the construction or expansion of urban infrastructure) (Ref 3). 3) The document was put up to public consulation (Ref 1), from May 20 to June 18, 2024 (Ref 4). “This document is not complete, it is a document like all of which are available and reviewed, with information or knowledge that we have of the territory -to be enriched - and we still must ensure that all voices are heard” [...], "in the initial stage”. 4) The next stage will be to compile the feedback and draft an Ecological Restoration Program/Plan (PRE), a draft decree that will be confirmed by the relevant authorities (Ref 4).

Climate-focused activities

Climate change adaptation:

  • Increase urban vegetation cover to reduce urban heat island effect
  • Implement sustainable urban drainage schemes to manage stormwater

Climate change mitigation:

  • Increase the availability of green urban space for carbon storage (street tree cover)
Communities vulnerable to environmental hazards or climate change impacts
Yes

Specification of climate or environmentally vulnerable communities

Low-income neighborhoods, Communities located in floodplains

Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities

Biodiversity restoration:

  • Restore species (native, endangered, or unspecified)
  • Restore native species
  • Restore valued species
  • Restore endangered species
  • Clear and control invasive alien species

Main beneficiaries

  • Citizens or community groups

Governance

Management set-up

  • Government-led

Type of initiating organisation

  • National government

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
  • Taskforce groups
  • Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The Federal Government spearheads the initiative through Semarnat (Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources) and Conanp (National Commission of Protected Natural Areas) (Ref 1; Ref 3). These bodies will need to reach agreements with the municipality once the project is started (Ref 4). So far there have been consultations with five social organizations, independent specialists (academics, biologists, agronomists), and individuals interested in environmental conservation in Juárez (Ref 1). The community engagement was presented as an explicit desire to make a plan developed '"by everyone” in a collective manner.' (Ref.1)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Yes (Ref 1 explains that in the introduction of the document that declared to El Chamizal as a ZER, the authors mention aligning with "the United Nations's decade on ecosystem restauration (2021-2030).")
... a national policy or strategy? Yes (Ref 3 mentions articles of federal law to justify the legal basis for the creation of the ZER: "Article 67 of the Regulations of the General Law on Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection in the Matter of Protected Natural Areas" (98), arguing that the degradation of the ecosystem forces the Federal level to intervene.)
... a local policy or strategy? Unknown

Type of enablers

Unknown

Financing

Total cost

Unknown

Source(s) of funding

  • Unknown

Type of funding

  • Unknown

Non-financial contribution

Unknown

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Climate change
  • Lowered local temperature
  • Expected lowered local temperature
  • Enhanced carbon sequestration
  • Expected enhanced carbon sequestration
  • Environmental quality
  • Improved soil quality
  • Expected improved soil quality
  • Water management and blue areas
  • Reduced risk of damages by drought
  • Expected reduced risk of damages by drought
  • Green space and habitat
  • Increased green space area
  • Expected increased green space area
  • Increased protection of threatened species
  • Expected increased protection of threatened species
  • Improved prevention or control of invasive alien species
  • Expected improved prevention or control of invasive alien species
  • Enhanced support of pollination
  • Expected enhanced support of pollination

Economic impacts

  • Unknown

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Cultural heritage and sense of place
  • Increased sense of place identity, memory and belonging
  • Expected increased sense of place identity, memory and belonging

Type of reported impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Unknown

Presence of indicators used in reporting

No evidence in public records

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No evidence in public records

Potential risks of implementation and trade-offs

Unknown

References

1.
Ahumada, D. (2024). Dialogan sobre la preservación de El Chamizal. Juarez: netnoticias.mx, Accessed on August 20, 2024, [Source link];
2.
Zonafree.mx (2024). El rescate de El Chamizal. Zonafree.mx, Accessed on August 20, 2024, [Source link];
3.
Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (2024). Estudio técnico justificativo para el establecimiento de la Zona de Restauración Ecológica El Chamiza. omisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas, Accessed on August 20, 2024, [Source link];
4.
La Verdad Juarez (2024). El Chamizal: de parque a zona de restauración ecológica. YoCiudadano, Accessed on August 20, 2024, [Source link];
naturescapes bannerInformation about this nature-based solution was collected as part of the Naturescapes project funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No 101084341.