Mexican Government Cites Ecological Dangers of Border Wall
by Eliza Barclay, Washington, D.C. 
on 11.19.07
The wall the U.S. government is building on the border with Mexico could cause floods, the disappearance of 11 animal species with the interruption of their migration routes, and the fragmentation of flora and fauna populations, according to a new study by the Mexican Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat. The study, entitled "A Barrier to Our Shared Environment: The Border Wall between Mexico and the United States" was released Friday in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and was conducted by 56 Mexican and U.S. experts.
Mexico's top environmental official, Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada, noted that the wall, built to prevent Mexican immigrants from entering US territory, is an environmental threat to the region's deserts, mountains, rivers, swamps and marches, whose biodiversity is very rich.
"We must bear in mind that biodiversity does not belong to the Mexicans or the Americans, because it belongs to the entire world," Elvira Quesada noted.
The report's authors have suggested that the U.S. government look for alternatives to the wall, including less intrusive fencing materials that allow better drainage and the passage of animals. They also recommended that the government use smaller machines and vehicles in the construction process to reduce environmental impact.
:: Via La Jornada (Spanish link)
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There should be an unwritten rule that a public official or organization can't criticize a solution (however bad it is) without offering a counter solution.
Illegal immigration probably rates higher on most peoples ideas of problems than the environment unfortunately, and unless both governments are willing to fix the problem drastic measures will probably be taken.
I live in southern AZ.
My respnse to this and other claims of similar ilk is...HOGWASH!!!
The Border Patrol reports that 2 million illegals trek across the AZ-MEX border every year. They are so common that you can go on a hiking trail and still see twice as many illegals as hikers.
yet, the majority move only at night and are not seen by routine observation.
They toss 100s of tons (no exaggeration) of litter, garbage and feces in washes and pathways. They disrupt feeding and breeding ot the local wild-life and birdlife.
The animals they list as being under threat are owls and bats (that fly over mountains and cliffs) and the jaguar. There are no jaguars that live in AZ. There have 4 (yes, only 4) lone males that have been covertly photographed in over 10 years. These males are transients, not residents. The leading world experts in the jaguar readily agree that there are no females, no breeding and no reason for a male to stay in AZ except for intermittent hunting trips.
meanwhile, Organ Pipe Cactus Nat'l Park has severely limited access to tthe public after one of their rangers was murdered by drugrunners (which are rampant) and landowners live under constant fear of ongoing criminal activiity by illegal immigrants.
If you care about the environment, the safety of residents of southern AZ, the health of the Nat'l parks, sky island biotic communities and grasslands of this beautiful piece of the earth, you will be in favor of a fence.
To be honest, this looks like a convenient excuse for a hidden agenda to oppose the wall. I do believe any barrier should take environmental factors into consideration, but Mexico seems to turn a blind eye to a lot of other extremely serious environmental problems, to the extent that I have a hard time taking Mexico seriously when they fixate on this particular issue. Has anyone here seen the air in Mexico City? Feigning green to keep open a channel for invasive illegal immigration is not right. The solution to Mexico's problems are not having huge numbers of Mexican diaspora in the US sending money home; that just creates a bad dependency of Mexico on money being sent home from abroad, and the US on a de facto state of constant infringement on the law for affordable labor. That is neither good for the US nor for Mexico.
I would rather that our manufacturing labor needs be met by Mexico than by China; that would reduce the carbon footprint of having to ship manufactured goods over from China. But in any case, I made my point; I have a hard time taking their concern for the environment seriously.
Hi All,
"Animals do not discriminate places,nations or geo graphical boundaries set by human rules.It is not known to them".
Even though there is political significance in the wall built in the border between these nations ,this obviously may have an impact in the animals .
I have seen elephants,monkeys,deers etc confronting with human territory where it was a passage,feeding ground,breeding place etc for them for millions of years.
Encrouchments happen in mostly eco sensitive areas and will seriously effect the poor animals.
Better solution for the border wall problem is to see that it block human not animals which are out of our rules .Let them live peacefully.
The whole security versus the environment argument is completely false, becasue the border wall does not work. In San Diego apprehensions increased by 7% in fiscal 2007. San Diego was the first part of the border to get “triple fencing”. It consists of a primary fence made of steel slabs and a secondary steel mesh fence. Between the two there is a cleared area of 100 feet with a graded patrol road and light and camera towers. The Border Patrol began construction of this stretch of border wall in 1996, and it currently runs inland from the Pacific Ocean for 14 miles.
In Del Rio, Texas, where there has never been a border wall, apprehensions dropped 45% in 2007. In the Rio Grande Valley, which is going to have 70 miles of border wall tear through wildlife refuges and private homes alike, apprehensions dropped 34% in 2007.
So where there is a wall crossings are increasing. Where there has never been a wall crossings are decreasing. How exactly is the wall supposed to protect us?
Secretary Chertoff said, "I have to say to myself, 'Yes, I don't want to disturb the habitat of a lizard, but am I prepared to pay human lives to do that?'” This dilemma is completely false. More than just the habitat of a lizard, federally endangered species such as the jaguar have been recorded in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area in recent years. And as for human lives, the border walls built to date have not saved lives; instead, they have cost lives. No terrorist has been apprehended attempting to cross our southern border, and a wall would not stop them if they tried. The Border Patrol has repeatedly stated that border walls only slow crossers down by a few minutes. In its June 5, 2007 report Border Security: Barriers Along the U.S. International Border the Congressional Research Service stated, “The primary fence, by itself, did not have a discernible impact on the influx of unauthorized aliens coming across the border in San Diego.” The only measurable impact that the border walls have had is in the number of people who have died in the desert. In August of 2005 the General Accounting Office issued a report titled Illegal Immigration: Border Crossing Deaths have Doubled Since 1995. Walls do not stop crossers, they redirect them into ever more remote parts of the desert where hundreds die of exposure and dehydration every year. When Chertoff asks himself whether he is “prepared to pay human lives,” he has his answer in the GAO report.