Developing Effective Indicators of Environmental Compliance and Enforcement in Mexico

Countries around the world have recognized the challenges they face in designing a compliance and enforcement indicators system. There has been a recognition that it is easier to measure program and policy impact by assessing the number of inspections or violations, but more difficult to have in place a system that will measure long-term achievements of environmental results. In addition, there has been a demand for accountability and the provision of reliable and understandable information to the public. This has led the need to develop meaningful compliance and enforcement indicators that can meet these demands.

Goals
To develop and enhance indicators to better measure and manage compliance and enforcement programs in Mexico, and to develop uniform minimum criteria with a view toward improving performance, public policy decisions, and environmental governance at the national level.

The program focuses on: strengthening capacity for performance assessment of environmental compliance and enforcement activities; establishing procedures for developing and using quantitative and qualitative indicators; promoting environmental compliance and enforcement indicators to aid reporting on progress towards sustainable development.

Pilot project workshop, Mexico City, July 20-22, 2004
The Pilot project workshop addressed key constraints and issues related to environmental compliance and enforcement indicators was dicussed. Mexico has made real strides on indicators of environmental compliance and enforcement, including practical applications, revisions and improvements but, at present, the program of ICNs (indicators of compliance with environmental legislation) is not widely used. There are on-going discussions to update the ICNAs program, and this meeting was seen as a timely opportunity to encourage the need to reactivate the ICNAs or a similar system.

Partners
Office of the Federal Prosecutor for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA), the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), and Centro Interdisciplinario de Biodiversidad y Ambiente (CeIBA).