Author: Latinxs and the Environment

Coordinator: Adrian Fernandez Bremauntz, Director, Mexico Climate Initiative

Description: Mexico and California have established several mechanisms of cooperation on clean energy and environment at the national and subnational levels. Leveraging this framework to advance new strategic collaborations on areas such as energy efficiency, electromobility, water energy and clean-energy grid integration is a timely exercise, in light of the need to advance sustainable development practices on both sides of the common border and achieve a low-carbon future. Relevant questions to frame the discussion in this session include:

• What is the best way to harness California’s advanced clean energy policy and technology platform in support of Mexico’ sustainable development strategies?
• What areas of work in the California -Mexico clean energy agenda present the best opportunity to establish impactful collaborations in the short, medium and long term?
• What is the best way to engage the private sector in California and Mexico to encourage their participation in supporting clean energy R&D?
• What strategies must be followed to create a model of clean energy collaboration that could be supported by international organizations and foundations?  
• What are the elements that need to be considered in the development of a California-Mexico clean energy plan for the border region?

Panel members:

Odón de Buen Rodríguez

Director General

Comisión Nacional para el Uso Eficiente de la Energía (CONUEE)

Andrew McAllister

Commissioner

California Energy Commission

Michael McNeil

Director 

Mexico Energy Initiative 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

U.S. Coordinator: Michael Wehner, Senior Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

México Coordinator: Tereza Cavazos, Researcher, Department of Physical Oceanography. Center of Scientific Research and Higher Education of Ensenada (CICESE).

Description: Climate change is the overriding environmental challenge of our time. Given the socio-economic impacts of climate change, it is imperative that we develop effective adaptation strategies to minimize its impact. Efficient adaptation strategies to climate change require engagement of all sectors of society. Mexico and California share climate change impacts not only because of the large border region and ocean between them, but also because climate change related extreme events such as droughts, heat waves, coastal storms, and floods are likely to increase in intensity and number in both regions. In this session, the following questions will be discussed:

Which threats from climate change are shared by Mexico and California?

• Physical systems
  • Water (continental and ocean)
  • Drought (meteorological and agricultural)
  • Heat waves
  • Tropical cyclones
  • Other topics
• Human systems
  • Food security
  • Human health
  • Tropical and winter storm damage
• What specific research areas of climate change science and adaptation can Mexico and California engage in immediately?
• What physical and social science research opportunities and capabilities can be developed between Mexico and California?
• What are the barriers (or gaps) to cooperation in developing effective engagement in the climate change sciences between Mexico and California?
• What common resources are available that can inform adaptation strategies and policies across borders?

U.S. Coordinator: Prof. Dan Sumner. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. University of California, Davis.

Mexico Coordinator: Armando Sanchez, Director of the Institute for Economic Research, UNAM

Description: For Mexico and California the agricultural sector is of key importance. California is the leading agricultural state, in terms of value, of the United States, while in Mexico the agricultural sector is an important component of Mexico’s GDP and plays an important role in terms of Mexico’s food security. Climate change poses a challenge for the agricultural sector of both Mexico and California as the number and intensity of droughts and heat waves is likely to increase. Climate change impacts are likely to reflect on agricultural production and environmental outcomes such as labor health, ecosystem integrity, and others. Agricultural production is no longer viewed an isolated process, instead, agricultural and environmental outcomes are now considered related and impacting society’s wellbeing in unison.

While the challenges imposed by climate change and its socioeconomic and environmental consequences are significant, they also provide opportunities where collaboration between policy makers, researchers and other stakeholders bring about positive socio-economic outcomes. Some of the questions to consider in this session are:

• What are the roles of technological innovation and adoption in improving the agricultural sectors in Mexico and California?
• Are there opportunities of collaboration in developing agricultural technological improvements that benefit both Mexico and California?
• Can we envision a framework for Mexico and California where agricultural production and related positive environmental outcomes are viewed as complements instead of competing activities? If so, how do we move towards this approach?
• Can the private sector in both Mexico and California contribute with academia and the public sector in developing a common agricultural agenda?

U.S. Coordinators: Mark Schenker, Professor, University of California, Davis and Dr. Xochitl Castaneda, Program Director, The Health Initiative of the Americas, University of California, Berkeley

México Coordinator: Dr. Horacio Riojas, Director, National Institute for Public Health

Description: Climate change is expected to dramatically increase as a cause of global migration in the 21 st century. The impacts of climate change on the health of migrants are experienced in the countries of origin, in the transit and in countries of destination. This is particularly of significance because of the large number of individuals who migrate between Mexico and California and the influence of climate on the health of individuals moving between the two countries. Climate change also impacts the health of migrants from Latin America transiting across Mexico. Immigrants are particularly vulnerable to climate-related health risks because of several social determinants increasing the risk in this population. Outdoor workers in California and Mexico are largely an immigrant population and are at increased risk of climate change-related adverse health effects.

• What are the climate—related health risks of migrants moving between Mexico and California?
• What specific interventions are possible to reduce the risk of climate-related illness among migrants in the country of origin, in the transit and in the country of destination?
• What interventions (education, regulation) are possible to reduce the risk of heat-related illness among outdoor workers in Mexico and California?
• What are potential avenues of common effort that can be implemented to reduce the climate-related health risks of climate change among workers and residents in Mexico and California?
• What institutions in California and Mexico should be involved in efforts to reduce the health risks of climate-related impacts?