The Mexican-U.S. Border Environmental Plan

Abstract

Pursuant to a directive from Presidents Salinas and Bush, SEDUE and EPA, the Mexican and U.S. environmental agencies, agreed on February 25, 1992, on the first stage (1992-94) of their plan to clean up the U.S.-Mexico border area. This is the most comprehensive border environment cooperation program ever concluded between two countries. The plan marks the first such extensive environmental collaboration between a developed and a developing country. The two governments will invest over $1 billion under the plan during its first three years, much of it through their binational water sanitation agency, the International Boundary and Water Commission. The Border Plan is a unique example of a cooperative, informal and flexible binational framework in which EPA and SEDUE provide the structure, signals, and core financing that will guide their border states and private sectors toward solutionof persistentand trou blesome environ men tal problems.