WSP12647 ‎(2)‎

• File Number: 8282.400
• Description: Colorado River Operations and Accounting - Deliveries to Mexico
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 6/1/1999
• Author: Environmental Defense Fund
• Title: A Delta Once More - Restoring Riparian and Wetland Habitat in the Colorado River Delta - Environmental Defense Fund - 06-01-99
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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Wildlife (Defenders), Conservation International (CI),
the Nature Conservancy (TNC), the Southwest Center
for Biodiversity, and others. In Mexico, the Intercultural
Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans (CEDO),
plays a key role in creating local awareness of the delta
by publishing a bilingual newsletter on the science and
policy issues affecting the delta. CEDO also serves as a
center for research and instruction in delta ecology. The
largest nongovernmental organization in Mexico with
an interest in nature conservation is PRONA TURA. The
local chapter, PRONATURA Sonora, has, in collabora-
tion with EDF, hosted a number of outreach workshops,
providing delta communities with access to information
on the delta (see Appendh q. Mexican NGO's are
particularly important to delta conservation efforts as
they are uniquely equipped to conduct public outreach
in delta communities.

Of note, two university-based research centers have been
the source of important studies that document current
delta conditions, including the data in this report.
Faculty at the Environmental Research Laboratory (ERL)
at the University of Arizona and at the Instituto
Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey
(ITESM) have made appreciable efforts to increase
the body of knowledge concerning delta ecosystems,
economies, and communities. Governments and
nongovernmental organizations alike depend on the
work of these individuals and institutions to provide
credible, scientific data.

Other Organizations and Authorities

Several special designations focus attention on the delta,
in addition to the Biosphere Reserve. In 1992, the
Colorado River delta was recognized as part of the West-
ern Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. In 1996,
it was designated as a Ramsar site, and Mexico agreed
to make conservation and wise use of the wetlands the
primary strategy of any management and restoration
plan to be applied to the delta. The Tripartite
Agreement on the Conservation of Migratory Birds and
Their Habitats51 and the North American Waterfowl
Conservation Act encourage conservation and sustain-
able development of the wetlands (Valdes-Casillas
et aI., 1998a).

ENVlRONTvlENTAL DEfENSE FUND

Several initiatives that could impact preservation of the
delta are new or newly proposed.52 In 1997, the U.s.
Department of the Interior and SEMARNAP signed a
letter of intent for joint work in natural protected areas
near the border, with special priority given to the
Sonoran Desert (Babbitt and Carabias, 1997). Also in
1997, the Biosphere Reserve, through INE, proposed the
Binational Program for the Sustainable Use of Water in
the Lower Colorado River (PUSARC). PUSARC would
require the Mexican federal government to establish a
permanent minimum flow for la Cienega de Santa Clara
and a minimum flow for the delta and to the sea
(Valdes-Casillas, 1998a). Others have discussed new
management regimes for the river that include water
marketing, the transfer of US. federal services on the
river to regional authorities, and the elevation of
ecosystem preservation as a priority in the management
of the Colorado River (MacDonnell and Driver, 1996).

Legal Mechanisms

There may be opportunities to address delta preserva-
tion needs through the US. legal system. Under the
Endangered Species Act, U.s. federal agencies may not
take actions that harm endangered species. There is
nothing in the Act that discounts harm to species that
occurs across an international boundary. 53 The National
Environmental Policy Act (NEP A) requires US. federal
agencies to consider the environmental impacts of their
actions. In 1997, the Council on Environmental Quality
issued a memo directing all U.s. federal agencies to
consider the environmental impacts of their actions,
regardless of where those impacts might occur
(McGinty, 1997), although this memo appears not to
have changed agency management practices.

Mexican law offers fewer possibilities. The Mexican
Constitution includes the Colorado River in the defini-
tion of national waters (Constitution Politica de los
Estados Unidas Mexicanos, art. 27), but sets no policy
for instream flows. However, the National Water Law
(of 1992) clearly gives CNA authority over such waters,
and the regulations (of 1994) that implement the law
provide for the use of national waters for ecological
conservation purposes (Ley de Aguas Nacionales, su
Reglamento y Ley Federal del Mar). The General Law

51 The Tripartite Agreement is signed by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.
52 In 1996, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, SEMARNAp, and the Canadian Wildlife Service signed the Cooperative Agreement on the Conservation and
Management of Wildlife Ecosystems (Valdes-Casillas et aI., 1998a).
53 The Supreme Court heard a case on this subject, but it declined to rule on the matter (Defenders of Wildlife v. Hodel, 1990).

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