Foreign Policy -The most populous city in North America has only one living river not confined to underground pipes: the fragile Río Magdalena. The forest ecosystem that nurtures it is the same one that supports the majority of Mexico City's water sources. Though the Magdalena feeds into the water grid, it turns from clear to sludgy shortly after it makes contact with the periphery of the city. The river becomes a "disgusting sewer," says photographer Luc Forsyth, as soon as it hits the urban sprawl.
San Diego Union-Tribune – Driven by unrelenting demand in China and Hong Kong for the swim bladder of the giant totoaba fish, illegal fishing has remained rampant in Mexico's upper Gulf, despite the government's unprecedented push to ban gillnets from the region.
CBS – There's a new spider in town: specifically, a large, cave-dwelling one found in the mountains of Baja California Sur, Mexico. The spider was first spotted on a research expedition back in 2013 in La Paz, Baja California. It took four years, but scientists have formally confirmed that this spider is not only a new species, but belongs to a genus never seen before. The discovery was published in the March issue of the journal Zootaxa.
Phys Org – In a bid to save the world's smallest species of porpoise from extinction, the Mexican government announced plans to place some of them in a temporary refuge. The environment ministry said the "ambitious emergency plan" to save the vaquita marina porpoise would be carried out with help from international conservation groups. However, the plan is controversial with conservationists, some of whom say the vaquita is not an animal that can thrive in captivity.
Newsweek – Latin America is now the most dangerous place in the world for environmental activists, according to a 2016 report by Article 19, a British human rights group. More than 122 activists were killed in 2015, one of the deadliest years on record, according to the most recent study from Global Witness, another nongovernmental organization. Mexico has emerged as one of the most perilous countries in the region.
AP – Environmental authorities are searching for a 10-foot (3-meter) crocodile that killed and apparently ate a man in Chiapas. The federal Environment Department said when the victim and three friends went to the La Encrucijada reserve to fish, an 18-year-old was carried off by the reptile, but his companions escaped.
AP – A gang of dozens of fishermen overturned inspectors' trucks, burned or destroyed 15 vehicles and patrol boats, and beat three inspectors from the office for environmental protection in a town on Mexico's Gulf of California. The fishermen were angered by Mexico's attempt to save the vaquita porpoise by banning some types of net fishing in the Gulf –also known as the Sea of Cortez — where only about 30 of the elusive animals are believed to survive.
Relief Web – Mexico's historical Maya civiliszation created not only a written language and a binary mathematical system, but also a hurricane warning system that still works today.
NYT – Always short of water, Mexico City keeps drilling deeper for more, weakening the ancient clay lake beds on which the Aztecs first built much of the city, causing it to crumble even further.
USAToday – One of the sure signs of spring — monarch butterflies — might be harder to find this year. After a significant rise last year, the number of monarch butterflies at winter breeding grounds in Mexico is down once again, according to butterfly tracker Craig Wilson, a senior research associate at Texas A&M University.
Banning cars on Saturdays in Mexico city hasn't reduced air pollutants according to a new study.
Decades ago Mexico City's air pollution was so poor, birds would fall out of the sky — dead. Locals said living there was like smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, according to one report. In response, Mexico City took several steps to try to improve air quality including restricting driving one or two days during the weekdays. The program has had negligible results.
The study, "Saturday Driving Restrictions Fail to Improve Air Quality in Mexico City," published in Scientific Reports, is the first to examine the effects of restricted driving on Saturdays. It compares pollution levels of eight major pollutants before and after the program went into effect. Having fewer motorists on the road on Saturdays led to close to zero impact. Proponents of the Saturday program had estimated vehicle emissions would be reduced by 15% or more.
Mexico City has the worst air quality in the Western Hemisphere with particulate levels that are three to four times higher than in New York, Los Angeles, São Paulo, or Buenos Aires, the paper states.
TeleSur – Isidro Baldenegro Lopez, an Indigenous environmental activist who fought against deforestation in Mexico, was assassinated last weekend. Baldenegro, the 2005 recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize for North America, was found dead outside a relative's house in Chihuahua. Witnesses claim the murder suspects are linked with known assassins of other Indigenous environmental activists in the region.
San Diego Union-Tribune – Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto established a new marine biosphere reserve covering a broad area that includes the Coronado Islands near the U.S. border and Todos Santos Island, site of a famed surfing spot off the coast of Ensenada.
Atlas Obscura – The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve and has been a protected site in Mexico since 1980. But ever since then—and likely before—the forest has remained threatened by illegal logging. On Tuesday, Mexican authorities announced steps towards fighting that threat, in the form of the closure of seven sawmills that had been operating illegally in the reserve.