After a long time without writing, this was due to academic reasons. I completed my Master’s Degree in Public Administration, and, having already set myself on this path, I decided to continue following the same route of further preparation in the same field by pursuing a Doctorate in Public Administration at the Institute of Public Administration of the State of Jalisco and its Municipalities.
This does not mean I will stop writing and talking about topics that, from my perspective, are fundamental, such as the management, care and protection of the Environment and Ecology. A large part of the population does not know or does not want to know about the major problems we are causing as human beings through the destruction of the ecosystems in which we live.
That is why I ask a very interesting question: Why are the lagoons of the State of Colima not being properly addressed? I clarify that I am referring to all areas: social, environmental, ecological and economic.
The lack of comprehensive attention to the state’s bodies of water is the result of a combination of economic pressures, jurisdictional disputes and socio-environmental dynamics.
Structural and Economic Factors:
Industrial and port expansion: In the case of Cuyutlán Lagoon (Manzanillo), national infrastructure priorities, such as the commercial port, roads, railway lines and heavy industries, have fragmented its four basins, altering the natural flows of fresh and salt water.
Fragmentation of responsibilities: There is institutional dispersion among the Federal Government (Conagua, Semarnat, Asipona), the State Government and the Municipal Governments. Since several entities have different powers over federal zones, watersheds and urban drainage, interventions tend to be partial or reactive.
Discharges and waste from urban areas: Several coastal and inland lagoons receive wastewater with inadequate treatment or agricultural and industrial waste, which accelerates their siltation and environmental degradation.
Environmental and Climate Factors
Deterioration of the upper watershed: Deforestation and the loss of vegetation cover in highland areas reduce water infiltration and the recharge of aquifers that feed the lagoons, as has been observed in Carrizalillos and other reservoirs in rural areas.
Loss of mangroves: Changes in land use have significantly reduced the presence of mangroves, which function as natural filters and barriers against erosion.
In recent years, local communities, salt producers and environmental organizations have promoted the defense of these areas, managing to halt high-impact environmental projects in Cuyutlán Lagoon through resolutions issued by Semarnat. However, sustainable restoration requires an interinstitutional master management plan for watersheds and greater investment in water treatment.
The perception of government inefficiency or inaction in protecting the lagoons has deep roots in the institutional design, the distribution of legal powers and the region’s political economy.
Analyzed from a public administration perspective, the problem is sustained by several structural barriers:
1. The Jurisdictional Maze (Scope of Responsibilities)
The greatest institutional obstacle is that bodies of water and federal maritime-terrestrial zones do not belong to the State. By law, the management of water and ecosystems such as mangroves falls exclusively under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, through Semarnat, Conagua and Profepa.
The Institute for the Environment and Sustainable Development (IMADES) of the state has limited powers. It can only intervene in matters involving state land-use planning, the environmental impact of local projects and the management of special-handling waste. This fragmentation allows the State to avoid responsibility by arguing that it is a “federal matter,” while the Federal Government lacks sufficient personnel in its local delegation to adequately monitor these areas.
2. Power Asymmetry in Relation to the Port
In the specific case of Cuyutlán Lagoon, the State faces a giant: the National Port System Administration (ASIPONA) and major logistics companies. The Port of Manzanillo is the maritime customs facility that collects the most revenue in the entire country. When federal port expansion interests clash with state ecological conservation, the State Government rarely has enough political or legal weight to stop projects promoted from the country’s federal government.
3. Budget Deficit and Institutional Capacity
The resources that the State specifically allocates to ecological restoration and protection have historically been extremely limited.
Inspection and monitoring: State environmental agencies lack the number of inspectors, vehicles and technology necessary to monitor illegal discharges or clandestine filling along the shores of the lagoons.
Federal dependence: Since the State depends heavily on federal participations and contributions, it has little room to finance large-scale sanitation projects without the support of the federal government.
4. Fragmentation in Water Sanitation (Municipalities vs. State)
The lagoons are mainly polluted by urban and agricultural wastewater discharges. However, under Article 115 of the Constitution, sewerage and sanitation are the responsibility of the Municipal Governments, through their water operating agencies, such as Ciapacov or Capdam, rather than the State Government. When municipalities lack the money to operate or expand their treatment plants, the State can only act as a weak coordinator, and the lagoons ultimately become the final recipient of this intergovernmental failure.
5. Lack of Continuity in Public Policies
Protecting a lagoon requires 15- or 20-year watershed management plans, including reforestation, dredging and environmental education. Changes in state administrations every six years often interrupt environmental programs, discarding previous work in order to launch “new” projects that rarely extend beyond the administration’s term.
The result is not necessarily that the State Government does not want to work, but rather that “the current public administration framework is designed in a reactive and disjointed manner,” leaving ecosystems trapped in the “limbo” of who should pay and who should act.
Source: colimanoticias
