Green challenge - Mexico City

The Green Challenge (Reto Verde) is a greening strategy for Mexico City to increase the area of public spaces with nature, reduce the impact of climate change, promote biodiversity and pollinators, prevent soil erosion and improve air quality and water management in the entire city. The Green Challenge was initiated in June 2019 by the Ministry of Environment's Green Infrastructure Directorate in collaboration with other sectors of the Mexico City government. The original goal was to plant more than 10 million trees and other plants by the end of 2020, on streets, avenues, ridges, urban parks, protected natural areas and the region close to the city, which is designated as a nature reserve in urban planning instruments. The creation of new green spaces in the city is seen as a tool to promote the social use of public space and other environmental benefits. Key actions include greening and rehabilitating protected areas, conservation areas and urban spaces, creating gardens for pollinators, producing ad planting native species and encouraging active participation of citizens and other social actors. These nature-based solutions are also included in local government strategies to combat climate change and to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity. Since 2019, re-vegetation campaigns with citizen participation have been carried out in all municipalities and interventions took place to create and rehabilitate spaces with green areas and infrastructure for sport, culture and recreation through the seeding parks programme. The target set for 2019 has already been reached, but activities are ongoing.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Legislative, regulatory and strategic instruments›Dedicated strategy, plan, or law

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Soil quality
Water management (e.g. reuse)
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Watershed restoration/water quality
Flood risk: pluvial and fluvial / soil permeability
Heat stress and heat island effect
Air quality
Social cohesion
Social equity
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

The Green Challenge is a call for the greening of Mexico City through the conservation, rehabilitation and creation of green areas, both in urban and peri-urban areas of the city. This includes greening and rehabilitating protected areas, recovering the city's rivers, forests and ravines, conservation areas and urban spaces, improving soil quality, creating gardens for pollinators (such as butterflies, bees and hummingbirds), seed collections for the production and reincorporation of native species. Each of the physical spaces is revegetated in a special way, given its own characteristics, such as the quality of the soil and the environment in which it is located.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Allotments, community gardens or agricultural areas

Blue areas

Green areas for water management

Derelict areas

Good practice characteristics:

Effective

Locally appropriate

Innovative

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

Directorate for Green Infrastructure of the Ministry of Environment (MEA)

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The design of the Green Challenge was driven by the Ministry of the Environment but involved also other city governments such as the Ministry of Works and Services, the Mexico City Water System, the Environmental and Land Management Attorney's Office, the Digital Agency for Public Innovation y PILARES (public programme: Points of Innovation, Freedom, Art, Education and Knowledge).

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

The planting and other related activities are coordinated by the Ministry of Environment in close cooperation with the district governments, citizens, academic institutions, the private sector and civil society organisations.

Type of non-governmental actors involved:

Citizen councils or consultation for co-planning (e.g. workshops, surveys)

Co-design of NBS, implemented by government

Implementation of NBS (e.g. with government funds)

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Private: household, real estate developer, business , financial

Researchers, university

Citizens or community groups (CBOs), NGOs

Financing

Budget:

Unknown

Details about instrument financing:

The financial resources are provided by different areas of the city administration.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

Periodic monitoring is carried out, collecting data on the trees, shrubs and herbs planted and their distribution in the different intervention areas, the parks created, the protected areas and the rehabilitated rivers, and the people involved in the different activities. The results are published on the website of the Ministry of the Environment.

Did an evaluation take place?:

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

By the end of 2022, more than 30 million trees, shrubs and herbs have been planted in all 16 city districts (administrative units of the city) with 170 interventions and more than 30,000 participants. The ecological status of several nature reserves has been improved. New areas were opened up for the enjoyment and care of the citizens. In two urban forest areas of the city (San Juan de Aragón and Chapultepec), about 340,000 plants have been planted and the forests rehabilitated. 16 parks were created and more than 163,000 flowering plants for pollinators have been planted in 68 gardens. The Green Challenge has not only promoted biodiversity and improved the ecological condition of existing areas, but also increased the number of accessible green spaces and thus promoting social cohesion, contributed to environmental education and raised citizens' awareness of greening areas. Moreover, manuals have been published to support technical staff e.g. maintenance of urban green spaces, creation of gardens for pollinators and families and planting of urban green spaces.

Success factors and lessons learned:

The Green Challenge has involved collaboration between different sectors of the Mexico City government and the interventions have also promoted other programmes and measures to conserve biodiversity and strengthen the city's green infrastructure. Collaboration with district governments, civil society organizations and private companies has been essential in implementing the Green Challenge. Moreover, the production of plants of different plant strata (trees, shrubs, herbaceous and ground cover) is carried out in nurseries belonging to Mexico City's Ministry of the Environment. The recovery of these sites, the increase in the supply of plants and the inclusion of native species that were not previously produced, have contributed to the achievement of the city's objectives through the Green Challenge.

Sources and further information

Further documents

Weblinks:

https://www.retoverde.cdmx.gob.mx/

https://use.metropolis.org/case-studies/green-challenge#casestudydetail

Photos

@Karen Martinez- Travesias