The Office for Ecological Planning is the area within INE where the technical and methodological development required for carrying out Ecological Planning (EP) under its different guises (Territorial, regional, local and marine) takes place. The Office’s work includes carrying out and coordinating research projects, providing technical validation and assessment for EP studies, training municipal and state government technical personnel, and disseminating the results from specialist forum.

Definition of Ecological Planning

Ecological Planning (EP) is legally defined as:

"The instrument of environmental policy whose objective is to regulate or induce land use and productive activities that achieve environmental protection and the sustainable use of natural resources, through analysis of resource deterioration trends and their potential uses." (General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection, First Title, Article 3, Part XXIII).

Ecological Planning is a basic normative instrument for determining the geographical zoning of productive activities, as well as different forms of resource and environmental service use, all of which act as the foundation of environmental policy.

Current Legal Framework of Ecological Planning in Mexico

The Constitution, in its Articles 25, 26 and 27, establishes the natural resource planning and zoning principles to promote a form of development that simultaneously protects and conserves the environment. It is based around the participation of different sectors of society and incorporates these groups’ different demands within the planning and development programs.

The Constitution states that the country should achieve a balanced and sustainable development and an improvement in the living conditions of both rural and urban populations.

Articles 73, 115 and 124 define the faculties of federal, state and municipal governments, including those related to the environment.

The General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection (LGEEPA) is the main constitutional regulatory tool that focuses on ecological preservation and restoration, as well as environmental protection across the nation’s territory and all those areas over which it holds jurisdiction; its dispositions are to serve the public and social interest, and are aimed at promoting sustainable development.

Articles 1, 2 and 3 of the LGEEPA define and establish the base for the formulation of ecological planning, taking the public’s interest into consideration.

With the above, the LGEEPA clearly establishes the judicial link between ecological planning and national planning. Article 17 highlights the requirement for this instrument to play a part in national development planning.

Both Chapter IV, Section I of the LGEEPA - titled "Environmental Planning" -, and Article 19, establishes the criteria that should be considered in the formulation of Ecological Planning, whilst in 19 bis, it establishes the types of ecological planning programs (Territorial, Regional, Local and Marine). Articles 20-20 bis 7 establish the government dependencies and orders that are charged with developing the different types of Ecological Planning, as well as the objectives to be met by each program.

Finally, in August 2003, the Rules of the LGEEPA linked to Ecological Planning were published in the Official Diary of the Federation, where regulations and government interventions linked to EP processes were laid out.