Growth of the cross border space in the northwest of Mexico: the challenges for its sustainable development

Abstract

This paper describes how Baja California and Sonora, located in northwestern Mexico, function as a socioeconomic area to the bordering states and cities of California and Arizona. Since 1999, the Federal, and the Baja California and Sonora Governments, have promoted a tourism corridor in Mar de Cortes and a new alternative port in the Pacific, in the south of Baja California, for the trade between the USA and China. These new actions will have an impact on the fragile natural environment and on the population settled at the south of both Mexican states. This paper studies the projects, evaluates their impact on the natural and social environment of the region and sets a scenario of the socioeconomic and future territorial organization networks in a sustainable framework. The methodology consists of an analysis of the socioeconomic profiles of the areas receiving the projects, evaluates the environmental, economic and social impact of the infrastructure projects and the main actions through an environmental impact matrix, projecting the probable demographic and territorial scenario that is conditioned to the maintenance of an environmental equilibrium, the restructuring of economic activities and the compensating actions for the most vulnerable population.