Environment Ministers of Canada, Mexico, United States to Meet in Mérida, Mexico, 14-15 July 2022
Montreal, 26 May 2022 — The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) invites the public, Indigenous groups, stakeholders and members of the media to join the annual gathering of the CEC Council, composed of the environment ministers of Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
Mexico’s Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, María Luisa Albores González, will host Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, as well as United States Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan.
The 29th annual Session of the CEC Council will be the CEC’s first Ministerial Session to take place in person since 2019. The hybrid format will enable communities from across North America to participate and engage both in person and virtually with those in Mérida.
The Session will reinforce trilateral commitments to preserve, protect and enhance the North American environment, and establish shared priorities and action for environmental cooperation in North America. The Session will also promote dialogue and knowledge-sharing among an intersectional and intergenerational group of stakeholders, including leaders from business, youth, Indigenous peoples and local communities. The theme of this year’s Council Session will be “Community-led Environmental Education for Sustainable Development.”
The public is invited to participate in the following livestreamed events:
- 14 July at 08:00 a.m. Central Time – the Public Forum of the CEC’s Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) on “Stories and Lessons Learned from North American Communities and Youth.” The session will highlight a broad range of stories from communities across the three countries tackling common environmental challenges and will feature a moderated Q&A.
- 14 July at 11:00 a.m. Central Time – the Intergenerational Roundtable, hosted by the JPAC, engaging youth, academia and community environmental leaders from the three countries in a dialogue on the values and cultural foundations underpinning sustainable communities, with a focus on experiences related to environmental, social, and economic crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing impact of climate change. The roundtable will also feature a moderated Q&A.
- 15 July at 3:00 p.m. Central Time – A Dialogue with the Council on Community-led Environmental Education for Sustainable Development, and presentations by the winners of the CEC’s annual Youth Innovation Challenge.
Mérida, Mexico, 14-15 July 2022
Virtual and in-person exhibition
An exhibition will also be featured in-person and online, highlighting current and future community-led trilateral work under the theme “Sharing Knowledge and Perspectives: Emergent Tools and Methods for Protecting our Shared Environment.”
Registration open now
Participation in the 2022 CEC Council Session and Joint Public Advisory Committee forum is open to the public and free of charge. Due to sanitary restrictions, capacity for in-person attendance will be limited. Simultaneous interpretation and live stream will be available in English, French and Spanish.
Participants are invited to register for the hybrid event here. Registrants will also be invited to join the conversation by submitting questions and comments for public sessions via Slido, using #CEC29 as the event code.
For more information about financial assistance, please contact meetingservices@cec.org before 8 June 2022.
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About the CEC
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) was established in 1994 by the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States through the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, a parallel environmental agreement to NAFTA. As of 2020, the CEC is recognized and maintained by the Environmental Cooperation Agreement, in parallel with the new Free Trade Agreement of North America. The CEC brings together a wide range of stakeholders, including the general public, Indigenous people, youth, nongovernmental organizations, academia, and the business sector, to seek solutions to protect North America’s shared environment while supporting sustainable development for the benefit of present and future generations
The CEC is governed and funded equally by the Government of Canada through Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Government of the United States of Mexico through the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, and the Government of the United States of America through the Environmental Protection Agency.