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Mexico's Megalopolis as a Model for the Key Role of Watershed Protection to Sustainable Cities

This project combines expertise in UK and Mexican universities/ NGOs with that of in-country stakeholders to determine how endemic grassland and forest can be sustainably managed for watershed provision in four major urban centres which form a megalopolis in Central Mexico, namely Mexico City, Puebla, Toluca and Cuernavaca which supports 30 million people.
Project status
Closed
Programmes
Cities & Infrastructure
Departments
International

Mexico City, Puebla, Toluca and Cuernavaca form a megalopolis that supports 30 million people. In this project, the key research issues to be addressed are:

1) to establish the 2 status and trends of both the native grassland/forest cover (1950s to present) in terms of distribution and species composition in the 350,000 ha of volcanic montane watershed;

2) to analyse the relationship between changes in this watershed ecosystem and hydrological balance, in particular as related to aquifer recharge;

3) to analyse the impact of different management policies and practices carried out by indigenous communities and municipalities;

4) and to propose robust scientifically-based guidelines for sustainable long-term native grassland/forest watershed management, to promote urban resilience and serve as a global model.

Principal Investigator: Dr Diana Bell, University of East Anglia

Co-Investigator: Professor Roger Few, University of East Anglia

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