Climate compatible development at the regional level in Mexico: The Yucatan Peninsula Accord

This policy brief examines the Yucatan Peninsula Accord, signed in December 2010 by the Mexican states of Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatan. It serves as Mexico's first sub-national regional climate accord, designed to address socioeconomic and environmental vulnerabilities through a joint low-carbon development scheme. The document highlights how pooling resources at a regional level can attract international funding and provide a catalyst for climate compatible development while respecting state autonomy.

• The Yucatan Peninsula Accord, signed in December 2010, is the first regional climate accord at the sub-national level in Mexico. It focuses on reducing vulnerabilities of local and indigenous populations through a joint low-carbon socioeconomic development scheme involving three primary actions: a regional adaptation strategy, a REDD+ programme, and a climate fund.
• The regional climate fund was established as a private trust fund managed by a technical committee of state government representatives, NGOs, and stakeholders. To prevent potential conflicts and power struggles over resource access during climate catastrophes, the fund's mandate is strictly limited to financing research through scientific studies, excluding funding for adaptation or mitigation actions.
• The REDD+ initiative targets the Sian Kaan-Calakmul forest corridor, which covers approximately 1.3 million acres and extends 120 kilometres from north to south. The initiative aims to generate financial resources for protection and restoration, analyze deforestation drivers, and implement reforms regarding forest management, community planning, and benefit-sharing distribution.
• Budgetary restrictions limited the Accord's original mitigation ambitions, which included reducing carbon emissions from small and medium-sized pig farms and treating farm sewage to protect aquifers. Consequently, the REDD+ programme became the only viable short-term mitigation initiative due to the availability of international finance.
• The Accord demonstrates that sub-national governments can increase their ability to attract national and international funding by pooling resources and making joint commitments. This collaboration allows states to address common regional threats while maintaining their own regulatory discretion and autonomy to implement separate climate policies.
• The negotiation process revealed that a lack of climate legal expertise among sub-national civil servants slowed the conclusion of the Accord. The author suggests that capacity-building in climate law for legal officers would expedite such negotiations in the future.

APA

Del Villar, L. (2011). Climate compatible development at the regional level in Mexico: The Yucatan Peninsula Accord. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Mexico-InsideStory_cbc2_web1.pdf

Chicago

Del Villar, Liliana. Climate compatible development at the regional level in Mexico: The Yucatan Peninsula Accord. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2011. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Mexico-InsideStory_cbc2_web1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Del Villar |first1=Liliana |title=Climate compatible development at the regional level in Mexico: The Yucatan Peninsula Accord |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=November 2011 |url=http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Mexico-InsideStory_cbc2_web1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{delvillar2011climate, author = {Del Villar, Liliana}, title = {{Climate compatible development at the regional level in Mexico: The Yucatan Peninsula Accord}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2011}, month = nov, url = {http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Mexico-InsideStory_cbc2_web1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }