General Law on Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection (LGEEPA) [Ley General de Equilibrio Ecológico y Protección al Ambiente (LGEEPA)]

The General Law on Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection is rooted in constitutional mandates, and it provides the normative basis for preserving biodiversity, restoring ecosystems, regulating pollution, and promoting sustainable development across national territory and jurisdictional waters. It enshrines the right to a healthy environment, establishes mechanisms for citizen participation, and defines the distribution of environmental competences among the federal, state, and municipal governments under a framework of concurrent authority. The law recognises environmental preservation, biodiversity protection, and ecological restoration as matters of public utility, and mandates environmental planning instruments such as ecological land-use planning and the designation of protected natural areas.This act incorporates climate action into the core of environmental governance. It assigns responsibilities across all levels of government (federal, state, and municipal) to develop and implement mitigation and adaptation measures in response to climate change (Arts. 5, 7, and 8). The law also codifies the polluter-pays principle and supports incentives for actors engaging in sustainable resource use and climate-resilient practices (Art. 15.IV). Among others, it obliges authorities to prevent human settlement in areas at high risk from climate-related hazards (Art. 15.X), underscoring a preventive and precautionary approach.