Barriers and Opportunities to Incorporate Scientific Evidence into Air Quality Management in Mexico: A Stakeholders’ Perspective

29 Pages Posted: 14 Dec 2021

See all articles by Dalia M. Muñoz-Pizza

Dalia M. Muñoz-Pizza

Universidad Autónoma de Baja California

Mariana Villada-Canela Villada-Canela

Universidad Autónoma de Baja California

Patricia Rivera-Castañeda Rivera-Castañeda

El Colegio de la Frontera Norte - Economics

Alvaro Osornio-Vargas

University of Alberta - Department of Pediatrics

Adan L. Martinez-Cruz

Department of Forest Economics, SLU; CERE; ETH Zürich - Centre for Energy Policy and Economics (CEPE)

Jose Luis Texcalac-Sangrador

Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública

Date Written: December 10, 2021

Abstract

Air pollution is among the most pressing environmental issues worldwide. Unfortunately, an effective reduction in air pollution remains elusive, and so does the incorporation of scientific evidence into air quality policies. This paper takes seven Mexican cities as study cases to document barriers and opportunities to incorporate scientific evidence into air quality policies. Supported by the Grounded Theory approach, we conduct and analyze interviews to decision-makers, researchers, and representatives of non-governmental organizations involved in programs aiming to improve air quality in Mexico. Findings from this study illustrate differences across cities in the technical capacity to produce evidence, and document barriers shared to incorporate evidence into air quality management – including institutional capacity, interest groups, legal frameworks, and limited knowledge transfer. Opportunities that increase integration of evidence into air quality policies include follow-up programs, guaranteed research funding, contextualizing the topics to be investigated as a public problem, and assigning a crucial role to research so that formal and informal links among decision-makers and scientists are formed and strengthened.

Keywords: evidence-based policy, air quality management, stakeholders’ perspective, Mexico

JEL Classification: Q53, Q58

Suggested Citation

Muñoz-Pizza, Dalia M. and Villada-Canela, Mariana and Rivera-Castañeda, Patricia Rivera-Castañeda and Osornio-Vargas, Alvaro and Martinez-Cruz, Adan L. and Texcalac-Sangrador, Jose Luis, Barriers and Opportunities to Incorporate Scientific Evidence into Air Quality Management in Mexico: A Stakeholders’ Perspective (December 10, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3982399 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3982399

Dalia M. Muñoz-Pizza (Contact Author)

Universidad Autónoma de Baja California ( email )

Mariana Villada-Canela

Universidad Autónoma de Baja California ( email )

Patricia Rivera-Castañeda Rivera-Castañeda

El Colegio de la Frontera Norte - Economics ( email )

United States

Alvaro Osornio-Vargas

University of Alberta - Department of Pediatrics ( email )

1801 11135-83 Ave
Edmonton, T6G2C
Canada

Adan L. Martinez-Cruz

Department of Forest Economics, SLU ( email )

S-901 83 Umea
Sweden

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adan_Martinez-Cruz

CERE ( email )

Almas Allé 10
Umeå, 750 07
Sweden

ETH Zürich - Centre for Energy Policy and Economics (CEPE) ( email )

8092 Zurich
Switzerland
+41 44 633 80 97 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.eepe.ethz.ch/people/madan

Jose Luis Texcalac-Sangrador

Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública

Mexico

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