A Barrier to our Shared Environment:

The border between the United States and Mexico has historically been a space where the complex interaction between both countries has been expressed with emphasis, oscillating between cooperation and distance; between their day to day interaction and the coldness of their respective capitals; between the hope and the victims of the undocumented migratory adventure. The new border fence, beyond its implications on international politics and bilateral relations, has had high human costs and increasingly negative impacts on species and ecosystems which know no borders.

The objective of this work is to contribute to redirect the debate over the border fence to a level where science and information are preeminent, providing a broader spatial and temporal perspective, in contrast to the highly politicized and shortsighted approach with which the topic has been mostly addressed. By documenting the environmental impacts of the fence, this work intends to promote this level of holistic and long term analysis, among decision makers, political stakeholders and representatives, the media and the general public. Ultimately, the information presented here intends to also serve as an element that facilitates binational dialogue between the Governments of the United States and Mexico in a framework of a spirit of collaboration that enables us to avoid the foreseeable damages in the ecosystems both countries share.