Data transparency in Mexico
Transparency in the water sector
Transparency in the water sector is a topic that has attracted much attention in recent years. There are different initiatives, both from the government and civil society, aiming to make information more transparent and accessible. One of them is the Open Government Association, a declaration made in 2011 before the United Nations General Assembly, where Mexico served as one of the founding members. This declaration aims to "promote a global culture of open government that empowers and serves its citizens, and advances the ideals of 21st-century open and participatory government."
In Mexico, there have been four open government plans, each of which has taken action to make information more transparent and accessible to the public. The fourth national plan (2019-2021) consists of thirteen commitments, of which the tenth is related to the water sector: "Transparency to strengthen the management of forest, water, and fisheries resources." In this commitment, both the government and civil society have agreed to create an Index of Natural Resource Transparency, which will measure how public the information is for citizens. You can learn more about the initiative here.
OPEN DATA
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has developed the OURdata index, which measures the availability, accessibility, and reuse of government data for OECD countries. This index is based on three metrics: data availability, data accessibility, and government support for data reuse. Mexico has worked toward a more open data government, which is why it was ranked 5th in the OECD Open, Useful, and Reusable Data Index (OURData) in 2017. However, in the 2019 report, the nation slipped a few steps in the ranking and remained in the seventh position. This decline can be attributed to changes in public administration and institutional governance for open data.
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Regarding data availability, Mexico has been above the OECD countries' average due to a strong regulatory framework and various high-value datasets found on the OGD portal. However, the level of stakeholder engagement has slightly decreased since 2017, which could affect the way open data initiatives are designed. The data accessibility indicator decreased slightly from 2017 to 2019, implying that the country provides fewer data in an accessible format. Finally, the indicator with the most significant drop is government support for data reuse. This indicates reduced effort by this administration to support reuse both within and outside the public sector. If this continues, it could harm the sustainability and effectiveness of the national open data agenda.
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In Mexico, various organizations are interested in publishing water data in the country. Government institutions such as the National Water Information System (SINA) deal with the integration and processing of data to generate relevant information in the water sector. On their portal, they have water-related data covering economic, environmental, and social topics. Additionally, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) is the public and autonomous body responsible for capturing and disseminating information in Mexico related to territory, resources, population, and the economy. Their portal includes a specific section for water data. Moreover, other organizations, including civil associations, institutes, companies, water observatories, and academia, are increasingly publishing information related to water bodies.
Mexican regulation of transparency
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In 2015, the General Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information was enacted, aiming to establish principles, general foundations, and procedures to ensure access to public information. Additionally, in 2015, the Executive Decree on Open Data introduced the open data policy for the Mexican government. The purpose of this Decree is to regulate how public data generated by the government will be made available to the public as open data, facilitating their access, use, reuse, and redistribution for any purpose, in accordance with applicable legal regulations. For data to be considered open, datasets must be free, non-discriminatory, freely usable, machine-readable, complete, primary, timely, and permanent.
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Regarding the water sector, the General Water Law is the regulation that governs the exploitation, use, distribution, and control of water, as well as the preservation of its quantity and quality to achieve comprehensive sustainable development. The National Water Commission (CONAGUA) is the body responsible for integrating the National Water Information System (SINA) on the quantity, quality, uses, and conservation of water.
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​ Reference
[1] http://www.oecd.org/gov/digital-government/ourdata-index-mexico.pdf
​[2] http://sina.conagua.gob.mx/sina/
[3] http://inicio.ifai.org.mx/MarcoNormativoDocumentos/LGTAIP.pdf
[4] http://www.dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php%3Fcodigo%3D5382838%26fecha%3D20/02/2015
[5] http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/16_060120.pdf
