UNESCO is sending an international mission to assess border wall damage in Arizona

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee issued a judgement Thursday clearing the way for an international mission to assess damage caused by the border wall in Mexico and Arizona.

The decision instructs Mexico to immediately organize a joint “reactive monitoring” mission, which will be conducted by the World Heritage Centre and International Union for Conservation of Nature without the United States participating. Previously, the mission was delayed by the U.S. declining to take part in it.

It also calls for an international assessment to be conducted to determine harm and disruptions caused by the wall to the Grand Canyon State’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.

The U.S. was given until Dec. 1 to partner with Mexico to develop, fund and implement an urgent action plan to restore ecological connectivity. The decision warned that if connectivity is not restored to protect wildlife, like the Sonoran pronghorn, then El Pinacate may meet the requirements to be included on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

“This decision sets a firm deadline, and I’m hopeful it will push the United States to act before more damage is done to El Pinacate by Trump’s border wall,” Alejandro Olivera, senior scientist and Mexico representative at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a news release. “The U.S. border wall isn’t just destroying habitat in the United States, it’s also severing wildlife corridors and harming a World Heritage site in Mexico. The Trump administration hasn’t done anything meaningful to repair the harm it’s caused south of the border, and that needs to change.”

The decision also requests the U.S. submit results from ongoing research into how the wall has harmed mammal communities when it becomes available in 2027. Additionally, it asks both countries proceed with execution of the Sonoran Pronghorn Recovery Plan and increase their population monitoring.

Mexico is required to provide a report on the condition of El Pinacate and its implementation of the committee’s request by Dec. 1, 2027.

Currently, the U.S. is a not a member of the World Heritage Committee and is supposed to withdrawal from UNESCO on Dec. 31.

UNESCO has repeatedly found that the border wall, which extends across almost the entire boundary of Mexico’s El Pinacate and Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, causes harm by blocking wildlife movement across the Sonoran Desert.

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