The SCERP Tribal Environmental Program (STEP) is a binational, multi-university effort designed to study all natural resource development and tribal cooperative planning among interested Native American communities located along the U.S.-Mexico border. This inter-disciplinary applied research initiative will involve scholars and technical experts from San Diego State University, Arizona State University, the University of Utah, New Mexico State University, and the University of Texas at El Paso as well as colleagues from various Mexican universities.
The purpose of this pilot program is to build a critical mass of research about the range of environmental problems, socio- economic and political issues which challenge tribal efforts to achieve sustainable development in the U.S.- Mexico border region. By offering training and educational opportunities to tribal members as well as technical expertise, in the form of GIS surveys, our program seeks to promote productive interactions between academics, government agencies, non-profit organizations and the tribal groups themselves.
BACKGROUNDThere is over forty thousand people, twenty-five nations and three million acres of territory. Original territory of these tribes is the region that is now bisected by international boundaries and ten state boundaries. There has been little or no comprehensive or regional understanding of the transborder environmental priorities of these indigenious peoples.