Cities depend on several watersheds’ ecosystems as the main source of ecosystem services for urban populations; however, this connection is not visible to decision-makers and citizens. The current governance structures do not contemplate the integrated management of the urban-rural territory by watershed; they establish few spaces for citizen participation, and limit the transparency of information. We use qualitative methods to analyze the work of the Civil Society Organization (CSO) in seven urbanized watersheds in Mexico, located under different socio-environmental conditions, to incorporate the watershed cities’ management processes through new spaces of collaborative governance. Through environmental education campaigns, the CSOs raised awareness of the importance of watershed ecosystems to provide water for cities, explored the willingness to pay for their conservation, and the perception of the work of municipal water utilities. By promoting alliances between social sectors, the private sector, communities, and different levels of government, the CSOs built new institutions to increase the collaborative decisions and facilitate public participation, such as Watershed Committees, Citizen Observatories for Water and Consultative Councils. The incorporation of cities and citizens in the conservation of environmental services of the watershed was promoted through payment for environmental services programs. These processes of building new forms of governance are not linear. They depend on the convening and organizational capacity of the CSOs, the political will of the municipalities and states, as well as the socioeconomic conditions of citizens. In general, our results suggest that CSOs allow the formation of alliances that strengthen collaborations among stakeholders at different scales, increase government transparency and accountability, and provide a bridge of trust between upstream and downstream users in the watersheds.

El deterioro de la calidad de los suelos, debido a la pérdida de fertilidad y su erosión, pueden limitar la autosuficiencia y la seguridad alimentaria, lo cual afectaría principalmente a pequeños agricultores que dependen de sus rendimientos para su subsistencia, pudiendo incrementar su pobreza alimentaria. Cerca de la mitad de los suelos mexicanos se encuentran degradados y su efecto en la autosuficiencia alimentaria ha sido poco estudiada.A través del cruce de información de fuentes oficiales (INEGI, CONEVAL, SEMARNAT) a nivel nacional sobre la relación entre la erosión de los suelos agrícolas de temporal, con destino de autoconsumo y la carencia alimentaria en México se pudo observar una relación positiva moderada entre ambas variables (r=0.65). Aunque los resultados no implican una relación causal, si muestran claramente la conexión que existe entre la erosión de suelos agrícolas de temporal y la carencia alimentaria de la población a nivel agregado en el país. Los estados que presentan un mayor aporte al coeficiente de correlación son Guerrero, Michoacán, Guanajuato y Estado de México.

The National Soil Strategy for Sustainable Agriculture (ENASAS) arises in response to the increasing need to organize, coordinate and strengthen the implementation of actions oriented to the sustainable management of Mexico's agricultural soils. The measures recommended in this paper allow the conservation and maintenance of soils' essential functions for agriculture, food security and population well‐being. The health and quality of agricultural soils are under constant pressure from several factors, mainly anthropogenic. One of ENASAS's objectives is to identify and stop the causes involved in land degradation processes using a systemic approach. From this perspective, the participation of various actors in sustainable soil management allows the integration of different systems, practices, techniques and knowledge that promotes awareness among the entire population about the importance of soil resources. On the other hand, given current limitations on the availability of information necessary to support decision‐making and evaluate the result of the actions implemented, ENASAS promotes the generation of tools that provide reliable and updated data regarding Mexico's agricultural soils. In the same sense, this strategy encourages the development of scientific and technological research and the transfer of knowledge that meets the needs of farmers, particularly those who carry out their activities on a smaller scale. This perspective describes ENASAS as a multi‐institutional initiative that will support sustainable soil management practices across the country's agricultural systems of Mexico and contribute to the adaptation and mitigation of global environmental change.

The Circular Economy (CE) offers a promising alternative to the prevailing linear economic model, yet robust evaluation methodologies are essential to assess its implementation and impact. This literature review examines methodologies applicable to municipal composting systems linked to urban agricultural production, with a specific focus on the Latin American context. The study reveals that despite numerous methodologies developed to evaluate circularity, there is a lack of structured methodologies to assess the circularity of municipal organic waste management systems through composting and its connection with urban agriculture, particularly in heterogeneous and multivariate contexts like Latin American cities. The review indicates that Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is commonly used, but often with a primary focus on environmental impacts, neglecting social, economic, and circularity dimensions. The findings emphasize the necessity of developing methodological models tailored to the conditions of Global South regions, acknowledging the challenges in implementing CE and the importance of reviewing ongoing efforts toward circularity. Graphical Abstract

Until now, the contribution of soils in urban spaces has been underestimated and, as a result, the services they provide have been severely undervalued in urban planning. This article aims to address this issue through a study of Chapultepec Park in Mexico City. We provide two methodological proposals for the analysis of soil ecosystem services characterized by the interaction of natural and anthropic processes: the morpho-pedological landscapes (MpL), in which we quantify soil carbon sequestration (SOC Mg ha⁻¹) and the comparison of two methods for the analysis of hydraulic conductivity: Pedotransfer functions (PTF) and direct measurement with a double ring infiltrometer. Among the 12 MpL, we found the highest SOC content in slopes with mixed tree vegetation and Phaeozem soils. However, SOC retention decreased by 40%–50% due to sealing surfaces. For infiltration measures, despite the diversity of soils and vegetation, direct measurements values are highly homogeneous, while values calculated using PTFs better reflect the morphopedological landscape heterogeneity. In all the MpLs, the hydraulic conductivity was higher than the maximum rainfall intensity report, indicating that the soils in Chapultepec Park, despite the differences in soils and intensity of use, provide the ecosystem service of infiltration. These results would allow the establishment of a baseline for monitoring these services and provide information to decision makers and urban planners seeking to reduce the construction of gray infrastructure that seals soils and reduces their capacity to provide these ecosystem services.

El Bosque de Chapultepec, uno de los parques urbanos más antiguos de América, presenta hoy en día un palimpsesto arquitectónico, constituido de calzadas, caminos, glorietas, museos, estacionamientos que han ido sellando el suelo. Este sellamiento impide la provisión de servicios ecosistémicos esenciales para la población de la Ciudad de México, como la captura de carbono y nitrógeno, la infiltración y purificación del agua, el soporte de la vegetación y el hábitat de edafofauna. El análisis del área sellada se realizó mediante la sistematización e integración de información de distinta índole: cartográfica, imágenes satélites y trabajo de campo, integrados y analizados en un sistema de información geográfico. La primera y segunda sección del Bosque presentan un sellamiento de 45 y 52% respectivamente, mientras que la tercera sección, más alejada, solo un 14%. En conjunto, el Bosque de Chapultepec presenta un 33% de su superficie sellada. Esta información constituye un criterio importante para decidir la ubicación de nuevas infraestructuras. Para incrementar las áreas que proporcionen servicios ecosistémicos se propone el de-sellamiento de caminos y kioskos abandonados, los cuales suman 4.41 hectáreas. Actualmente, en estas áreas ya se observa una regeneración de plantas anuales que crecen entre el asfalto intemperizado, lo cual es indicativo del potencial que tienen estas áreas para incrementar biodiversidad.