Creating Sustainable Futures for Southwestern Cities: The ProtoCity Approach in the Ciudad Juarez, Mexico/El Paso, Texas Metroplex - Design with the Desert: Conservation and Sustainable Development - page 543

TABLE 31.1
Proto-Scoping the City/Region of El Paso and Juarez Using ProtoMetric Trends
Trend World Country State Site

Global United States/

Mexico

Texas/
Chihuahua

El Paso/Juarez

Vulnerable,
endangered,
critically
endangered,
or extinct
species

More than
17,000 species
globally

2,258 species
in United
States and
Mexico

32 in Texas, 0
in Chihuahua

2 in El Paso
and Juarez

Ecological
ProtoCode

Status of
species and
habitat

Over 50% of all
species are
effected in
some way by
climate
change

Half of N.
America's
ecoregions
are now
severely
degraded
with at least
235
threatened
species

Texas ranks
second in
biodiversity
after
California,
but threats to
animal
species have
increased
dramatically
since the turn
of the century

Sneed
Pincushion
cactus
( Coryphantha
sneedii var.
sneedii) only
occurs in El
Paso country
and two
counties in
New Mexico

Hydrological
ProtoCode

Change in
frequency
and intensity
of
precipitation

Higher rate of
evaporation,
increase in
frequency and
intensity of
storms, lower
soil moisture
in some
regions

Much of the
American
southwest to
become more
arid with
increases in
seasonal flash
flooding

Precipitation
projected to
decrease by
5%-30% in
winter and
increase 10%
in other
seasons

Drier climate
could decrease
stream flow
by up to 35%
with more
intense storms
and flooding
in wet season

Climatological
ProtoCode

Change in
average
temperature

Global surface
temperature
to increase by
average of
1.6°F-6.3°F by
2100

United States
temperatures
projected to
increase more
than the
global
average in
warm areas

By 2100
temperatures
in Texas could
increase by an
average of 3°F
in spring and
4°F in other
seasons

Temperatures
increasing
more and at a
faster rate
than rest of
the world

Geological
ProtoCode

Desertiication 27.5 million

acres
considered at
high or very
high risk of
human
induced
desertification

Nearly 90% of
N. American
arid lands are
moderately or
severely
desertified

Three of four
areas of
severe
desertification
are in Texas,
Chihuahua,
and New
Mexico

Desertifying as
rapidly as the
worst areas in
Africa and
Asia