RE:Two Perspectives: EnvironmentalistsUgh... did not copy paste correctly. Here is the full machine translation.
Santurbn: adjustments to the delimitation, without progress
The farmers put messages to motivate conservation, without success.
Three months and eight days are now fulfilled since the term given by the Administrative Court of Santander to the Ministry of Environment began to make adjustments to the demarcation of Santurbn, with zero progress and management qualified as deficient by environmentalists, defenders of the pramo and veeduras.
On July 16, the environmental portfolio, chaired by the Santanderean Ricardo Jos Lozano, must have defined the boundaries of the pramo, prior participation of the communities.
The paradox is that while the Ministry has not made progress and failed a scheduled visit to the territory in January, it is still under pressure from the Mining Society of Santander (Minesa) to obtain an environmental license that allows it to exploit gold in Soto Norte. And, as if that were not enough, tourism without control is impacting Santurbn in Norte de Santander.
Erwing Rodrguez-Salah, member of the Committee for the Defense of Water and Santurbn and one of the guardians of the guardianship that gave rise to Sentence T-361 of the Constitutional Court, which ordered adjustments to the delimitation taking into account community participation , argued that Minister Lozano served six months in office and "we have not had the first meeting with him, since we are legitimate spokesmen and defenders of the paramo”.
In this sense, Diego Rueda, founder of the Environmental Working Table of Norte de Santander, said that "the Ministry's management is deficient, we do not see steps taken to comply with the Judgment, we do not know who manages the adjustments, we request a organization chart of the work team and we do not know it ".
According to Rueda since last year, sporadic and uncoordinated actions have been seen. "At the end of the government of former President Juan Manuel Santos was adjusted by adjusting the schedule to meet a requirement, we fear that the same thing happens and we warn that what must exist is a real mechanism of reception and consolidation of proposals”.
To the criticisms joins the fact that the page enabled by the Ministry (santurban.minambiente.gov.co) to report progress, is not updated since October 2018.
Fredy Alonso Maldonado Vera, president of the Todos Somos Santurbn, of Silos, said that before that date, PDF documents were uploaded to keep social actors informed, including six considered unavoidable points in topics such as financial strategy, reconversion and substitution of agricultural activities.
"This is an exclusionary and unsuitable strategy considering that the direct parties live in the pramo, areas where the signal hardly arrives and where not everyone has the capacity to read and understand these documents. The peasantry is at a disadvantage. "
Mining pressure
This year, Minesa presented a second environmental impact study to the National Environmental Licenses Authority (Anla), seeking to obtain the guarantee to exploit gold in Soto Norte (Santander).
"It causes strangeness and it is reprehensible that Anla has given the receipt with the intention of processing the study," said Rodrguez-Salah.
The defender of the pramo warned of this fact and argued that until the new delimitation has been made, the one made in 2014 (Resolution 2090) remains, which is accommodative for mining exploitation.
"The Constitutional Court in Judgment T-361 left a void and did not order that environmental adjustments could not be granted while making the adjustments. The Santos government made it clear that they would not happen, but the current president, Ivn Duque Mrquez, has not spoken out on the issue. "
Impact of tourism
In 2016, tourism began in an unorganized and growing way to the Ranchadero district of the municipality of Silos, where the Lagunas Verdes area is located, formed by three impressive wetlands of glacial origin.
The zone in agreement with spokesman Maldonado is in limits with the municipality of Vetas (Santander). "There they are putting limits to the tourist companies, giving themselves a migration to the lagoon complex in Norte de Santander".
Recently the walks without control and in numerous groups extended to the Antal lagoon complex, impacting the El Cornal lagoon, in limits with Ccota. "They are burning in the vicinity of the lagoons, there are garbage and the balance of the soil was affected."
The community notified the Ministry of the Environment and Corponor as a regional environmental authority. However, the contingency actions are the responsibility of the municipalities and according to Maldonado, there is no interest in conserving.
Alternative Proposal
Rodrguez-Salah, member of the Committee for the Defense of Water and Santurbn, announced that as part of the right to participation granted by the Constitutional Court, on November 19, 2018, an alternative proposal was filed with the Santander Administrative Court. of delimitation, product of more than 10 months of work with the Lawyers Collective Luis Carlos Prez and experts in pramos.
This proposal seeks to highlight the gaps in the pramos protection policy and demand compliance with the rights to participation and information, among others.
The proposal is based on four approaches. The first deals with the pramo complex Jurisdicciones-Santurbn-Berln from the constitutional principle of prevalence of general interest on the subject.
The second proposes a study to establish ordering, protection and water retention capacity. "The alternative proposal includes a hydrogeological study that did not take into account the 2014 delimitation."
In third place there is a methodological guide to consolidate and socialize the alternative proposal. Finally, a territorial look is given to farmers and miners, seeking their permanence and that they are benefited from effective conversion and substitution programs.