IPS-English PERU: New Environment Ministry Born With Congenital Defects Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:25:49 -0800 Milagros Salazar LIMA, Apr 2 (IPS) - The Peruvian government has announced that it will create an Environment Ministry by decree this week, without going through the process of a debate in civil society, Congress and regional governments. Critics say the new ministry will lack decision-making powers in key areas. ”Participation has been notably absent. If the government wasn't willing to listen, it might as well have said so directly,” Iván Lanegra, natural resources and environment manager for the regional government of Junín, told IPS. Energy and Mines Minister Juan Valdivia announced that the Council of Ministers had agreed to promulgate the decree that will create an Environment Ministry. The instrument debated by the executive branch was drawn up in record time, just one month, by a group of experts, without consulting social organisations, regional governments and Congress, in spite of extra time having been allowed for that purpose. There was no official distribution or publication of the document. Purely on an informal basis, some members of the group of experts, led by environmentalist Antonio Brack, sent out copies of the proposal via email. ”What sort of legitimacy can this ministry have, when many of those who should have given their opinion have not been consulted? The issue of environmental management is not just a matter for environmentalists; it is a matter of national concern which requires a consensus,” Javier Azpur told IPS. Azpur is the executive secretary of the non-governmental group Propuesta Ciudadana, which coordinates the Civil Society Coalition for the Creation of the Environment Ministry. President Alan García announced his intention of creating the ministry on Dec. 20, 2007, in preparation for two international conferences that are to take place this year, when Peru hosts the Fifth Summit of Heads of State and Government of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean (EULAC), and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum 2008. Trade and Tourism Minister Mercedes Aráoz revealed that the new ministry will not be responsible for inspecting mining industry activity, in spite of the fact that 40 percent of social conflicts related to the environment arise in the mining sector. As a result, the environmental oversight body proposed as an integral part of the ministry by the commission headed by Brack ”will not oversee one of the most important items on the agenda,” Lanegra said. The ministry will not have authority over water management, either, although water shortages are already becoming a problem due to climate change, the state of Peru's river basins has not been assessed, and one of the main causes of environmental conflicts is water pollution. The government wants the Agriculture Ministry to be in charge of water, through the recently created National Water Authority. Forestry and logging will also come under the purview of the Agriculture Ministry. The National Service for Protected Areas, proposed by Brack, may also be excluded from the remit of the new ministry. Critics of the government initiative point out that the team of experts is proposing that the Environment Ministry should only handle evaluations of environmental impact studies for large mining and energy projects, without even defining what qualifies as a ”large” project. ”We may conclude, then, that a ministry is being created which lacks the power to make decisions on key environmental issues, and which will only be able to provide some sort of general guidance on environmental policies,” Lanegra said. Brack has not commented on the changes made to his proposal by the executive branch. He simply said that his initiative sought to reduce ”social and economic costs” for the country. Ana Leyva, the executive secretary of the non-governmental Red Muqui, a network of social and environmental organisations, says she is convinced that the García administration has made no effort ”to show society its plan to change the environmental institutions,” in spite of the fact that the diversity of the country, in cultural, social and geographical terms, requires that this be done ”extremely urgently.” The role of the 26 regional governments in this process has also been disregarded. As a gesture to ensure social participation, the Brack commission proposed the creation of an environmental ”consensus council”, made up of business associations, regional and municipal governments and representatives of civil society. But this proposal is still being studied by the Council of Ministers. Clearly, the executive branch intends to use the faculties it was granted by Congress, in the context of negotiations of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, to create the Environment Ministry by decree. Among the attributions granted by Congress for this purpose, general mention was made to the effect that the executive branch should ”strengthen environmental institutions,” but this did not constitute carte blanche to create a ministry. Red Muqui's legal experts consider that the government will be committing an illegal and unconstitutional act if it creates a ministry by decree, as according to the fundamental law governing the executive branch, a ministry can only be created by legislation that is debated and approved by Congress. ”A step of such importance for the country should not be approved without being debated by every political party,” Gloria Ramos, chair of the Chamber of Deputies Environment Commission, told IPS. Ramos said she will ask the Speaker of Congress to request a meeting with Prime Minister Jorge del Castillo to discuss the matter. The members of the Civil Society Coalition for the Creation of the Environment Ministry also asked for an interview with del Castillo. ”At this point, it is doubtful whether meetings between the executive branch and members of civil society can have any influence on the process. Only firm intervention on the part of public opinion and the heads of regional governments could change the situation and force serious consultation to be carried out,” said Lanegra. ***** + ENVIRONMENT-PERU: Three Weeks to Create a Ministry (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41196) + ENVIRONMENT-PERU: A (Toxic) River Runs Through It (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40173) + ENVIRONMENT-PERU: Joining Forces to Save the Mantaro River (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39574) (END/IPS/LA EN DV IP CS SU/TRASP-VD-SW/MS/JSP/08) = 04022009 ORP016 NNNN