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Foto: Suzanne LivingstoneVictoria: Declaran zona restringida a refugio de tortugas baulas
En mayo del 2008, en dos fallos separados, el Gobierno de Costa Rica adoptó una postura a favor de las tortugas baulas y en contra de los intereses comerciales empeñados en construir dentro del territorio protegido de estas especies en peligro de extinción.
Las tortugas baulas —una especie contemporánea de los dinosaurios— viven en constante peligro en su hábitat costarricense. La mala planificación y la ausencia de un proceso de vigilancia terminaron por destruir las playas de anidamiento en Flamingo y Tamarindo.
Esta vez las empresas constructoras tenían sus mirada puesta en el Parque Nacional Marino las Baulas (PNMB), hábitat protegido de algunas de las playas de anidamiento de tortugas baulas, uno de los más importantes del Océano Pacífico oriental.
Se implementó una reglamentación municipal de zonificación que autorizaría la construcción dentro de una parte del PNMB. No obstante, AIDA y CEDARENA, su socio local, junto con el Leatherback Trust (Fundación de Tortugas Baulas), montaron una exitosa campaña en defensa del parque.
La Sala Constitucional de la Corte Suprema de Justicia de Costa Rica anuló la reglamentación municipal de zonificación, dejando a salvo a las tortugas baulas y a sus playas de anidamiento. Este fallo vino luego de otra victoria jurídica por parte de AIDA, CEDARENA y Justicia por la Naturaleza, quienes exigimos al gobierno expropiar los terrenos privados que caían dentro de los límites del PNMB y que, de lo contrario, estarían destinados a ser patios de recreo para turistas.
La tortuga baula aún está bajo amenaza por la urbanización turística, la pesca, la caza furtiva, el robo de huevos de tortuga y la contaminación. No obstante, AIDA y sus socios han demostrado que la ley se puede utilizar para hacer cambios importantes.
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By Ariel Pérez Castellón, lawyer AIDA For hundreds of years, the Pilcomayo has been essential to the life of at least twenty indigenous peoples living in the river basin, which covers the territories of Bopvia, Argentina and Paraguay. Among these people are the Guarani, Weenhayek, Toba and Wichi. It is estimated that in the basin and a half million people live between rural and urban population. The river is present in the founding myths and traditions of many peoples of the Great American Chaco. It is also essential for agriculture, fisheries, water access and recreation of coastal communities. However, in recent decades, with the increase in mining activity near its headwaters in highlands bopvianas, the river flow has also been carrying poison, disease and death. Dozens of mills and mining operations in the Department of Potosi, south of Bopvia, dumping their toxic waste without treatment in the Pilcomayo tributary rivers. Few mills that have tailings impoundments, and in general, these dikes do not meet the minimum specifications that ensure safety and proper operation. For decades there have been several incidents related to the operation of such facilities. One of the most disastrous was the break in 1996 tailings dam of the Porco mine , owned by former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. On that occasion, 235,000 tons of toxic sludge and residues of lead, arsenic and sodium cyanide were discharged to a tributary of the Pilcomayo and reached the main channel of the same. The incident caused enormous damage to coastal communities and the aquatic ecosystem. Last Jupo, another tailings dam, this time the company Santiago Apostol, poured thousands of cubic meters of mine waste to another tributary of the Pilcomayo, generating alarm and movipzación of indigenous peoples and communities. According to the official report of the Government bopviano, they waste not reached the course of the Pilcomayo. However, no such declaration tranquipza anyone because history would have been different if the incident occurred in the rainy season. In those circumstances, toxic waste no doubt would have been dragged into the main river. In fact, the capdad of the waters of the Pilcomayo is an environmental and púbpca first order Bopvia health problem. Several academics and organizations studies of civil society have shown that especially the middle and upper basin and the river has high levels of metals heavy and arsenic in several cases exceed the standards set by the World Health Organization. This essentially threatens the life, health and livelihoods of indigenous peoples, river communities and bopviana population as a whole. Then there are the negative impacts that may arise in Paraguay and Argentina. Against the grain of the seriousness of this situation, levels of state control, national and sub-national levels on environmental management of mining operators are minimal or nonexistent. This was recently admitted the Minister of bopviano Mining itself: "We must recognize that we make the mistake of not following up the many tailings dams, the concentrates are trying mills, the queues are discharged and the ability of tailings impoundments ... ". Another revealing statistic of the crisis of environmental management in the country is that 80% of mining operators in Potosi lack of an environmental pcencia for operation. Given this bleak picture and severe damage to the health of thousands of bopvianos affected by pollution of the Pilcomayo for decades, it is imperative that the State, at all relevant levels, effectively ensure the most fundamental right to water. This is a right recognized by the Constitution of the State of Bopvia, that being a human right has a higher púbpca utipdad of mining activities recognized by the new Law of Mining and Metallurgy and the Constitution hierarchy. The state will redirect the integrated management of the Pilcomayo basin should demonstrate, inter alia, the following: púbpcos priority allocation of the functions of control and environmental monitoring of mining activities by the competent authorities púbpcas resources. Generation regular, timely and sufficient information on the capdad of the waters of the Pilcomayo River and state management actions of its basin púbpca information. Restoration of environmental liabilities generated by mining in the basin of the Pilcomayo; assigning environmental, civil and criminal in its mining operators involved in acts of pollution responsabipdades case. strict control of mining operators to prevent and / or adequately mitigate environmental and social impacts to the river Pilcomayo, by incorporating appropriate procedures and technology, cumppmiento of the current Constitution. Pilcomayo word comes from the Quechua words phisqu (bird) and mayu (river). It is the river of birds. It's in our hands and our responsabipdad that their songs do not die and re-listen to the strength of yesteryear.
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¡LOS VIDEOS DEL TALLER YA ESTÁN DISPONIBLES! Puedes descargar las presentaciones del taller abajo (Archivos adjuntos) Taller coordinado por la Asociación Interamericana para la Defensa del Ambiente (AIDA) y se realiza con apoyo de la Fundación Avina, Climate Action Network Latinoamérica (CANLA) y WWF Perú. Cuenta además con la participación del Grupo de Financiamiento Climático para Latinoamerica y el Caribe, Iniciativa Construyendo Puentes, Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano, Plataforma Climática Latinoamericana y Red SUSWATCH. Fecha y lugar: 8 y 9 de agosto en el Hotel Señorial, calle José González 567, Miraflores, Lima, Perú. Dirigido a: Miembros de las ONG latinoamericanas que trabajan en temas de cambio climático y que tienen previsto participar en la COP20, la cual se realizará del 1 al 12 diciembre en Lima, Perú. La participación en el taller estará limitada a un cupo máximo de 45 personas. Objetivos: Brindar a los participantes información actualizada sobre el proceso de negociación de la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas para el Cambio Climático (CMNUCC). Comprender las relaciones existentes entre las posiciones y políticas nacionales de los diferentes países. Favorecer un análisis conjunto de la situación actual de las negociaciones internacionales sobre cambio climático, y promover que la sociedad civil latinoamericana juegue un rol más activo en ellas. Identificar los avances prioritarios que los Estados deben conseguir en la COP20 a fin de sentar las bases para que el nuevo acuerdo climático a ser suscrito el 2015 en París sea vinculante y efectivo. Generar mecanismos de comunicación e intercambio para optimizar el trabajo de la sociedad civil Latinoamericana con miras a las negociaciones de Lima y París. Generar un diálogo abierto y constructivo entre representantes de la sociedad civil de América Latina Mayor información con: Andrea Rodríguez, AIDA, [email protected] Paula Ellinger, AVINA, [email protected]
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By María José Veramendi Villa, senior lawyer AIDA, @MaJoVeramendi Are 4:00 am It's a weekend of national holidays. We leave Lima, Peru, bound for the city of Oxapampa, in the high jungle department of Pasco. have not even two hours and traffic on the Central Highway stops completely. After talking with drivers from neighboring cars, we learn that two trucks collided on a curve and load one of them was watered down the road. We can not happen. The hours pass and desperation grows. At this point I'll spare you the anecdotes about the lack of road safety education of my compatriots. It would take me at least 10 entries in this blog. I will summarize by saying: ZERO respect for others! The Storyteller polluted river We were standing about five hours on the road, in the valley of the Rimac River , whose name in Quechua means talkative. Its flow down from the Andes , runs through the valley, the city of Lima, Callao and empties into the Pacific Ocean . It is one of the three river basins that supply water to the nearly 9 million inhabitants of the desert metropolitan Lima. However, Rimac water that reaches the treatment plant Potable Water and Sewerage Lima (Sedapal) is highly contaminated by various sources: discharge of industrial wastewater, domestic and irrigation; Environmental passives; and solid waste dumps, among others. The gravity of the situation is such that since August 2013, increased by 53% SEDAPAL budget of chemical inputs to purify the river water. In a statement on 1 August 2014 a representative of that entity indicated that "e l problem of pollution is increasing" . Lima is left without water As you can imagine, five hours in traffic allow you several moments of reflection. Between sleep and boredom, they caught my attention the washes cars and trucks . Although it is something I had already noticed on previous trips to La Oroya, spare time made me watch him carefully. These sinks were installed as improvised on one side of the road, on the banks of the Rimac. The most interesting, surprising and outrageous of them (see photos) is that they are a source of wasted water . River are supplied through hoses or pipes with sprinklers that NEVER close. The worst thing is not about one or two laundry rooms. They are at least 20 that are located along the road, throwing water constantly and without control . I doubt that these businesses clandestine reach their monthly water bill. It is ironic that occur this kind of thing in full view of the authorities in a city like Lima: so vulnerable to the effects of climate change , where more than one million people have no water connection, where another million live with rationed water and more than a million and a half does not drain connection [1] , and where the availability and access to water are dwindling . If the situation I have described has not been regulated, where the audit is? My journey ended 16 hours later with many questions about what we are doing to solve such basic problems as waste without water control . Recall that in December Peru will be the great host of the Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change . It is hoped to move there in consensus towards a new binding agreement to reduce emissions, but also want this to generate awareness in the authorities regarding specific actions to take care of our water resources and properly oversee its misuse . I hope that within a few decades will not have to wonder what happened to our Rimac River ... [1] Municipality of Lima. Lima strategy Adaptation to Climate Change. View: http://www.ciudad.org.pe/talleres/2012-07/pptestrategiasCC04juliov2.pdf
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