Category Archives: ÁREAS TEMATICAS
INSAPROMA SUPPORTS CREATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL VOLUNTEERING
THE ORGANIZED CIVIL SOCIETY OF BAJA CALIFORNIA SOUTH FIGHTS SEMARNAT AUTHORIZATION FOR MINING EXPLOITATION IN PROTECTED NATURAL AREA.
Press release:
North Carolina
Los Cardones Project
The Federal Administrative Court decrees the nullity of the authorization that SEMARNAT had granted to the mining project “Los Cardones” for open-pit mining.
The project is located within the Sierra la Laguna Biosphere Reserve, in the municipality of La Paz, B.C.S., Mexico.
Based on a nullity suit filed by the Citizens’ Front in Defense of Water and Life (FRECIUDAV), the judiciary declared null the authorization granted by the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) to the Los Cardones mining project, which was intended to develop open-pit mining activity in Baja California Sur, so the unit must issue a new resolution where it considers the conclusions set forth in the judgment.
The above implies in practical terms that the promoting company is no longer authorized to endorse the environmental impacts of its project. The decision taken by the Tribunal does not imply in any way that the new resolution issued by the Directorate General of Environmental Impact (DGIRA) of SEMARNAT must be favorable to the claims of the mining company.
In the judgment issued on February 9 of this year, the Court establishes that the Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure was not respected by the law in the matter, in the sense that productive activities in the buffer zones of Biosphere Reserves, can only be carried out by the communities that live there at the time of issuing the Declaration or with their participation.
“This is a fact that sets a precedent at national and even international level, we have managed for the fourth time to stop a mining mega-project that threatens our water and, therefore, our quality of life. The Citizen Front will continue working on the generation of legal instruments that will shield the state against the threat of mining mega-projects.
We trust that with this extremely important triumph achieved by all the South Californians who have contributed in this way to this citizen movement, public servants are aware of the importance of citizen participation in environmental management. Irina Trasviña, an official spokeswoman for FRECIUDAV, commented.
The area in which the mining activity was intended to be carried out is a Natural Protected Area (ANP) in the Biosphere Reserve modality, known as the Sierra La Laguna, the main source of fresh water supply for the south of the State. This decree dates from June 1994 and its management program from 2003. It is also listed on the World Network of Biosphere Reserves of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and in the priority sites for the conservation of the National Commission for the Knowledge and use of Biodiversity (CONABIO).
According to the promoter of the mining project, it was intended to occupy an area of 543 hectares distributed in a mining site (two cuttings, limestone mining, tailings dam, process plant and pluvial protection works), a 36 km aqueduct that would connect with a Desalination plant located on the Pacific coast, the opening of an access road, in addition to other infrastructures. All of the above, despite the fact that the ANP Sierra la Laguna decree prohibits within the reserve, “to dump or discharge pollutants into the soil, subsoil and in any kind of water current or reservoir, and to carry out polluting activities.”
“The organized civil society of Baja California Sur fought against toxic mega-mining on the three potential fronts: it smashed it into social networks, stopped its operation from civil resistance, and triumphed in the judicial contest in court. We are the first community in Latin America to succeed on all three fronts and stop the mining activity, before the start of its operations, “said Arturo Rubio Ruiz, legal counsel for FRECIUDAV.
Until today the Los Cardones project had tried several times to operate, with different names: “Paredones Amarillos” from the 90’s until 2010, then owned by the Canadian company Vista Gold; “Concordia” in 2010 and “Los Cardones” in 2011 and 2012. The company Vista Gold subsequently sold the project to the Invecture group (having as its main shareholder Ricardo Salinas Pliego) in 2013, which operates through the subsidiary “Desarrollos Zapal, SA Of C.V. “
Since 2014, with the participation of 37 Civil Society Organizations, FRECIUDAV has been integrated to lead a totally non-partisan movement, whose main objective has been to protect water supply sources and to curb the impulse of mining companies that intend to settle in the State, due to the serious environmental, social and economic impacts that these projects entail.
Citizen Front in Defense of Water and Life (FRECIUDAV)
Mallorca No. 1103 esq. Marcelo Rubio, Col. California, La Paz, B.C.S., 23070 Mexico
Tel. 612 1273464
TWENTY-EIGHTH ENVIRONMENTAL AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS DEMAND THAT THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES AND THE SENATE TO RATIFY THE PARIS AGREEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE IMMEDIATELY
Press release,
Thursday, November 10, 2016,
Santo Domingo, D.N.
This morning, 22 environmental and civil society organizations from the country delivered letters to the presidencies of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, calling for the immediate ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Among the signatory organizations of these letters are the NGO Alliance, Grupo Jaragua, PRONATURA, the Ecological Society of Cibao (SOECI), the Ecological Society of Nizao, the Dominican Environmental Consortium, Institute of Lawyers for the Protection of the Environment (INSAPROMA), Ecological Foundation Macorís Verde, Citizen Participation, the Institute for Development of the Associative Economy (IDEAC), Climate Justice, Ecoferia Dominicana and the National Committee to Combat Climate Change (CNLCC).
The following also signed the letter; Guakia Ambiente,the Federation of Organizations for the Defense of Health, Environment and Agriculture of the Peravia Province, the Tropical Ecology Foundation, the Association for the Protection of the Environment and Tourism of the Cabarete Zone And Sosúa (ASOPROCASO), Community Action for the Environment (PACMA), the Dominican Association of Authorized Public Environmental Specialties (ADEAPA), among others.
Josefina Arvelo, Coordinator of Citizen Participation, Euren Cuevas Medina of the Institute of Lawyers for the Protection of the Environment (INSAPROMA), David Montes de Oca of the Fundación Macorís Verde and Yvonne Arias of the Jaragua Group were the spokespersons for the organizations that explained the content of the letters to the media present.
In the letter, the organizations call on the Presidency of the Republic, the National Congress and the Constitutional Court to act with a sense of urgency and to avoid obstacles that may be the cause of the delay in ratifying the Paris Agreement.
They pointed out that “there should be nothing more important and urgent than the survival and safety of our families and those of the entire planet.”
They stated that it is inexplicable that the Dominican Republic has not yet ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, when in November of last year President Danilo Medina expressed his commitment to support the agreement that emerged from the World Summit on Climate Change ( COP 21), before the international community gathered in this conclave, in Paris, France.
They recalled that on that occasion the president of the nation, adopted the Country-Commitment to reduce by 25% the total emissions of carbon dioxide by 2020.
“We call for the ratification of an instrument that will favor the entire planet and our country, in line with our level of climate vulnerability, and with the fact that President Medina himself, on behalf of the Dominican Republic, on April 22, This year, at the United Nations, signed this Agreement along with 170 other states” they said.
They supported the demand for ratification of the Paris Agreement in that the country is the eighth most vulnerable and threatened by the effects of climate change and shares the island with Haiti, which is the third in this “tragic list”.
“The recent hurricane Matthew just confirmed this situation, leaving behind thousands of families displaced and homeless, wounded, missing and dead, especially in southwestern Haiti, where the death toll rose to about one thousand people” they said.
The organizations emphasize in the document submitted that the Dominican Republic belongs to the group of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) located in the tropics, particularly threatened by the increase in the level of the oceans, due to the ice melting in the Arctic , and by extreme phenomena such as increased frequency and intensity of hurricanes, as well as by prolonged and severe droughts.
They noted that although the country will no longer be among the group of nations of the world that ratified before last Friday, November 4, the Paris Agreement, it is time to ratify it and “honor the commitment made by President Danilo Medina, in Paris, France, in November 2015, and on 22 April this year, in New York, at the UN headquarters. “
Representatives of 22 environmental and civil society organizations handed over to the director of the representation center, Olimpia Méndez Cartagena, a letter addressed to the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, demanding the immediate ratification of the Paris Agreement on the Climate change.
This morning, representatives of twenty-two environmental and civil society organizations delivered in the Senate a letter addressed to the President of that body demanding the immediate ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Delegation of twenty-two environmental organizations and civil society deposit a letter addressed to the Presidency of the Senate, in the Committee on the Environment of that body, demanding the immediate ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change
Producers have 120 days to leave Valle Nuevo park
Constanza RD – Producers of Valle Nuevo in Constanza ask President Danilo Medina to listen to their requests and reject the term of 120 days granted by the Ministry of Environment to evict the park.
Like a bucket of cold water, the Ministry of the Environment, Francisco Domínguez Brito, fell onto the producers of Valle Nuevo, where he says that in 120 days the producers will have to leave the grounds of the park of Valle Nuevo.
For the defender of Valle Nuevo, Narciso Isa Conde, says that with these measures, the Government is under pressure from powerful people.
Norberto Martinez president of the block of peasants of Constanza, asked President Danilo Medina to listen to producers and discard the order to leave the park within 120 days provided in the Ministry of Environment
resolution 14_2016.
These statements were offered during the panel “Valle Nuevo es Agua” (Valle Nuevo is Water) organized by the Academy of Science, where the attorney assured that they will continue to pursue the illegal coal business.
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Executive Director of the Institute of Lawyers for the Protection of the Environment(INSAPROMA) |
 Eleuterio Martinez
Coordinador of the Environmental Comission of Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo |
Mor news on same subject:
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DIARIO LIBRE:
03 NOV 2016, 8:17 PM
Domínguez Brito: “El diálogo no puede implicar posposición de medidas en parque Valle Nuevo”
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EL MOMENTO.COM: Por: La Redacción, Fecha: Ministro advierte son irreversibles medidas para proteger Valle Nuevo |
The event was organized by: 
Production areas of surface water
Numerous surface water currents originate in the mountain ranges of the country. A total of 17 zones producing surface water are identified.
Source: Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, Atlas 2012, pages 47 & 48
Protest outside the National Palace to demand Barrick Gold profits for communities
El Nuevo Diario, SANTO DOMINGO social leaders of Sanchez Ramirez, Maimon and Piedra Blanca now deposited at the National Palace a letter by which they requested the President Danilo Medina deliver the 5% of the profits of Barrick Gold to communities impacted by the activity of the Pueblo Viejo mine.
In the letter signed by more than two hundred grassroots organizations request the president abide by the Law of Environment and Natural Resources that includes a corresponding 5% as established in the 2017 General State Budget item.
“This request for enforcement of the law and institutionalization includes, Mr. President, our national commitment to accompany and monitor our local authorities to ensure that every penny of the 5% is invested in projects and development plans that achieve levels of decent life for most of our people “, adds the document.
Protesters say that up to 2014 the Executive Power had failed to deliver to the people affected by Barrick Gold over RD $ 1.300 million as mandated and entitled by Law 64-00.
On this occasion, activists were confident that the president “will do justice, comply with the law, and help communities installed on the most important mining reserves in the country so they may build a better future using the resources that belong to them.
The delivery of the document was carried out in conjunction with a peaceful demonstration outside the premises of the National Palace.
Source: here
COMMUNITIES ARE ENTITLED TO BENEFIT FROM THE RESOURCES OF ITS TERRITORY
Posted by: Enrique De León
If the government is receiving export revenues from the gold and silver mine Pueblo Viejo Cotuí, it is obliged to deliver 5% of these resources to communities for their development.
This is an obligation which is contained in Law No. 64-00 of Environment and Natural Resources, and the contract between the Dominican government and Barrick Gold the company that has leased the mine.
There is no justification for the government of Danilo Medina to not give communities the resources they are owed to them since 2012 when they began exports of gold and silver.
These exports have had a huge increase this year as a result of high prices of these two metals in the international market, being one of the main sources of income in the country.
It is outrageous that the government negotiated this down to 5% to the communities of municipalities between Piedra Blanca and Fantino. In other countries the percentage that corresponds to the municipalities and communities is much higher. For example, in Peru’s export earnings metals, oil and gas is 40% for municipalities and communities and 60% for the central government.
The logic of this percentage is that these resources are non-renewable, ie; will be exhausted at some point, so if the communities where these resources belong not have the opportunity to develop an alternative to the mining economy, when it no longer exists, they will be left with the hole in the ground, with the negative impacts of mining and higher levels of poverty. They will degrade into ghost towns, having once been rich, will end up more impoverished than their neighbors.
INSAPROMA: Protecting the Loma Miranda is a matter of life or death
Original article: Nacional, Friday, September 21, 2012
The Lawyers Institute for Environmental Protection (INSAPROMA) through its Executive Director, Euren Cuevas Medina, have expressed their opposition to the exploitation of Loma Miranda and say they are preparing a brief to submit to the appropriate courts, those responsible in any attempt to jeopardize access to water that is a fundamental right as provided in the Constitution of the Nation. This institution has a history of cases brought to court, as the case rockash, Dunas de Bani, its opposition to the installation of a cement plant near the Los Haitises National Park, the granceras of San Cristobal among others, joins the demands of the generality of institutions and sensible people in the country who claim the “declaration” as a protected area of Loma Miranda for its importance for the conservation of water.
Lic. Cuevas Medina, said that there are important precedents in cases similar to this, as is the judgment of the Administrative Court of Costa Rica that by claim of its community, were canceled all permits that had been granted to the mining company of Canadian capital, Infinito Gold SA to extract 800 thousand ounces of gold in the town of Cutris of San Carlos, based on the danger of such exploitation to the access to water for the community and because of irregularities in the process of permits, in the famous “Crucitas” case.
The legal basis of the writing that are developed by INSAPROMA is declared in the Constitution of the Republic in its articles 14 to 17, 66 and 67, international conventions such as Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification and Drought, General Law of the Environment and Natural Resources No. 64-00, specifically Article 178 which states “Any person or association of citizens has an active legal right to denounce and sue for any fact, action, factor, process,or omission or obstruction, which has caused, is causing or may cause damage, degradation, damage, contamination and / or deterioration of the environment and natural resources.”
Paragraph.- Also may require before the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and any other authority established by this law and legislation, or to the Office of Environment and Natural Resources, compliance with the obligations established by the this Act and other environmental laws, environmental quality standards, regulations, demanding cessation, correction, or repair of the anomalous situation that drives or cause, and stipulated penalties for offenders.
Obviously, this article gives active legal right to every person not only for a “fait accompli” that has damaged the environment, if not for any action, factor or process or omission or impeding them that in the future may harm or endanger the natural resources and in this case that danger where Falconbridge Xstrata Nickel mining threatens to pollute and do away with a green lung that is Loma Miranda where 22 rivers are generated that feed water to the provinces of Monsignor Nouel, La Vega, Maria Trinidad Sanchez, Duarte and Sanchez Ramirez, as stated by the ecologist and member of the Academy of Sciences and the Environmental Commission of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, Luis Carvajal Núñez. This would affect more than one million people and agricultural properties.
INSAPROMA warns the mining company Falconbridge Xstrata Nickel that continuing with the permitting process for the exploitation of Loma Miranda will be met in the courts and authorities of Environment and Natural Resources calling them not to grant an environmental license whereby a serious Environmental Impact Study would certainly prove this mining project as non feasible.
Dominguez Brito’s successes – OPINION
EspejoPublico.net
By Staff Writer – Nelson Reyes Star
September 9, 2016
He has started on the right foot, the minister has given show of political capacity, technical-scientific management and passion for nature.
The appointment of Francisco Dominguez Brito as minister of environment filled to the people of Santiago and the country with hope, because, after a disastrous management, recognized and verified by the president of the Republic himself in several visits to different regions of the country that converted in surprise to him and which are the most obvious evidences that our country was or is going in a very bad way, as we are slowly creating a desert with people.
With the arrival of the new minister it seems to have found a romantic with great political and legal capacity to do decent work in favor of our natural resources and with aspiration to sustainable development.
I must stress that I did not have the slightest hope that the rate of destruction would change with the appointment of Brito. However, knowing the work being done; the appointment of technical and administrative staff who will accompany him and the various meetings of the minister with the most representative organizations in the country, also with the visits that he has made to the places most devastated by human unconsciousness, I have no doubt that the apparently I was wrong.
It seems that for the first time we have in the ministry of environment a combination of fundamental elements for efficient environmental management, these are: political knowledge, technical and scientific knowledge and passion for nature and thereby to see this implemented in practice we only have to wait a few months to see endeavors that we Dominicans must support, because it is the only guarantee to change the course of the disorder that our country faces in environmental matters.
I take this opportunity to make a call to civil society, entrepreneurs and political parties to present initiatives to assist the Minister to exercise the authority it takes to promote environmental collective rights over individual interests. We have the basis for efficient and sustainable management, in this case, we assign the necessary authority to enforce laws.
I hope that what I am writing becomes a reality and that the appointment of Eduardo Rodriguez, provincial director (Santiago) and Domingo Rodriguez, general manager of provincial and municipal offices of the environment are the bases to direct Santiago and the country on the right track, but if it is no so, then we have no other way than to take gun and that it be what God wants.
Source: EspejoPublico.net
