Peru: New Minister of the Environment questioned for lack of experience and controversial projects

Swearing-in ceremony for the new Minister of the Environment, Lizzet Rojas Sánchez. Photo: PCM.

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In the midst of the political crisis that Peru is going through after the vacancy of the former president of the Republic Martín Vizcarra two controversial parliamentary projects were presented that seek to create conditions for the development of alluvial gold mining and modify the Law of the National System of Evaluation of Environmental impact. The initiatives have been considered by the Congress of the Republic at a time that the lawyer Lizzet Rojas Sánchez has just assumed as new Minister of the Environment.

Congressman for Alianza por el Progreso (APP), Omar Chehade, is the author of the bill that aims to modify articles 3, 7 and 12 of the Law of the National System of Environmental Impact (Law 27446). The points in question revolve around the mandatory nature of environmental certification for the execution of a project, the content of the application to access this certification, as well as the requirements for granting it. Experts interviewed by Mongabay Latam point out that Congressman Chehade's initiative aims to make this environmental instrument more flexible.

The environmental lawyer César Ipenza, the objective of these amendments is that the projects can be executed without having environmental impact studies even when the law requires that. You can start building anything you want, affect the environment and correct on the fly without penalty. The excuse is to reactivate the economy.

The professor of Environmental Law and former Vice Minister of the Environment Mariano Castro said that this bill ignores that economic reactivation must have an environmental and climate content and the basic principle of prevention. In addition, Castro pointed out that the initiative intends in accordance with the second transitory provision included that construction begins, or that there be extensions of the projects, without having the environmental instrument since they can present it within a period of 60 days.

He said,the environmental evaluation must be carried out before starting investment projects precisely to improve quality, to make them more efficient. And this proposal is an attack against the environmental sustainability of any investment project. It is a contradiction. It will cause damage, it will violate the environmental impact assessment system and it will not generate social trust.

Risk from alluvial mining

The other questioned bill has been presented by the legislator for the Union for Peru Alexander Lozano Inostroza. In the document delivered yesterday, Lozano proposes that alluvial gold mining in the Amazon be considered the main economic alternative to the impact of Covid-19. As explained by the former Minister of the Environment Manuel Pulgar Vidal, this bill aims to eliminate the prohibition of using equipment or machinery in bodies of water for the exercise of mining.

He declared, it is an open letter for the development of illegal mining in the Amazon, the consequences of which we already know from what is happening in Madre de Dios. The negative consequences are foreseeable. This is absolutely dangerous.

The former minister indicated that the prohibitions that are now being abolished have been in force since the period of Antonio Brack, Prime Minister of the Environment; however, these restrictions have also been constantly subject to threats.

He said, the current circumstances of the country make projects of this nature extremely dangerous, which open the door to absolutely destructive mining.

In this regard, Mariano Castro said that the message from Peru with projects like this will be that the gold produced comes from the destruction of the Amazon. He noted that this will not allow us to get out of the crisis since it is an economic reactivation without environmental or social care.

Meanwhile, César Ipenza stressed that there is a ruling from the Constitutional Court (TC), issued in 2012, which confirms the prohibition of the use of dredgers throughout the country. Along these lines, Mariano Castro pointed out that the bill by parliamentarian Alexander Lozano would contravene a prohibition that has constitutional protection.

Minister questioned

Manuel Pulgar Vidal remarked that the role of the Ministry of the Environment is to pronounce on this type of project defend its jurisdiction and the key issues for the protection of the environment. However, he considered that the brand new owner of the sector, Lizzet Rojas Sánchez, has no specialty and no knowledge on the subject.

He said, that is the most worrying thing

In addition, through his account on the social network Twitter, the former minister noted that, in recent years, Lizzet Rojas unsuccessfully applied for every call launched by the State and stressed that it has no precedent in environmental matters. I respect the sector and Peru, he noted. Minister Rojas applied this year to the Environmental Assessment and Enforcement Agency (OEFA) and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, but did not obtain the positions that she tried for not meeting the required requirements, including experience.

According to a recent government publication, Rojas is a lawyer from the University of San Martín de Porres and has a master's degree in Environmental Management from the European Postgraduate Center and the Alcalá de Henares University, Spain. Regarding his work experience, it is detailed that he has been a specialist in the Disaster Reconstruction Management Unit of the Ministry of Education and that he was deputy mayor of the Municipality of Metropolitan Lima of Sunafil. However, with respect to some work on environmental matters, it is only indicated that "he has had the opportunity to work on environmental issues for public management.

Mariano Castro emphasized that Lizzet Rojas, as the new Minister of the Environment, is the governing body of the environmental impact assessment system. And that their political responsibility is not to allow this system to permeate with an economic reactivation to the detriment of nature and without recognition of social rights. "It is a challenge that must be addressed as a priority part of its agenda," he said.

For Pulgar Vidal it is clear that the parliamentary groups that promoted the vacancy of Martín Vizcarra always had, behind that objective, a partisan and personal agenda. He cited, for example, capturing the money from the pension fund, getting the cancellation of university licenses of very low educational quality to be lifted and making activities that promote informality such as illegal mining more flexible.

He said, we have lost the balance of powers because whoever is assuming the office of the presidency of the Republic in an illegitimate way comes from Congress. What we have is the most dangerous figure of power that could lead these projects to materialize. It is not gratuitous that these projects begin to appear just two days after this government takes office with illegitimacy.

César Ipenza was of the same opinion. In his opinion, there was a use of the current crisis situation in Peru for the presentation of two initiatives totally threatening the environment and our rights." In an interview with Mongabay Latam, the lawyer stated, they believe they now have the power to approve them because every time these types of projects were presented, particularly similar to mining, they ended up being shelved.

For his part, former Vice Minister Castro commented that the same sectors that have promoted these controversial bills are those that opposed the ratification of the Escazú agreement , which aimed to improve the application of environmental rights. He recalled that those political groups indicated that our legislation was adequate for such purposes. “However, with projects like these it is more grossly evident that they are weakening environmental legislation. The new cabinet has to come out and respond clearly against these proposals, he concluded.

Mongabay Latam called Congressmen Alexander Lozano and Omar Chehade several times to obtain their version of the bills.