 |
|
|
Environment Ministers Carve Out a Space |
|
By Humberto Márquez*
Little by little, the environmental ministries in Latin America are expanding their influence in the public sphere. Since 1998, they have been part of a regional forum that has helped unite them as a single voice in global environmental politics.
CARACAS - The natural riches of Latin America and the Caribbean -- whether their 900 million hectares of forest or the unparalleled diversity of plants, birds, reptiles and other animals -- have not yet translated into greater power for the region's environment ministries, which are entrusted with managing and protecting that wealth.
The environment ministries have emerged as a result of global concern about the environment, and have advanced in a process that has been littered with obstacles, including funding shortfalls, according to Tierramérica's conversations with the ministers.
Over the past three decades, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have created environment ministries, though with different levels of power, and in 1998 the forum of these portfolios became the region's maximum authority for taking environmental decisions in the international sphere.
The forum promotes a common regional policy and the "transversality" of public policies, in other words, all decisions, such as those related to industrial investment, mining, watershed management and agricultural development should take into account environmental rules and precautions.
"It is important that the (environmental) issue is incorporated into public policy in a region where 70 percent of the population is urban, and the environment is equivalent to cleaning up cities and improving access to housing and potable water," Juan Pablo Bonilla, deputy environment minister in Colombia, told Tierramérica.
The political influence of these ministries varies from country to country, but some of the determining factors are budget, constitutional authority and even the political weight of the environment ministers themselves.
The case of the Brazilian environment ministry is illustrative. Minister Marina Silva, a long-time supporter of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, leader of the leftist Workers Party (PT), has wielded her power where she can.
Despite some setbacks, particularly the green light given the cultivation and sale of genetically modified soy, the environment ministry maintains strong influence over policy, because it has the power to authorize or ban activities related to fishing, transport of species, construction of mega-projects, management of water resources and energy production.
"Transversality is present in all government policy making. But there are differences of opinion. The duty of the Cabinet is to process and integrate them, and the environmental question is a priority," Mitzi da Costa, head of environmental affairs at Brazil's foreign ministry, told Tierramérica.
But not everyone agrees that the environment is a priority. "The ministry faces a difficult situation and loses battles to the agriculture and finance ministries, even in the case of conquests made by the previous administration" of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, says the editor of the environmental publication 'Jornal do Meio Ambiente', Vilmar Berna.
"The environment is second to economics," he said in a conversation with Tierramérica.
In Costa Rica, the "transversal" approach came hand-in-hand with institutional redesign.
"Ours is a politically strong office because it is the ministry of environment, and of energy and mines," says Costa Rican minister Carlos Rodríguez.
When he showed up for a ministry-level discussion on mining, several of his colleagues told him: "You came to the wrong meeting."
But "by integrating the environment with energy and mining issues we are trying to resolve a contradiction and the environmental decisions are a strong presence in the government's economic sector," says Rodríguez.
Venezuela is proud of being the first country in the region to establish an environment-specific ministry, which it did in 1976, promoting conservation laws and putting six of every 10 square kilometers of Venezuelan territory under some sort of legal protection.
In a conversation with Tierramérica, minister Ana Elisa Osorio defended the role of her office in another area of policy transversality: environmental education. "This is outside formal education, and should be a component of the work of organizations and projects in all areas in the duty that belongs to all of us, which is the fight against poverty," she said.
But environmentalists are pessimistic about the role of the ministry. "This is the ministry with least political weight, and every time they have negotiated plans for social or economic development, it has had to cede to the ministries of finance, economy or agriculture," says César Aponte, leader of the non-governmental conservation group Bioparques.
The annual budget of the Venezuelan environment ministry is 187 million dollars, or 0.7 percent of state expenses.
The ministry in Colombia, one of the top six countries in terms of biological diversity, has a budget of 38 million dollars, which is not even one percent of the national budget.
The environment ministry is part of a much broader ministry so its power has been reduced, says Manuel Rodríguez, a former minister. This "is going to limit society's ability to protect the environment. In Latin America in general it is insufficient, and in our case is increasingly reduced."
In Mexico, President Vicente Fox has built the environment ministry along political instead of technocrat lines, naming career politician Alberto Cárdenas, a longtime National Action Party (PAN), to head the portfolio.
The ministry, known as the Secretariat of Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries, has an annual budget of 1.7 billion dollars, or 1.2 percent of the national budget.
In Suriname, the ministry is just a year old, and includes labor and technological development in addition to environmental matters.
"It is too early for an assessment but not for making bets, because the opportunities in Suriname lie in the management and sustainable development of 80 to 90 percent of its territory, which is uninhabited forest," minister Clifford Marica told Tierramérica.
Despite their limited budgets, the environmental ministries of Latin America and the Caribbean are fighting to expand their power.
National campaigns or debates that were able to galvanize public opinion, such as those related to the glyphosate fumigation of illegal drug crops in Colombia, or to the cultivation of genetically modified soy in Brazil, are proving that the ministries can be more than a mere "green" presence in the national Cabinets.
* Humberto Márquez is an IPS correspondent. Mario Osava (Brazil), María Isabel García (Colombia) and Diego Cevallos (Mexico) contributed to this report.
|
