Posorja port environmental objections

Regional media are reporting the filing, in early February, of an Acción de Protección Constitucional, or constitutional protection action, against the environment ministry Ministerio del Ambiente (MAE) in conjunction with the construction of the port.

The newspaper El Comercio reported: “According to the lawsuit, the MAE acted with ‘a minimum diligence in the protection of the rights of nature’ when going through the process of considering and ultimately issuing environmental approvals.”

The lawsuit, lodged by lawyers Xavier Flores Aguirre and Wladimir Tene Sotomayor, called for, due to the lack of proper diligence with respect to the environmental approvals, a violation to be declared “of the constitutional rights of nature and precautionary measures”.

Further, they call for the execution of the project in Posjora to be suspended until the MAE approves a new Environmental Impact Study, reports El Comercio.

The La Repubilica newspaper highlighted an argument put forward by Flores after a statistical review of the MAE’s unified environmental information system Sistema Único de Información Ambiental.

This, it said, shows that 151 environmental licences were issued in the period March 2017 to January 2019, taking an average of 1,057 days for studies to be conducted per project, but, in sharp contrast, that the Posorja port project took just 92 days to gain approvals.

Particular environmental concerns raised include water pollution negatively impacting dolphin populations and other marine and plant life, as well as the more-commercial aspect of deterring a healthy level of tourism that has existed in the area to-date resulting from the displacement of dolphin populations.