The Minister of Environment Angel Estevez has not been available for interviews by the press since the government announced the National State of Emergency on 20 March 2020. Meanwhile, the Coalition of Northwest Environmental Organizations (Coanor) denounces the recurrence of forest fires and indiscriminate logging in this region. Many trucks carrying timber to and from sawmills in the region have been observed by the Coalition.
The Coalition calls for the government to declare an environmental emergency on the Northwest. The Coalition notified that more than 50 forest fires have been reported since the Presidency instated curfew and closed most of government. The lax surveillance has created ideal conditions for criminals to penetrate protected areas and take these over. Affected is the Cerro de Chaquey that feeds 19 rural aqueducts and two reservoirs in Montecristi province, and localities in the municipalities in Loma de Cabrera and Partido on the border with Haiti.
Coanor called on environmental and disaster management authorities to develop a plan to put out the fires and to ban cutting down trees, mostly native pines.
The Coalition says that in the forest reserve of Restauración, Sabana Clara the fires have destroyed large areas. The fires have also spread to areas in Villa Los Almácigos, Sabaneta and Monción in Santiago Rodríguez province, affecting the Central Mountain Range.
Coanor denounced that dozens of trucks have been seen loaded with wood, more than 20 per day, destined for the sawmills, which, he said, no longer have space to store the wood, due to the accelerated pace at which the lumber is being cut.
“It shows that everything is out of control. These indiscriminate cuts represent a threat to the ecological balance in the area and ensure that forest management plans are not being carried out according to the norms established in Environmental Law 64-00,” denounces the organization.
The organization requested that the Ministry of Environment take the dry season into account and suspend its authorizing tree cutting, at least for the next three months.
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N Digital
Hoy
5 May 2020