Agro-environmental court accepts lawsuit against ABT director for environmental damage

This Monday, Judge Andrea Ajata Larico, of the Agro-Environmental Court of the city of La Paz, admitted the lawsuit against the national director of the Authority for Supervision and Social Control of Forests and Land (ABT), Luis Flores Orellana, for the alleged damage caused to the environment.

This lawsuit was filed three weeks ago by environmental activists, who pointed out that, “for the first time, an environmental lawsuit is admitted against an authority that, due to negligent performance of functions, caused environmental damage,” according to the La Voz de la Naturaleza website.

The group of environmental activists holds Flores responsible due to the atmospheric damage that the city suffered of La Paz due to forest fires and non-compliance with the environmental pause.

They ask that the director of the ABT be sanctioned for damage to the environment, biodiversity and public health in La Paz. In addition, they demand that justice instruct Flores to process the reversal of titles before INRA and the non-recognition of the social economic function of the properties in which clearings were carried out without authorization.

In the lawsuit they also request financial compensation for the more than 200 volunteer firefighters who, with their own resources, They moved to the areas affected by the fires to fight the fire and try to minimize environmental damage.

Likewise, activists They expressed their repudiation of the failure to comply with the environmental pause in several regions of Bolivia and blame the director of the ABT for the lack of control and oversight.