Given the possible arrival of La Niña phenomenon, which is characterized by the cooling of the waters of the Pacific Oceanthe Minister of the Environment, María Susana Muhamad, told El Tiempo that the phenomenon “will be weak and short”.
The alarms are set off in the country, on behalf of the forest fires that have occurred in recent days, such as the Chingaza fire, the fire of the Las Alfombras moor in Boyacá, and another that occurred in places in the areas located between Pesca and Tota in Boyacá.
In this regard, the Minister of Environment said that currently the country has about 354 municipalities at risk from fires, 177 are at a high alert level. The La Niña phenomenon has not yet been consolidated, he maintained. It is expected that if it consolidates, it will be weak and short (its duration) and will occur simultaneously with the dry season.
“So if this happens, it will be a Niña that will benefit us because it will bring us more rain than normal in the dry season. If there is a little more rain than normal, then we are not going to feel it like when we are in the rainy season.“he assured.
However, was emphatic that it is not yet known whether the phenomenon will occur or notbut it does have a season of less rain that normally lasts until March. But he maintained that there is a 60% probability that “could be consolidated and it would arrive weak, it would arrive short and it would arrive in the season of less rain. In other words, we are not going to feel it like a great torrent of water, but rather it could almost refresh us a little this dry season.“.
La Niña phenomenon
iStock
Reservoirs and water rationing
On the other hand, the head of the environmental portfolio indicated that is monitoring the reservoirs that are used for power generation that “they ended last year at 67%. Normally they should end at 70 percent. They end a little lower. Extreme measures are not contemplated in the area of energy and in the area of water we continue to be rationed.“.
Regarding the rationing that exists in Bogotá and the Sabanaindicated that, at least 33 municipalities of Cundinamarca in the dry season “They may suffer from water shortages. And this happens every year, and that is why the need to improve the environmental conditions of the country, which is critical“.
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In addition, he stated that between December and March there is a season of less rain. Between April and July, rains again towards September.
Meanwhile, the minister stated that the reservoirs are “a little below the curves, but within the ranges. One of the most important reservoirs in the country, which is Chuza“Yes, it is still below normal and that is why water rationing in the country’s capital remains.
However, he explained that lifting the measure is a decision punctually from the Bogotá Aqueduct. But he highlighted the duration, “which has been practically uninterrupted throughout 2024 and will surely continue at least until February, March“.
Susana Muhamad, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development
EFE
Intervention of Pier 13 of Buenaventura
In this regard, in the case of pier 13 of Buenaventura, Muhamad said that it is a surprising matter of environmental omission, both on the part of the public environmental establishment of Buenaventura, which is the responsible environmental authority, and on the part of whoever is operating that dock 13 called the Port Group.
From a hint at the beginning, it has been discovered not only “a great omission, but actually many irregularities in this process of licensing and environmental regulation of this dock. We began to realize that something was not right when a board of directors of the National Infrastructure Agency, of which we are part, presented a proposal to expand a port concession that included dock 13 and they informed us that it was done a change in the environmental management plan and that is where the alert originated because we said: that is not the appropriate instrument. It had to go for an environmental license and there, we lost. In that board of directors we were 3-1, but I alerted President Petro, I alerted Minister Camargo (Exmintransporte), the issue was reviewed and we won. The decision of that board of directors was reversed and due to not complying with that requirement, the extension of the concession to 25 years was denied. And that’s where Troya started because the Port Group started taking legal action and that also led us to investigate further.“.
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Among the findings he indicated that, “irregularly they wanted to modify this environmental management plan, but we also discovered that during the last three years, certified by the Dimar (General Maritime Directorate) and the Superintendence of Ports, the volume of cargo and the draft of the port reported exceeded that which was authorized. in that environmental management plan. The public establishment of Buenaventura Environmental should have transferred the file, because then the Anla (National Environmental License Authority) assumed jurisdiction. Therefore, we demanded, from the State Legal Defense Agency and with information from the environmental sector, we demanded, I mean, this environmental management plan and a judge from Buenaventura agreed with us. But we also made a technical visit to see the operating conditions of the port.“.
In that sense, he maintained that they found an operation without any environmental control. The ships “Those who go there are carrying cereals. The cereals were full of pigeons and pigeon waste in human food. Cereals in rot, absolutely abandoned. Decomposing waste. The way to transfer the load from the dock to the ships was through completely irregular canvases. The structural conditions are deplorable. So there we saw that there was no environmental control and with the decision of the judge of Buenaventura, Anla took the file and found it totally incomplete, where it is noted that, for more than ten years, the environmental authority has not done anything in that port. and that is why such a serious situation exists today; Anla decided to suspend operations at Pier 13“.
Thus, he pointed out that there is a litigation, a dispute with that operator of a contractual nature. The decision of the national government is “to regain control of that dock, for which the concession is also given to the National Navy“And he explained that this operator is only a tenant. And also, Minagricultura will maintain this preventive measure of suspension of operations until there is an environmental instrument appropriate to the operating situation of that dock.
Regarding a possible investigation, he said that they were reviewing the filebecause there “There should be the entire history of environmental control at this dock and we found a very incomplete, looted file, without all the information, which generates alerts of irregularities not only in the dock operator, but also in the environmental public authority of Buenaventura.“.
And he maintained that they already sued, through the State Legal Agency that environmental management plan. Before administrative litigation and before judges. A judge from Buenaventura ordered that this environmental management plan be suspended and that the jurisdiction pass from the environmental authority of Buenaventura to the national authority, which is what has happened. In this case, there are too many issues that we continue to investigate, emphasized the head of that portfolio, explained Muhamad.
PORTFOLIO
*With information from EL TIEMPO
