Environment Ministry Reiterates Protected Areas are Irreducible

Throughout the course followed by the Chamber of Deputies regarding the draft law covering the division of the National Park of the East, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARENA) reiterated categorically that the Community of Boca de Yuma, legally and technically, has never formed part of the National Park of the East.

The Environment Ministry reiterated, before the authorities and citizens, that the protected areas are irreducible, that is to say its borders should only be modified to make them larger, not to reduce them.

The Environment Ministry carried the process through to its corresponding institutional conclusion and in so doing ratified its original, technical and legal position and presented it to the Environment commissions of the chambers of the National Congress.

Since the creation, in 1975, of the protected areas under Decree 1311, Boca de Yuma has never been inside the Park of the East thus the argument that the town’s land is protected area, as stated by the authors of the legal brief, is unfounded.

This was clarified by the Environment commissions of both chambers of the National Congress in an official communication on December 11, 2008 by the Deputy Ministry of Protected Areas and Biodiversity. Notwithstanding our documented explanation, the proposal for modification of the borders of the Park of the East was remitted for the second time to the Ministry on February 2.

Environment Minister Jaime David Fernández Mirabal, in a February 26, 2009 communiqué, reiterated to the Environment commissions of the Chamber of Deputies that he understood the draft law that was attempting to modify the Park’s borders was “unnecessary” and he suggested that it be rendered “without effect.”

The Environment Ministry reiterated, before the authorities and citizens, that the protected areas are irreducible, that is to say its borders should only be modified to make them larger, not to reduce them.

He reminded the tourism business sector that the protected areas represent the main source and support of this activity and that they guarantee its future. He warned that they should not become involved in projects that do not guarantee legal security and that do not correspond to the management plans of the protected areas.

The National Park of the East is the most visited protected area in the country, with an average of 300,000 visitors a year. It is a reserve for unique species of flora and fauna that has contributed to the rise in a comprehensive community development-type of tourism that has created quality jobs and the proliferation of micro-businesses in the areas around the park, mainly in Bayahíbe.

The Park, because of its ecological value and environment services, is currently in the final phase of being declared a heritage for humanity site by the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO).

Participants in the press conference led by Environment and Natural Resources Minister Jaime David Fernández Mirabal included Eleuterio Martínez, Deputy Minister for Protected Areas; Rosa Urania Abreu, Deputy Environment Minister; Daneris Santana, Deputy Minister for Coastal and Marine Resources; José Manuel Mateo, Director of Protected Areas; Betania Hernández, Deputy Legal Director for Protected Areas and Marisol Castillo, Legal Director.