The Venezuela Supreme Court Suspends Mining Concessions in The Imataca Forest
Reserve
11/16/97
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Headline: The Venezuela Supreme Court Suspends Mining Concessions in The
Imataca Forest Reserve
Source: Julio Cesar Centeno, PhD
Las Tapias, Edif. Carreto
Pent House Tel. +58-74-714576
PO Box 750 Fax +58-74-714576
Merida - Venezuela Email: JCenteno@ciens.ula.ve
http://www.ciens.ula.ve/~jcenteno/
Date: 11/16/97
THE VENEZUELAN SUPREME COURT SUSPENDS MINING CONCESSIONS IN THE IMATACA FOREST
RESERVE
Julio Cesar Centeno
Venezuela.- The Supreme Court of Justice ordered the executive branch of
government to suspend the allocation of mining concessions in the
Imataca forest reserve.
The president of the Supreme Court said this precautionary ruling is
meant to prevent possibly irreparable damages to the reserve,
while the Supreme Court makes a decision on the legality of Presidential
Decree 1850. According to Cecilia Sosa G›mez, President of the Court,
and a specialist in Environmental Law, the final ruling will take place
within three to four months.
BACKGROUND
Imataca is a forest reserve of 3.6 million hectares, the size of
Holland, nearly as large as Switzerland. It is located at the foot
of the Guayana Shield, in the Northeast of Venezuela, covered with rich,
pristine tropical forests. It is also rich in gold, diamonds, iron-ore,
bauxite, manganese, and other minerals.
Its wealth of ecosystems, biodiversity, and genetic resources is rivaled
by few places on Earth. It is one of the key legacies to future
generations of Venezuelans. Its protection is a matter of national
interest.
Part of this territory is also home to five indigenous groups, whose
survival and cultural legacy depend on the surrounding natural
environment: the Warao, Arawako, Karia, Akawaio and Pemon.
Its geopolitical importance is enhanced by the fact that it includes
about three-quarters of the Venezuelan border with Guyana.
In recognition of its natural wealth and fragility, the area was
delimited as a Forest Reserve and a Protected Area in the early 60s.
Such a legal structure is meant to permanently protect its natural
resources and ecological processes, while allowing the selective
harvesting of industrial timber and non-timber forest products, through
long-term concessions, and 30 to 40 year management plans. About half of
the reserve has been allocated in forest concessions.
During the 80s and 90s, a relatively small part of the region was
invaded by thousands of small miners, seeking mainly for gold and
diamonds. The anarchical nature of their activities, and the absence of
law and government in the area, has resulted in the smuggling of some 10
tons of gold each year, plus a heavy toll on the environment and the
local population. By the end of 1996, small gold miners had invaded
about ten percent of the area.
The large deposits of gold and diamonds also brought the attention of
international mining companies, encouraged by a government policy of
"apetura minera". The official plan aims to increase the production of
gold alone from 15 to 50 tons per year, turning Venezuela into one of
the main producers of gold in the world. Gold deposits within this
Reserve are estimated at 10,000 metric tons.
But the expansion of mining in Imataca was hampered by applicable
environmental regulations, given the character of the area as a Forest
Reserve and a Protected Area. To overcome these difficulties, the mining
lobby pushed for a modification of the legal framework controlling the
reserve.
Over 420 concessions or permits have been hurriedly handed down in this
region to date, most of them on questionable legal grounds. In the mean
time, the Ministry of the Environment prepared a management plan for the
reserve, to allow for mining through the modification of existing
regulations. In an unprecedented decision taken by the Cabinet on May
14, 1997, the Government distributed the Reserve among loggers and
miners, ignoring the territorial and constitutional rights of indigenous
people, and violating national regulations and international agreements
on human rights, resource management, and environmental protection.
The government's plan to mine Imataca has encountered serious
opposition, from the general public, political and academic circles,
Environmental and social groups. The legality of this measure has been
questioned by a wide array of social and political groups. The
Congressional Commission on the Environment, the Attorney General, the
University of the Andes, the Church, the College of Sociologists and
Anthropologists of Venezuela, the College of Engineers, virtually all
environmental groups, the indigenous people of this territory, several
political parties, and a wide array of prominent individuals, have all
requested the annulment of this unfortunate decision.
QUESTIONABLE LEGALITY
The Supreme Court of Justice has so far received three different
requests for the annulment of Presidential Decree 1850. The first was
introduced by environmental groups and the College of Sociologists and
Anthropologists of Venezuela. The second by the Congressional Commission
on the Environment of the Chamber of Deputies. The third by the
Federation of Indigenous People from the affected area.
The Organic Law on Territorial Ordinance assigns to the Legislative
Power the competence of determining the modality of use of the national
territory. Mining implies a change in the nature of use of the Forest
Reserve of Imataca, without authorization from Congress. The Council of
Minister thus assumed a role that corresponds to the Legislative Power.
This is one of the arguments presented by the Congressional Commission
on the Environment of the Chamber of Deputies to demand the annulment
of Presidential Decree 1850 at the Supreme Court.
Presidential Decree 1850 also violates Article 57 of the Forestry Law,
which does not allow for the change of use of the whole or part of a
Forest Reserve without previous authorization from Congress. Forest
Reserves are part of the Areas under Special Administration, in the
terms established by Article 15 of the Organic Law on Territorial
Ordinance. Mining is not contemplated as an acceptable form of land-use
in such areas.
Presidential Decree 1850 also violates the Washington Convention of 1941
on the protection of flora, fauna and the scenic beauties of America;
the approbatory Law of the Convention on Biological Diversity,
subscribed by Venezuela at the Rio Summit in 1992; and Convention 107 of
the International Labor Organization on the protection of indigenous
people. According to the Washington Convention of 1941, a change of use
of protected areas can only occur with previous authorization from the
National Congress of the respective country.
Presidential Decree 1850 also contradicts Presidential Decree 2214 of
April 1992, on the "Norms for the Administration of Forestry Activities
in Forest Reserves, Forest Lots, Forested Areas under Protection and
Forest Areas in Private Property Destined for Production". Such
dispositions have the character of Technical Norms under the Penal Law
of the Environment.
Presidential Decree 1850 also violates Articles 27,28,30,32 and 38 of
the Organic Law on Territorial Ordinance, relative to the right of civic
society to be informed and consulted in matter related to decision of
this nature. It also violates Article 3 of the Organic Law on the
Environment, establishing public participation as a pivotal principle
for the conservation, defense and improvement of the environment. Such a
right derives as well from the Principle of Participative Governance,
developed in Articles 2 and 3 of the National Constitution.
Presidential Decree 1850 also violates Article 25 of the Law on Civic
and Political Rights, establishing the need for public participation in
the management of public matters.
GOVERNOR IN REBELLION
The decision of the Supreme Court prohibits the allocation of mining
concessions, or any other form of authorization to explore or
exploit minerals within the Imataca Forest Reserve, using
Presidential Decree 1850 as the legal framework. However, Jorge
Carvajal, the Governor of the State of Bolvar, within which
jurisdiction the largest proportion of the reserve is located, has
declared that he will continue to allocate mining rights in the area.
He argues that nearly one hundred thousand miners would loose their
means of subsistence if the decision of the Supreme Court is strictly
applied. These people would then move into urban areas -he argues-
accentuating beyond control the already serious social problems derived
from the high rate of unemployment in the state. According to the
Governor, the people affected are willing to take up arms, should the
final decision of the Supreme Court be unfavorable to mining in Imataca.
AMBITION, INCOMPETENCE AND THE NATIONAL INTEREST
Others are not so convinced that the situation is as depicted by the
local Governor, who is linked to mining activities himself, and depends
on the vote of small miners for his reelection. A survey carried out by
the National Guard accounted for no more than 30,000 miners in the area,
most of them concentrated in the southern corner of the reserve, within
an area not exceeding 10 percent of the total surface.
Until mid 1996, the Ministry of the Environment had opposed mining
activities within the Reserve. It had become an obstacle to the
expansion of mining there, as well as to the legalization of mining
activities already on the ground. But it finally yielded to pressure. By
the end of 1996 it had agreed to set aside 300,000 hectares of the
reserve for mining, under the argument that this corner of the reserve
had already been effectively lost. The official position was at the time
that this section of the reserve was already in the hand of gold miners,
most of them operating illegally, and that it would be impossible to
expel them form the site. The inability of the Government to control
their activities was recognized by the Minister of the Environment and
the Minister of Defense, when questioned by a Congressional Committee on
the Environment, on June 12, 1997.
Thus, the first proposal of the Management Plan designed by the Ministry
of the Environment about a year ago, allocated 300,000 thousand hectares
to mining activities within the Reserve. But with a change of Minister
at the beginning of this year, the management plan was suddenly modified
to increase the area allocated to mining, from 300,000 hectares, less
than 10 percent of the reserve, to 1.4 million hectares, nearly 40
percent of the total area. The new Management Plan also leaves under the
discretion of the Ministry of Mines the decision to allow mining
activities in all but 5 percent of the reserve, which is that has been
set aside as "protection zones". This is the version of the plan finally
approved by the Cabinet.
The attempt to open up the Reserve to mining, in the scale proposed by
the Management Plan sanctioned by Presidential Decree 1850, is mainly
due to the pressure of the industrial mining lobby. National and
international companies have launched a well-orchestrated campaign to
exploit the mineral resources of the Imataca forest reserve, with the
support of key economic and political groups within the country. Among
the companies who have applied for operations in Imataca are: M&M
International Business Corporation; Greenwich Resources; Krysos Mining,
part of the Krysven Holding; Latinvan, part of American Gold and Diamond
Holding; Gold Reserve of Venezuela, part of the Gold Reserve
Corporation; Venezuelan Gold Fields; Zuplan CA, part of Hubber Finance
Ltd, and many others.
The mining lobby and their political supporters argue that, with the
wealth that would derive from these activities, the country would easy
the burden of its external debt, that thousands of jobs would be
created; that local people would benefit; that the country would finally
develop.
The Minister of CORDIPLAN, the planning ministry, with a key role in the
Cabinet, finds it unconceivable that anyone should oppose mining
anywhere in the country when nearly 80 percent of the population lives
in dire poverty, while seating on gold. At a public event organized by
the Mining Chamber on September 12, 1997, the Minister of Cordiplan,
Teodoro Petkoff, mocked those opposed to mining in Imataca, saying:
"Venezuelan are like Hindus, who rather starve than eat their cows, for
ethical and religious reasons"
What the Minister of Cordiplan does not dare mention is that rampant
poverty in Venezuela has nothing to do with mining gold or diamonds in
Imataca. It is more closely related to the acute social inequalities
that have dominated the social structure of the country for far too many
years. To the lack of truly democratic means of governance. To the
concentration of land, economic means, and political power in the hands
of a few. To the widespread corruption permeating all layers of
government, and operating with absolute impunity. To the incompetence of
government official who, like him, are unable to steer the country on
the path to development. To their lack of planning and managerial
abilities. To the absence of principles in government bureaucrats, who
far too often sell themselves, and the country's wealth, to whoever
makes the best offer.
Small miners have become a convenient smoke screen behind which the
interest of major mining companies and financial group pretend to hide.
Such a tactic is supported by political mercenaries. Nonetheless, the
overwhelming public rejection of their attempt to mine the Forest
Reserve of Imataca should serve as a warning to corrupt politician who,
for far too long, have been operating against the national interest,
negotiating the country's wealth as if it was their own.
_______________________________________________
Julio Cesar Centeno, PhD
Las Tapias, Edif. Carreto
Pent House Tel. +58-74-714576
PO Box 750 Fax +58-74-714576
Merida - Venezuela Email: JCenteno@ciens.ula.ve
http://www.ciens.ula.ve/~jcenteno/
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