Peru: President García passes bill to create Environment Ministry

Updated - Tuesday 10 June 2008

Peruvian President Alan García has passed a bill to create the Environment Ministry. It will be headed by two deputy ministers: one for strategic development of natural resources (including the rainforest), and the other for environmental management. The ministry’s responsibilities will include monitoring of industrial wastewater emissions and industrial water use, however, it will not have authority over water management. The government wants the Agriculture Ministry to be in charge of water, through the recently created National Water Authority.

Critics say the new ministry has been hastily put together (in just one month) in time for the joint Latin American and European Union summit which will focus on climate change. The loss of glaciers in the Andes mountain range is threatening the water supply of 30 million people in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. These critics also say the ministry is set up because it was a requirement of a bilateral trade deal with the US, and that it lacks decision-making powers in key areas.

See below a YouTube video from the Peruvian Times, showing the ceremony in which President Garcia is passing the bill.