Guatemala : Indicators

There are a number of policies on development priorities, but none of them constitutes a strategic environmental assessment to inform priorities between different uses of the land and of natural resources. The Secretariat of Planning and Programming of the President (SEGEPLAN - http://www.segeplan.gob.gt/downloads/ODM/III%20informe/ODM7.pdf) states that the “current political framework is made up of 43 policies of a sectoral and trans-sectoral nature, of which 23% correspond to policies whose principal purpose is the protection and management of the environment and natural resources. It is noted that the majority of these policies take environmental priorities into account for their implementation; however, only 9% of them have specific objectives related to the environment and natural resources.” There is information available on all the policies which prioritise land use, and civil society can access them. Furthermore, civil society took part in the formulation of a number of these policies.

Furthermore, analysts and civil society have criticised the last government’s unsustainable approach to land use, including an increase in operating permits for large scale open-cast mining projects, the approval of licences for oil operations in protected areas, the approval of the construction of large scale hydroelectric plants, the construction of long roads and the cultivation of of agro-fuels (sugar cane/African palm) for biofuel markest, which affect the environment contrary to the priorities set out in the principles of the 2008-2012 Government Plan and in other policies. They also criticise the lack of coordination and institutional stability which would allow implementation of strategies for sustainable land use.