Guatemala : Indicators

Title VIII of the Regulation of Evaluation, Monitoring and Tracking details a series of basic requirements for public participation in all industrial activities, construction and other projects which might have an environmental impact. There is a database (http://www.marn.gob.gt/aplicaciones/consultapub/Default.aspx) detailing all the consultations carried out under this regulation, and local communities can request more information from their regional office of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) (http://www.marn.gob.gt/aplicaciones/Impambnuevo/TM_ESTUDIOS_IMPAMB/ShowTM_ESTUDIOS_IMPAMBTablePage.aspx), but detailed information of the environmental impacts is not available online.

However, according to an evaluation of this process carried out by the Institute of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment (http://www.infoiarna.org.gt/article.aspx?id=239), a problem which has still not been resolved is the participation of civil society in this process, and the study concludes that there has been little participation in such processes, which makes it impossible to know the position of civil society with regard to certain projects.

In addition, the process of consultation related to the environmental impact assessments (EIA) processes is at the discretion of MARN, which determines whether or not there will be public participation. Furthermore, MARN has few resources to administer the EIA process, which also affects the capacity for consultation. Finally, the EIA processes, and the required consultations, are considered time-consuming by the people legally obliged to carry them out.