Guatemala : Indicators

Currently there are no regulations or norms in forest legislation, nor have they been incorporated, to promote the right to access to public information in the forest sector. These legal gaps are being filled to a certain extent by the obligations stipulated by the Law on Access to Public information (LAIP), and the creation of Public Information Units (UIP) which make it easier to provide the information required by the population; this tool has been widely used by various sectors and stakeholders associated with the forest sector.

Elsewhere, Guatemala is implementing a process of consolidation and dissemination of information on the forest sector through the National System of Statistical Forest Information for Guatemala (SIFGUA), an initiative promoted by the National Forests Institute (INAB) with the support of the International Tropical Timber Organisation. Its website is currently up and running (http://www.sifgua.org.gt/), providing information related to the system and information on the Guatemala forest sector. It should be emphasized that there is a constant process of updating.

The SIFGUA does not yet incorporate elements related to the LAIP by the INAB UIP and the National Council for Protected Areas, such as the compulsory production of an annual report detailing all the applications received, replied to and not replied to by the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman (PDH); this organisation is obliged to publish an annual transparency report.

There continue to be difficulties in compliance with the legislation, as well as in the provision of documents in indigenous languages, which are systemic weaknesses in Guatemala’s public sector.