Studio TN8- Channel 8
March 4th 2025
Journalist Erving Vega
Thank you for being with us, the main topic in Studio TN8, today, is the strengthening of good environmental practices in the private sector; with our guest Javier Gutiérrez, Minister of MARENA. We welcome you again and thank you for joining us Minister.
By way of introduction, there is a regulatory framework, which each company is obliged to comply with in its economic activity; there are also sanctions for those who do not comply.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
Yes, as we know, the Natural Resources of our Country are the Heritage of all of us, a Natural Heritage, in which the Ministry of the Environment is empowered to facilitate, regulate and guarantee that economic activity is carried out correctly.
Here it is important to emphasize that our regulatory framework is quite robust, in terms of allowing all economic activity, as long as the environmental parameters established within the Regulations are respected.
For example, if our Regulations say that only one volume of tree cutting is authorized in a Municipality, it is because it is guaranteed that this resource can be recovered in one year; that is, 10 trees are authorized, because it has already been verified by our Technicians that those 10 trees can be recovered in one year.
But if a person cuts 20, then the Forest Natural Resource already begins to degrade until it disappears. So, in that sense, our Regulations guarantee that control, so we are able to try and make economic activity happen.
Journalist Erving Vega
There are some activities that by their nature are more prone to generate some damage, right?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
Yes, we have them classified according to the impact they could generate in different categories; there are categories that require more detailed studies. Environmental impact assessments, for example, large companies that may be expected to move a lot of soil, that will cut down a lot of trees, that will generate many situations that could generate environmental impacts.
Journalist Erving Vega
Or that they will generate a lot of waste.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
Yes, then specific procedures are established in which they are asked for more information, and possibly more Mitigation Measures will be required; they will be asked for more structures that reduce the possibility of high environmental risks. Because let's remember that while environmental risks affect natural resources, but really the effects are on our people. That is, all the pollution that could be generated in an economic activity, the ones who are going to suffer are our people, our population, children, etc.
We can guarantee that, that economic development takes place, because today there are Environmental Sciences, there are environmental practices that are appropriate and that reduce environmental impacts. Because it does not eliminate them either, we generate environmental impacts only by the fact of walking breathing, by going about our daily business.
Nowadays, environmental science allows that, with well-organized, well-ordered economic activity complying with the Regulations that we have in the country, it can be developed without any problems.
Journalist Erving Vega
Minister, in broad strokes, a general evaluation, how we are doing in the country, what would be the balance in the country, in terms of how we are doing in terms of preserving and taking care of our Environment.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
We have positive performances, we have about almost 4 million hectares in different forest formations, that places us as one of the countries, at least in the Central American area, where our country has the greatest forest coverage by country.
We have about 74 areas that are taken care of by the State, known as protected areas, but they are really areas where certain very particular natural characteristics are preserved, there is a lot of biodiversity, they are very dense forests, in some cases unique species in the world, where there is interaction of a lot of fauna, and we have to take care of those Biological Corridors.
Journalist Erving Vega
74 Protected Areas, and 3 of them are Biosphere Reserves, recognized by UNESCO: San Juan River, Bosawás; and the Island of Ometepe are internationally recognized as Areas that generate not only environmental benefits for our country, but in the world. That's a bit of the difference when UNESCO recognizes that this benefit is not only for Ometepe, it's not only for Nicaragua, but it also benefits the rest of the world.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
We also have a National Biosphere that is the Reserve, the Caribbean Biosphere that is everything we recovered via the International Court of The Hague, everything that is the marine-coastal area that is rich in marine fauna.
We have a very blessed condition in terms of Natural Resources in our country, added to which we have that our forests are suppliers of many important environmental services, such as the water resource, for example.
Journalist Erving Vega
How are we doing in terms of percentage of forest cover?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
We're at about 30%, 35% of Forest Coverage around our territorial extension, of those we have between 20 and 25% are areas which the State preserves, because they have very particular natural conditions, in which certain economic activity is not allowed, because they are, as we say, our great natural savings that we have to take care of because we have Genetic Banks.
We have a species of Pine in Yukul that is the only one in the world; so if that disappears, imagine what it would mean; so we have all those kind of areas that we take care of.
But in general, our Country, our Environmental Assessment System is an Environmental System that requires environmental practices as a fundamental condition for developing appropriate economic activity.
Journalist Erving Vega
30% of forest cover in our territory.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
Of different types of cover, let's remember that all that the Caribbean is, is what is called moist, broad-leaved Forest. The important and remarkable thing about the Caribbean is that it has very high dynamism. That is to say, there the regeneration is very high, the growths are very high.
That is to say, if in another country it might take 10 years for a tree to grow one meter, in the Caribbean it maybe takes 8 months or a year for it to grow one meter; so then, there is a dynamic growth and that is why sometimes forest fires do damage, but the greatest damage is when after the fire people come in to cut illegally.
Journalist Erving Vega
Because Nature after the fire takes responsibility for regenerating.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
It regenerates, and the Caribbean has a very high regeneration; that is, if a forest burns, it degrades, it affects, but in 1 or 2 years that forest if you don't touch it recovered. But if we then go in to take advantage of the fact that the space is already burned and start cutting...
These are the kinds of damage we are working on to allow us to really always count on our natural resources, because in the end it is a heritage that all Nicaraguans have to take care of.
Journalist Erving Vega
30% coverage, a lot is in the average, if we look at the behavior and the data that the rest of the countries in the Region have, and when we talk about the Region can we go beyond Central America, Latin America or America?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
Yes, it is a very high percentage, but let's remember that we have had a period, for example, the Neoliberal era where deforestation rates soared. In fact, we have statistics where the Neoliberal era was where there was the greatest environmental damage in the country, and it is demonstrated in our Statistics, but we have been reducing that rate of damage.
Journalist Erving Vega
Is there any other country in Central America that has 30% forest coverage in its territory?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
You see, Nicaragua has one of the highest levels of coverage in Central America; but we also have to take into account that it is not the same to have the area we have which is almost 4 million hectares compared to maybe one million that another Country has. It is not the same to try to conserve 4 million hectares, that Costa Rica may have one million, and generally what Costa Rica has, to give an example, are areas that have been recovering.
They practically destroyed their forests, but they have been recovering them, and the case of Honduras is a lot of pine forests; that is, they have certain characteristics, but we are on the front line in coverage, almost 4.5 million hectares, and we have one of the highest coverage rates in relation to our territorial extension, which is also the largest in Central America.
In proportional terms we are one of the countries that have the highest performance in terms of coverage and a moderate afforestation rate. Because here we have to clarify that the deforestation that has to be quantified is the illegal kind. Because there are a series of forest management permits that allow the cutting of trees, the use of wood that is not deforestation; that is by design.
Journalist Erving Vega
Are there any management plans?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
There are Forest Management Plans, Technical Designs that are made based on our national standards, and that cannot be said to be deforestation. That is why statistical data has to be done very carefully and very responsibly.
Journalist Erving Vega
Are there any companies in the country that cultivate trees?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
Quite a lot, there are more than 1 million hectares in forest plantations and we have a great potential, and of high-value species.
Journalist Erving Vega
I think in Rivas and Nandaime there is a quantity of Teak.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
Teak is being cultivated, there is a large quantity; now one looks at Teak furniture stores and it is a well-kept teak, well-worked. Forestry activity is advancing, I think it is important, and we have the potential to continue growing in these areas.
Journalist Erving Vega
We are talking about the promotion of environmental practices from the private Sector. Concrete actions when we are talking about promoting these practices?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
We are working on strengthening our National Environmental Assessment System; in fact, perhaps 8 days ago we launched the online application system; that is, people can already perfectly well obtain a Code to be able to access and consult their permit, in which department it is located.
Before they had to go to MARENA, to any delegation, then they would give the consultation and etc. Not now, people can readily access the MARENA website, there is a space where you can consult the procedure you are in, and you can still ask electronic questions as a Consultation Table, so that we can answer them more specifically. So people register with an Email, they state the question and we review and do the relevant procedure .
That has made it easier for us to manage the issue that sometimes people put in permits and they want to know if the permit is progressing well. The permissions in our Ministries should not take more than 10 working days at most, what happens is that sometimes there is missing information, so then we have to request additional information from the user, so that they can get it to us.
Perhaps a Title Deed arrives without having been registered, or some other kind of documents. Sometimes there are foreign companies that do not get us their Identity details, or do not send us their residency.
Journalist Erving Vega
That's getting a little involved already.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
That already lengthens the process a little, but we are willing, and so we have been improving it a little, so that it should not take more than 10 days to extend a permit.
We are also working on making it possible for the actual application to be made online as well; that is, it does not necessarily have to arrive physically at the Ministry, but the person from their office, from anywhere, can enter their application and upload the information that we request as a prerequisite.
In some places the Internet has not yet arrived, but it is not difficult now since almost everywhere there is Internet, everywhere there is connectivity; even so in the MARENA Delegations we are going to have a space where the person can get visit physically to make their request.
A Code will be generated immediately, and with that Code they can then check to see if their procedure is in process.
Journalist Erving Vega
Does every application need to be accompanied by an Impact Study?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
Not all, although generally the categories that generate environmental impact require a study.
Journalist Erving Vega
For example, for the use of the forest,a farmer may want to exploit the forest, does he have to make a Study and a Management Plan?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
Yes, let's say that's a Forest Management Plan, a Harvesting Plan. For the Forestry issue there are different instruments, for example, there is the General Management Plan, then there are the Operational Plans that are the ones that can exploit each year.
And then when you transport the wood, you have to get another permit, because in the transport you have to carry a Transport Guide in which the Competent Authorities when you go from one Municipality to another, you pass and they ask you, is this wood with a permit?
If my transport permit is here, they check if it is the right volume that goes there; if the permit is 20 wooden planks, then the permit has to say that those 20 planks are made of cedar, with such dimensions and what is authorized to go from Granada to Rivas; for example, they stop him in Nandaime, he is allowed and keeps moving, if he does not present it, the Police retain the timber.
Journalist Erving Vega
Is it like a timber traceability?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
It's called forest traceability.
Journalist Erving Vega
Timber from a tree.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
Of origin from an authorized forest, because a Study was presented where the competent Authority authorized it, supervised it and attests that it comes from there. That's the bit about traceability.
Journalist Erving Vega
There are their rogues, right, I authorize 10 trees and they cut down 20?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
Unfortunately.
Journalist Erving Vega
Does it need follow up?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
We visit the industries, we make inventories of entrances and exits; the police give us incredible help, because they are the ones who are in the Control Centers. We also have Control Centers, we visit the areas, where timber is being exploited; that is, we do all the corresponding monitoring, but indeed there are always situations.
Journalist Erving Vega
And are they punished if it is discovered?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
Yes, there are administrative processes and the law is applied. Let us remember that this is a Patrimony, it is not necessarily authorized or not by MARENA, it is really the Law that manages it; they themselves are self-regulating within the Law, because we do apply the Law.
Journalist Erving Vega
The developer says, well, here I have this area and I'm going to build 200 houses, can you process that in 10 days?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
If he carries out all the requirements we do it in 10 days, depending on the size, because they can be constructions. Recently we were doing an Inspection on the side of Rio Coco where some schools were going to be done, just getting there took two days; so, it depends on the case.
If it is here in Managua, it is central, it is small, the inspection is scheduled in two days, if everything is fine, if the activity to be done has an impact that will be minimal, but if it is foreseeable that there may be greater impacts, technical conditions are requested so that the impact is reduced; that should take no more than the maximum of 10 working days.
Depending on the volume that reaches us, between 70 and 100 permits arrive daily throughout the country, they enter our analytical process. We also get congested, but in average terms when the conditions are appropraite with clear provision of the requirements, without any problem, so we do not have to ask the user for complementary information, it should not last more than 10 days.
Journalist Erving Vega
It may not be relevant here, that is a company with a project. But for the Family that says, I have my site, I'm going to build my house, is that at the Mayor's Office or also with MARENA?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
The Mayor's Office is able to give you an urbanization permit, or any other permit, and the first thing they ask for is the MARENA Environmental Permit.
Depending on the scale of the activity we ask for an authorization, when 1, 2 or 3 trees that do not exceed 10 cubic meters in volume are cut, we call it non-commercial exploitation. So, that's very simple, and we have to go with that to MARENA.
If there is a tree that is leaning and might fall, it is a risk, it is immediately activated, it goes to the MARENA and that is a quick permit that should not take even 2 days, or on the same day if the risk is very high, everything can done on the same day, because it puts life at risk. So, it depends on the situation, we are prioritizing, but usually it is 10 days.
Journalist Erving Vega
Can it be done online?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
Right now we do not have that Online service, we are working, we think in 1 or 2 months we will have the platform for anyone from their home, from their office or from a MARENA office itself, we will have a little booth for the person to arrive, if they do not have Internet at home. Although now everyone in the country has it, but for those more remote cases, although even those furthest away I think they can more technically knowledgable than us, and so people can make their application online.
Journalist Erving Vega
Industrial Plants, it's one thing to build them, and it's another to track what they're going to do with waste.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
These types of activities generate the Environmental Management Programs, these are the conditioning measures established by the MARENA so that the environmental risks foreseen in the evaluation are reduced, or their impacts are not generated.
Then, the Environmental Management Program is followed up, and it usually takes one year; then when the year is up it is evaluated and an update of its General Environmental Management Plan is made. That's the follow-up, but we have to get better at that follow-up, it all depends on the staff.
Journalist Erving Vega
For example, there are the Free Trade Zones that generate certain waste; there must be a Wastewater Treatment and especially with dyes.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
There are sites that have to make their Treatment Plants because they do not have service from ENACAL, we have to follow up on all that. For example, in 2024 we authorized almost 3,000 permits Nationwide.
In this First Quarter we have already reached almost 1,000 permits, that is to say, we can see that the economic activity of the country is growing incredibly. In other words, there is an attraction first for investment; secondly, it impresses us that these companies, this economic activity does come to MARENA to ask for permission.
Usually before, they did not arrive, then the activity was carried out, sometimes they were supervised and they were penalized, that was very frequent, but now they arrive to Marena. First of all, we consider that there is environmental awareness, it has improved our environmental awareness, our environmental education, because it is not so much to have love to little birds. It's because they know that environmental activity can have an impact on people's health, on well-being, on livelihoods, and there is an awareness about that.
Journalist Erving Vega
I think this part answers the following question that I had posed. Is the Private Sector complying or not complying with good environmental practices in Nicaragua?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
The Formal Private Sector, the one that is working with all the parameters, is complying, moreover it is bringing important co-benefits in these Environmental Issues.
There are things as a Ministry we can't do and they complement it, they do a lot of Environmental Education, they do a lot of information outreach, they have a very important Outreach System on Environmental Issues; so they complement us.
We still have a struggle to improve some areas, but we consider that in general the private sector is fully aligned with our Government, to promote economic activity that does not generate environmental impacts, either in the medium or long term.
Journalist Erving Vega
We are talking with the Minister of MARENA, Javier Gutiérrez about the Promotion and Good Environmental Practices from the Private Sector. The conclusion is that it is being fulfilled, it is no longer seen so much that the one who undertakes something, or builds something does so any way they want. They are already coming to the MARENA.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
One thing that we have been demonstrating through our Family and Community Model is that the main ally for environmental management is the improvement the livelihoods and the economy of our population.
That is, getting out of Poverty as indicated by our Co-Presidency Comandante Daniel and Compañera Rosario, which is our main objective; that is, we cannot have Environmental Management if we do not reduce Poverty.
This Model that we have is a unique Model in the world, because sometimes Environmental Management is based, for example, on the Carbon Market about which we hear a lot, those carbon offsets; we don't agree with that.
We think that as we improve the standard of living, as we are get out of poverty, our environmental conditions are improving. Why? Because there is less pressure on Natural Resources, people have their jobs, they have their entrepreneurship, they no longer go to the forest to get iguanas, to get firewood; there is less pressure.
In fact, employment in the areas where there has typically been high deforestation in the Caribbean, which is what we call the Agricultural Frontier, a lot of employment is being generated there. So, that has allowed deforestation in our country to be reduced. This model is very important for our country.
Journalist Erving Vega
The logic of the Environmental Permit is not to hinder, rather it is a support to make it easier for people to do things appropriately.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
On the contrary, what we are saying is to carry out economic activity, we need its environmental impacts to be minimal, and if they are going to have to take place, we will try to reduce them with actions that we are going to recommend to people.
Because it is not to simply to please MARENA, it's a matter of respecting the legal framework that is the expression of our People where it says in the Law, do it, generate employment, but do not affect the environment.
Journalist Erving Vega
Once the permission is given there is subsequent follow-up, right now, I understand that they are on one of their Visiting Days.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
We have daily visits, that is, each Delegation makes 2 to 3 visits, but also Inspections, Follow-up Visits, Direct Visits. We are in contact with users from all Sectors: Textile Firms, Shrimp Farms, Agro-industries, of all kinds, because everyone has Permission.
As I was telling you, we processed, authorized more than 3,000 permits in 2024, this year we are going to break records, because in this quarter alone, we have more than 1,000 permits processed. That is, we are going to reach, if we carry on this trend and we are going to reach between 5,000 and 10,000 Permits in the year.
That is why we are making Technological Reforms so that we can best attend to these permits and guarantee that economic activity is carried out. Because our great Working model is that the more we generate income, the more employment we have, then environmental impacts are reduced.
That is not accepted by other countries where they apply another type of Model, more along the lines of Carbon Markets or other types of Models that are not Models which we can apply in our Country.
Journalist Erving Vega
I want to take advantage of the last two minutes, to look at the positioning of Nicaragua at the International Level in terms of environmental conservation.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
We have long been defenders of our Principles based on responsibility with a differentiated and respective spheres. That's why I always like to talk about something that Compañera Rosario told us and I think it sums up our position very clearly.
Compañera Rosario, our Co-President said, what they call Climate Change is no longer what it is, it is destroyed land, it is Mother Earth that we have stripped of its natural protective elements, through looting, the eagerness to take everything in exchange for nothing and leave the consequences to the rest of us. That is what generates these phenomena, and what we call Climate Change.
That is, here the responsibility for pollution, degradation, Climate Change, all those hydro-meteorological phenomena that affect us year after year, is the Global North, it is the Capitalist Countries who continue to pollute and do not stop despite all the famous Conventions of the United Nations.
They continue and what they are doing is, to apply a very perverse and exhausted Model that is, the one who pollutes pays; if I have money I pay it, but I keep polluting. And what we want is to stop polluting.
perSo, this Model that they apply in all countries, in Latin America, for example, it is very common that they pay you a peso or so for a ton of carbon, and they buy it because it is cheaper to buy it at a peso, than to change their technology, change their Pollution Models, by which they are enriching themselves at the cost of all the hydrometeorological phenomena that cause us problems in our country.
For example, in Nicaragua we have already seen that they affect almost 4.5% of our Gross Domestic Product, and who pays us back after that? That is why we believe that Climate Justice with reparation should be a pillar of these Pollution Models.
Journalist Erving Vega
This a debate that needs to be continued?
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
We keep insisting on that debate, we have been defending that Principle for a long time, a Principle of Justice; we do not pollute, we do not emit anything. We just issue .02% or .03% of what is emitted in the world; moreover, be careful this is a statistical error; that is, if we say, we are not going to emit anything, it is impossible, the world will be the same or worse.
If Central America says, we won't make emissions, the world will still be the same or worse, because the ones that are emitting here are the Capitalist Countries, the Global North, Europe, the United States; and we already saw that the new Government of the United States said that it was leaving the Paris Agreement.
Therefore, they all go on and continue with all the processes of pollution through fossil fuels that they have been using, and that is going to mean more emissions and there is going to be a greater impact on our Countries.
Journalist Erving Vega
Your closing comment, on the central theme which is the Promotion and Strengthening of Good Environmental Practices in the Private Sector.
Minister Javier Gutiérrez
We urge people to continue working in an appropriate way with the Ministry of the Environment, in order to ensure that our economic activity continues to grow; we are very concerned for our Economy to continue to grow.
Our Government offers incredible facilities, so that anyone who wants to invest in a respectful, socially responsible way can do so in our country. And we as a Ministry are going to guarantee that this economic activity is within the framework that Environmental Regulations allow.
Moreover, especially so as to generate those incomes, those livelihoods, those economic facilities for our Families, without losing our National Heritages, without losing the environmental quality that we all want.
We all want to live in a place without pollution, we don't want bad smells, we don't want the soil to become an infertile soil, a soil that is useless for anything. We want to see the rivers without pollution.
No one wants to live like that, so that is our role, so that economic activity is being generated without losing those great natural landscapes, those environmental benefits, which thank God in our country we continue to enjoy, and we still have, because in other countries things are more complex.
Journalist Erving Vega
Thank you very much.