The Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA), is in charge of environmental protection and of the study, planning, and management of the Nicaragua's natural resources. It was formerly known as the Nicaraguan Institute of Natural Resources and the Environment (IRENA). The ministry was created in 1979 by the

Government of Nicaragua Nicaragua is a country in Central America with constitutional democracy with executive, legislative, judicial, and electoral branches of government. The President of Nicaragua is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exer ...

Origins

In 1976, a group of Nicaraguan environmentalists proposed that the government create a Ministry of Natural Resources. The president at the time,

Anastasio Somoza Debayle Anastasio "Tachito" Somoza Debayle (; 5 December 1925 – 17 September 1980) was the President of Nicaragua from 1 May 1967 to 1 May 1972 and from 1 December 1974 to 17 July 1979. As head of the National Guard, he was ''de facto'' ruler of ...

, rejected the idea and threatened the group with harsh reprisals if they met again. Some took to the forests and mountains to join the Sandinista guerrillas who were fomenting revolution against the Somoza government. Less than a week after the Somoza regime was overthrown and Sandinista government became known as MARENA. By the mid-1980s, MARENA received aid and advice from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Soviet Union, France, the Netherlands, Cuba, Mexico, the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...

, the United Nations Environment Programme, and individual United States citizens.

Overview

MARENA initiates and manages programs in reforestation,

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

management, pollution control, wildlife conservation,

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

s, and the conservation of genetic diversity. In 1981, MARENA found that half of water sources they sampled were seriously polluted by sewage and that 70,000 pounds of raw sewage was released into Lake Managua each day. Scores of industrial plants located on the lake's shore had freely dumped there for over a decade. The worst polluter was Pennwalt Corporation. MARENA could not afford, however, to build a sewage treatment plant because of the financial costs involved. Recently a treatment plant has been completed and the sewer network is being constructed. In 1982, MARENA established seasonal hunting bans for 26

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

of mammals and 4 species of reptiles. This was in response to Nicaragua being a world leader in the export of rare and endangered species such as White-lipped peccaries, White-tailed deer, hawksbill turtles, freshwater

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Two subspecies are recognized. It is native to the southwes ...

s, and margays. Educational campaigns were initiated by MARENA, along with marketplace and roadside inspections. By 1985, however, many of these bans were lifted because of the growing economic crisis in the country. In 1983, MARENA targeted nearly one-fifth of Nicaragua's territory for national parks. This project was never realized, however, because the

Contras The Contras were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to 1990 in opposition to the Marxist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua, which came to power in 1979 fol ...

had militarized much of the wilderness. To address deforestation, MARENA directed major tree planting projects. Two million trees were grown annually in nurseries until 1986, when civil war and economic difficulties slowed the program. The reforestation projects became targets for the Contras, who sabotaged projects, and kidnapped and murdered over 50 MARENA employees.

External links

MARENA
- government website {{Authority control History of Nicaragua Nature conservation in Nicaragua Forestry in Nicaragua Deforestation Nicaragua Nicaragua Environment of Nicaragua Nicaragua

Environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

Nicaragua

Origins

Overview

See also

External links