Contributing to the formulation of the general guidelines of a Strategy to consolidate the SINA from the implementation of the concerted environmental public policies in the Coffee Axis Ecoregion is a bet that is made to propose a synergy of environmental management that supports the territorial planning and the sustainability of regional development.
For this, it is pertinent to understand the National Environmental System SINA, and this requires a critical reading of the performance of environmental management that goes beyond a list of institutions. On the contrary, it requires recognizing dynamics and synergies that allow identifying the true scope of its action.
If the SINA is recognized in the Ecoregion as a System of Coordinated Actions for Environmental Management, it will be possible to determine which have been its main processes, its agencies and its agents, the problematic situations, the successful experiences, the appropriation of instruments and the perception that it is had on the management and management of the Regional Environment.
The strategy of a synergy based on the qualities, purposes, dimensions and attributes of the REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM is then proposed.
The system
After fifteen years of enactment of the General Law of the Environment where the Ministry of the Environment is created and the National Environmental System -SINA- is organized, it is important to greet with a critical and constructive eye the performance of the latter, taking into account the transformations that have supported concepts, processes, entities and synergies.
Law 99 of 1993 defines the National Environmental System as a set of guidelines, norms, programs, resources and institutions to carry out the environmental management of the country. At the time, this action represented a very important milestone for the development of environmental management in Colombia, particularly in its regions, since it established a frame of reference to implement the environmental public policy defined so far. However, and after the observation made, it has been established that there is a generalized perception that the SINA is made up of public institutions, immediately ruling out the inclusion in this system of other private and civic community agencies, not also including instruments, resources, alliances, territory, natural resources,the exchanges of matter and energy, culture, people. Considering a systemic vision forces us to think that the SINA National Environmental System is just that, ONE SYSTEM (with purpose, of interest and made up of more than 2 elements) of coordinated environmental management actions that are carried out by a series of agents and agencies through the appropriation and sophistication of instruments and mechanisms to build synergies of work and therefore it is said that to be part of the SINA, no registration, registration or formalities of any kind are required.of interest and made up of more than 2 elements) of coordinated environmental management actions carried out by a series of agents and agencies through the appropriation and sophistication of instruments and mechanisms to build synergies of work and therefore it is said that to be part of the SINA does not require registrations, registrations or formalities of any kind.of interest and made up of more than 2 elements) of coordinated environmental management actions carried out by a series of agents and agencies through the appropriation and sophistication of instruments and mechanisms to build synergies of work and therefore it is said that to be part of the SINA does not require registrations, registrations or formalities of any kind.
The consolidation of the SINA demands advances in the design and implementation of Departmental Environmental Systems that guide and direct an Intelligent Synergy of Environmental Management around the reading and appropriation -by the greatest number of agents and agencies- of the Plans Regional Environmental Management PGAR, by virtue of the fact that these are the long-term instrument of Regional Environmental Planning that, due to the legal, normative and legitimate support, constitute the governing documents that guide the departments towards their sustainable development.
SINA Regional Vision
Transferring the imaginary that exists about the National Environmental System to a region such as the Eje Cafetero Ecoregion raises the idea of thinking and understanding the operation of this System of Actions in a territory that seeks the environmental sustainability of its development as a result of local management to the interests of its agents and communities, the decision-making processes, the dimensions and attributes of its model of occupation of the territory and the particular ways of seeing and interacting with the world.
If the territories that make up the Ecoregion optimize the way they do their environmental management based on the concerted implementation of their respective public environmental policies, they will advance in the sophistication and consolidation of the SINA in their geographical and socio-environmental spheres. This exercise requires the negotiation of interests, construction of a vision, socialization, appropriation of instruments and generation of synergies that allow progress towards local and departmental sustainable development schemes.
Achieving departmental synergies for planning, organizing and coordinating environmental management would allow thinking about the conformation of Departmental Environmental Systems that would be defined by networks with the capacity to manage information and communication, exchange resources, concepts, technology among them -departmental systems- and outward.
Now configure a different system, on another scale of the territory, a Regional System for Environmental Management now refers to a new system. An approach that would seek to manage the implementation of public policies towards competitiveness, conservation, productivity, sustainability and profitability of the capitals of local and regional development. This conception must involve new agents in the development processes, appropriate instruments, develop knowledge, generate alliances with other sectors, investigate and improve the perceptions and knowledge that are had on the management of the environment in the Ecorregion of the Coffee Axis.
Thinking about the sophistication of the Environmental Administration as a lever for territorial planning and regional development, the question arises: What is the System of Coordinated Actions of environmental management that defines the National Environmental System in the Ecoregion of the Coffee Axis and how Could the synergy that operationalizes it be optimized?
Problematic situations
After the enactment of Law 99 and with it the organization of the SINA, certain evidences are observed that warn about the operation of the SINA in the national concert that impact the regions. Below are compiled among others:
- The MAVDT as the visible head of the SINA does not have the political capacity to build and consolidate national environmental sustainability The Environmental Management of Colombia has lost leadership (loss of the capacity for political and technical maneuvering) Lost in the political hierarchy of the former Ministry Environment MMA. Decrease in technical, economic and financial resources to achieve significant socio-environmental impacts, Deceleration of cross-sector environmental management. Weak mechanisms for the management of environmental information and communication. Short-term actions and sector vision to address the environment.
In addition to this, and after several observations and consultations, it is considered that in a context close to our territory "There is a weak management of a cross-sectoral, territorial, business and community social nature for the recognition, approach and management of environmental management in the Ecoregion of the Coffee Axis ”.
This problematic situation is supported in part by the multiplicity of documents and plans formulated to develop environmental management in the jurisdiction of each department and others of regional application, without so far having identified forceful coordination activities of a systemic and systematic nature that allow affirm the success of environmental management.
This instrument formulation exercise has led to the generation of multiple missionary purposes without a coordination context (DETAILED PLANS OF TERRITORY OCCUPATION MODELS) that allows the optimization of human talent, resources and information.
The complexity of the SINA has previously been studied to define its status and performance:
The Voices of the SINA identified the following factors as weaknesses of the system that inhibit its consolidation: a) lack of an information system, b) weakness in the planning, execution and monitoring processes of environmental policy, c) weakness in the coordination and communication systems, reduction of the environmental investment budget and d) imbalance in the allocation of resources for the system actors.
The Comptroller General's Office defined the general problems of the National Environmental System as follows:
- Uncertainty of the scope of action of the SINA Lack of a long-term environmental policy Lack of inter-institutional coordination A synchronization of planning processes Weak citizen participation Disproportionate and ineffective environmental regulations
On the other hand and in other sources it has been considered that there are factors that inhibit the development and consolidation of the SINA, such as:
- Inconsistencies in the political and technical reading of environmental problems that affect the territory and its inhabitants Weakness in the coordination of environmental management Low participation of the private sector and civil society in decision-making processes that affect the management of environmental issues Low Appropriation of environmental management instruments The limited development of cooperation and technology transfer mechanisms.
Agents and agencies
Environmental management in the departments of Caldas, Quindío, Risaralda and the territories of Valle del Cauca and Tolima has been guided by the Regional Autonomous Corporations, accompanied by the Governments of the Departments, the Municipalities and other support agencies such as the Committees of Coffee growers, control bodies, educational institutions, the UAESPNN, public service companies, among others that advance efforts, mobilize resources and will - from their perspective - around the generation and maintenance of conditions of sustainability in the territory and scope of its action and jurisdiction.
It is essential to recognize the agents of the SINA scenarios:
In any list, however broad, some would always be excluded, probably very important.
However, it has been established that Environmental Management has been led by the Regional Autonomous Corporations, which have had the support of the territorial entities and have achieved the competition on a smaller scale from other agencies for the implementation of public policy environmental organization and coordination.
Environmental Management Analysis
The performance of environmental management within the framework of a SINA in the Eje Cafetero Ecoregion is recognized through the appreciation of some processes, concepts in instances that are part of the concert of "environmental management" in our territory.
The “Eje Cafetero Ecoregion has been the object of multiple views under planning, administration and ordering processes that allow it to be understood as a region with multiple affinities and economic, geographical, environmental, social, historical and cultural relationships”. From the institutional perspective, a series of events of great significance are identified in the regional consolidation process, among which it is worth mentioning the intercorporative work that the five Regional Autonomous Corporations (CAR) with a presence in this territory have been carrying out, in the search for of an integral management of shared ecosystems; the associativity of academic communities and likewise, the development of integration initiatives and joint management of problems and provision of services through associations of municipalities,which, for the most part, go beyond the borders of their territories of jurisdiction.
Some of the scopes and products of the main regional environmental planning processes and their impact on departmental and local planning and organization processes will be mentioned below, among others:
- Environmental Management Plan for the Reconstruction of the Coffee Axis "Construction of a Territorial Organization for Sustainable Development in the Ecoregion of the Coffee Axis" better known as "Ecoregion, Territory of Opportunities" Workshop Forging the Future and Formulation of the Agenda for the Sustainable Development of the Eje Cafetero Ecoregion - Subsequent Declarations - Concerted formulation of the PGAR Regional Environmental Management Plans with Planning and Territorial Development Plans Consolidation of the Regional System of Protected Areas - SIRAP - The consolidation of governance spaces, such as: Environmental Tables, the subscription of Environmental Agendas, appropriation of Municipal Environmental Management Systems Environmental Planning and Ordering of the Territory,The advances in the formulation and evaluation of the Plans for Territorial Planning, Management and Management of Watersheds - Processes in shared watersheds and ecosystems Management of Environmental Goods and Services and implementation of reforestation projects for supplying watersheds - Risk management with the contribution of Communities and local agencies Strengthening of social organizations Signing of agreements between environmental authorities and production sectors in the departments Socio-environmental reconversion of productive practices Subscription of corridors and tourist circuits and sustainable productionWatershed Management and Management - Processes in shared watersheds and ecosystems Management of Environmental Goods and Services and implementation of reforestation projects for supplying watersheds Risk management with the contribution of communities and local agencies Strengthening of social organizations Signing of agreements between environmental authorities and sectors of production in the departments The socio-environmental reconversion of productive practices The subscription of corridors and tourist circuits and sustainable productionWatershed Management and Management - Processes in shared watersheds and ecosystems Management of Environmental Goods and Services and implementation of reforestation projects for supplying watersheds Risk management with the contribution of communities and local agencies Strengthening of social organizations Signing of agreements between environmental authorities and sectors of production in the departments The socio-environmental reconversion of productive practices The subscription of corridors and tourist circuits and sustainable productionThe socio-environmental reconversion of productive practices The subscription of corridors and tourist circuits and sustainable productionThe socio-environmental reconversion of productive practices The subscription of corridors and tourist circuits and sustainable production
Appropriation of Environmental Management Instruments
It is important to recognize that various agents of local, departmental and regional development have observed important advances in terms of the appropriation of various normative, legal, administrative, planning and management, economic and financial, technical and technological instruments, of participation and education, among others.
The appropriation of instruments results in the improvement of practices, recognition of tools and the basic platform to support an intelligent and participatory environmental management.
Strategy to Consolidate the SINA in the Ecoregion
Achieving coherence in thought and action during the development of environmental policy is the commitment to consolidate the SINA in the Ecoregion. This proposal seeks the appropriation of a systemic vision during the performance of Environmental Management to ensure that regional sustainable development is the product of an EMERGENCY of the system of coordinated actions.
For this, it is proposed that the environmental public policy referred to in the PGAR Regional Environmental Management Plans has an environmental management strategy adopted by the development agents for its implementation, and that allows the coordination of a system of environmental management actions not only of the regional autonomous corporations, but also includes regional agents of a territorial and sectoral nature that allow guiding and coordinating environmental management as a component for regional development, since the latter should result as an emerging product or property of the Regional Environmental System.
Consolidating the SINA in the Coffee Axis Ecoregion demands that the concerted execution of the environmental policy in each locality be brought to some stages of sophistication, be it a village, township, municipality, collective territory or department to advance towards the configuration of Sectoral Environmental Systems. Territories that start from the community, institutional and business social appropriation to interpret and act under the basic guidelines for environmental management defined in the PGAR Regional Environmental Management Plans.
This is achieved once the largest number of agents and agencies in the region recognize that integration and coordination will provide the solution (or part of it) to the environmental problems associated with the Eje Cafetero.
The agreement and implementation of a strategy for the implementation of environmental policies in the Eje Cafetero Ecoregion must assume some components on the establishment of regional environmental development synergies:
- Management of Citizen Environmental Perception: Recognition of citizens' environmental values and satisfactors, - policy orientation. Concerted planning of the GA: Integration of the main reforms and Planning instruments: POT - PGAR, Territorial and Sector Development Plans, in a regional concert.Organization of Territorial Environmental Management Systems: Appropriate organizational mechanisms for the coordination of the management of environmental issues and aspects of the territory Information and Communication Management: Support for the appropriation of concepts and symbols and generation of a sense of belonging. Performance measurement. Strengthening of the SIR and basic Municipal Information Systems Strengthening of applied research Project Management:Project cycle plus local and regional co-financing bag based on associativity, cooperation and knowledge management.Definition of the Environmental Policy administration system: Management Scheme to improve environmental performance under concerted mechanisms between public agencies, private and social agents, community and control - assume environmental governance schemes based on networks with management capacity Formation of secto-territorial alliances with civic social support for planning, organization, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of environmental policy in the Eje Cafetero Ecoregion Appropriation of our development concept.Management Scheme to improve environmental performance under concerted mechanisms between public agencies, private, social, community and control agents - assume environmental governance schemes based on networks with management capacity.Formation of secto-territorial alliances with social civic support for the planning, organization, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of environmental policy in the Eje Cafetero Ecoregion Appropriation of our development concept.Management Scheme to improve environmental performance under concerted mechanisms between public agencies, private, social, community and control agents - assume environmental governance schemes based on networks with management capacity.Formation of secto-territorial alliances with social civic support for the planning, organization, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of environmental policy in the Eje Cafetero Ecoregion Appropriation of our development concept.monitoring and evaluation of environmental policy in the Eje Cafetero Ecoregion Appropriation of our development concept.monitoring and evaluation of environmental policy in the Eje Cafetero Ecoregion Appropriation of our development concept.
We all do SINA…
