Environmental Courts and their incidence in the protection of the environment in the eastern zone of El Salvador.

Abstract

International pressure influenced the entry into force of the Environmental Law (LMA) in El Salvador in 1998, it focuses on the need to protect the environment, seeking a more conscious management in the administration that the state must have over natural resources. With the contemplation in the Penal Code of crimes related to nature and the environment, a new paradigm for environmental justice is born (Márquez and González 2010), in which different institutions are involved to protect nature and make responsible use of natural resources. The work of the National Civil Police (PNC), the Attorney General's Office (FGR) and the Environmental Courts (TA) are analyzed, analyzing capture data, legal procedures and resolutions issued by these institutions. It is obtained that 88% of the captures associated with environmental crimes (AD) issued by the PNC are in flagrante delicto, of this 46% for crimes against Protected Flora, the FGR has an upward trend in the last five years (2015 to 2020) of AD processes, while the Environmental Courts show a weak institutional framework, the resolutions issued by the TAs declare the imposition of measures (58%) in a first place and in a second place resolutions that declare that the demands they are unlikely (34%). It is concluded that despite the field effort and processes carried out in monitoring crimes related to the Environment and Nature carried out by PNC and FGR, they conclude in an imposition of measures (Precautionary measures, action session, damage repair, among others) by the TAs, but that the high percentage of these procedures are insurmountable and therefore reach the judicial initiation.