14:56 | Lima, Jan. 27 (ANDINA).
Peru's Environment Ministry (Minam) will publish a guide before the end of 1H13 aimed at assisting regions in completing the process of territorial organization (OT) to take further actions for preventing social conflicts, deputy minister of strategic development of natural resources, Gabriel Quijandría Acosta, reported Sunday.
The guide will help regional governments move forward with territorial organization, a process which seeks to set guidelines for land management.
The ministry has already published a guide to help regions in a diagnostic process called ecological and economic zoning (ZEE), which precedes territorial organization, and is preparing the OT guide in order to standardize the process throughout the country; bnamericas.com reported.
"At the moment we have seven regions that have finished ZEE and have five more in the process of approving their ZEE documents," Quijandría said in an interview, adding that Cajamarca has moved onto the process of territorial organization without the assistance of the national guidelines.
The guide will outline the minimum requirements as well as provide technical assistance to regions in order to ensure the process is completed correctly.
Thus, Minam sees territorial organization as key in the combat against social conflict in Peru.
"As we see it, a significant part of social conflicts is related to, in many cases, lack of clarity in regards to who governs the land," Quijandría said, adding that regional and local governments need to have a greater involvement in land management.
Territorial organization aims to set land management guidelines, including the level of intervention, investment and action that ought to be required in more "complex" areas.
As it is now, territorial organization cannot be used to remove miners from concessions already owned, nor determine land use, according to Quijandría; bnamericas.com reported.
The regions of Amazonas, Cajamarca, Callao, Cuzco, Madre de Dios, Piura and San Martín have completed the ZEE process, while Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Junín, Lambayeque and Tacna are on track to finish soon. Cajamarca is the only region to have started the OT process.
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Published: 1/27/2013