He Ministry of Environment received a total of 1,234 complaints during last year, perceiving an increase of 31% compared to 2021, being cannelloni and Montevideo the departments with the highest rate of complaints.
The environmental portfolio has been receiving increasing complaints since 2020. However, during 2023 there was a jump in the number of claims, went from 946 in 2022 to 1,234 last year. Meanwhile, in 2021, a total of 922 were registered, while in 2020 there were 892 complaints.
According to El País, complaints and warnings from citizens represented an increase of 31% over the past year. The data was taken from Environmental Complaints Attention System.
Montevideo and Canelones, those with the highest complaints
According to what was reported by Environment, of the total number of complaints, 484 of the complaints made were diverted to the corresponding municipalities, while a total of 59 were managed.
Among the departments that received the most complaints is Montevideo, first, with a total of 255, followed by cannelloni with 252, representing an increase of 21 and 20%, respectively.
These were followed Maldonado occupying third place with 232 complaints, an increase of 19% compared to last year. Fourth place is occupied Rocha with an increase of 10% compared to 2022 with a total of 122 claims. For its part, Cologne It ranked fifth with 70 complaints, representing an increase of 6%.
The project that promises to criminally punish environmental crimes
In June of last year, the Senate approved a bill, composed of 13 articles, which establishes penalties for environmental crimes for contamination of water, air and soil by waste, substances or hazardous waste, among others. The project establishes sentences of between 6 months to 8 years in prison and is still awaiting the approval of the Chamber of Deputies.
As explained by the Undersecretary of Environment, Gerardo Amarillathe project dates its creation from 2015 when it was proposed to include within the Penal Code a chapter of Environmental Crimesbased on previous proposals that were given since 2002 by different authorities.
Prior to that year of the project, Uruguay had developed a lot of legislation from the environmental point of view in the field of administrative law with the Environmental Impact Law, with the administrative sanctions that the law provides, the General Law of the Environment and the Law of the National System of Protected Areas.
According to Amarilla, when applying sanctions to companies or establishments that pollute, the municipalities are crucial to access the place since the Ministry of Environment It does not have all the resources to treat all cases. The undersecretary of the portfolio explained that a 80% of cases that contaminate spaces are exposedalthough not all end up being fined.
Source: Ambito
