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Start of the Jornada Popular Ambiental 2008

ViaNica.com | Mar 14, 2008

Medardo López, Territorial Director of MARENA, talks about the Jornada Ambiental to ViaNica.com
Tomorrow, Saturday March 15, will be the official starting point for the Jornada Popular Ambiental 2008. This environmental event, which will last throughout the Semana Santa week (till Sunday March 23), aims at making people more conscious and decrease the negative impact on human health and on the environment caused by the massive visits to the beach during the holidays.

The events are coordinated by MARENA, the Nicaraguan Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources. Many official as well as non-governmental actors are involved. Hundreds of social promoters will be sent to seaside resorts and popular destinations on lakeshores, where they will make the thousands of visitors more aware, thereby reducing contamination and its effects on human health. Monitoring of local dynamics of regions will also be done throughout the country.

According to Medardo López, Territorial Manager of MARENA, more than 1500 qualified promoters will participate. Amongst other participants are the Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism (INTUR), the ministries of education and health (MINED and MINSA), municipalities, and local environmental NGOs.

The activities, which have been taking place for nine years, will mainly focus on zones in the Pacific regions, in Las Segovias, and on the shores of Lake Nicaragua, according to López, because they are strongly affected during Semana Santa. The government official used the opportunity to also announce that the Municipio Azul contest will restart in 2009, despite its suspension this year. In this contest, the cleanest and environmentally best organized Nicaraguan municipality is acknowledged.