Co-creation of public policy for reforestation and environmental care in the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas and digital system for environmental control and delivery of environmental species. (ECSDT0002)

Commitment ID

ECSDT0002

Commitment Title

Co-creation of public policy for reforestation and environmental care in the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas and digital system for environmental control and delivery of environmental species.

Problem

Agro-productive activities added to the indiscriminate felling of trees have caused a serious problem of deforestation and environmental pollution in various sectors of the province. Faced with this situation, the Provincial Council of Santo Domingo has created a plant nursery that allows having native species of conservation, same that through a sustained program of reforestation, it has allowed implementing the distribution of plants in the population that lives in the affected areas. reforestation and watershed protection projects.

That is why it is necessary to strengthen the interest and citizen participation to carry out the reforestation and care of native species, as well as the involvement of representatives of various sectors of the province to coordinate joint actions aimed at protecting the environment, creating, or also strengthening the mechanisms to respond to citizen requests and complaints.

Status quo

The province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas has more than 30 thousand deforested hectares of native forests, with an annual deforestation rate of 6%; (1705.50 ha/year). One of the purposes and goals of the Government of the Province has been to implement programs and projects to reforest these areas, recovering areas degraded by deforestation.

In the faculty of environmental regulatory entity, in 2020 the Provincial GAD through the Unique Environmental Information System (SUIA), delivered: certificates, records, licenses, to different entities and productive sectors that are not reflected in an open government system.

These processes are currently carried out manually and it is not well known to the public. On the other hand, there is a record and monitoring of environmental complaints and the species delivered and their beneficiaries, added to the mapping of the affected sectors, but it is not entirely public information.

Action

This commitment of the Open Government Action Plan of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas aims to contribute to the fight against pollution and deforestation processes in the affected areas identified in the province, creating the necessary mechanisms to involve representatives of various provincial sectors to work in an articulated way, through the following actions:

1. Co-creation of a provincial reforestation and environmental control policy with the participation of representatives from various sectors of the province.
2. Generation and publication of open data on the inventory of forest species in the province, as well as the species available for reforestation in the plant nursery of the province.
3. Development of processes and online system to expedite requests for species for reforestation as well as complaints of environmental impacts by citizens.
4. Socialization of the degree of importance of environmental complaints where the procedure and the requirements for support and verification of environmental effects will be announced, subject to study and analysis.
5. Design and implement a training program in environmental education aimed at the citizens of the province, to also promote citizen environmental responsibility.
6. Dissemination campaign on the importance of caring for the environment to reduce incidences of tree felling.

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem described above?

This commitment seeks to promote the interest of citizens in caring for the environment, creating policies and tools necessary to comply with both tree species requests and facilitating monitoring and compliance with current environmental regulations. Citizen participation in the co-creation and design of the provincial environmental policy will involve and empower traditionally excluded sectors, such as the Tsáchila ancestral ethnic group and Afro-descendant communities, and thus coordinate joint efforts to reforest the affected areas and monitor the places where they have been carried out environmental recovery works, in addition to participating in the control, intervention and attention plans.

With the implementation of this commitment, the following will be achieved:

A provincial policy of reforestation of the province co-created with citizens and representatives of sectors of the province

Open data of the inventory of forest species in the province, as well as species available for reforestation in the plant nursery of the province.

Online system and processes to streamline species requests for reforestation and the monitoring and identification of environmental complaints.

Training program in environmental education aimed at the citizens of the province, to also promote citizen environmental responsibility.

Dissemination campaign on the importance of caring for the environment to reduce incidences of tree felling and pollution.

What long-term goal as identified in your Open Government Strategy does this commitment relate to?

As a long-term goal, it is proposed to have an articulated system that facilitates the social requirement on environmental issues, strengthening access to public information and citizen participation; also link management and public administration processes through the use and adoption of open data.

On the other hand, it is important to mention that the commitment assumed is directly linked to the development proposal formulated in the Development Plan and Territorial Ordering 2020-2030 of the Province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas (PDyOT), indicated in the program, "Conservation of natural heritage", which involves environmental education projects, restoration, reforestation, and recovery of degraded areas of the province as well as reducing and remediating provincial pollution.

Primary Policy Area

Inclusion, Open Data

Primary Sector

Environment & Climate, Public Services (general)

What OGP value is this commitment relevant to?