In a sense it is a victory. At the end of December, President Alan Garcia announced that he would be creating an environment ministry, one of the key recommendations of last year’s PSG report on the Majaz project in northern Piura. Up to now, it has been the government’s Ministry of Energy and Mines that has acted as judge and jury in giving permits for investors to go ahead with mining projects. We argued that there was a crying need for an office with cabinet rank whose job it was to protect the environment from the sort of degradation commonly associated with mining.

The importance of an environmental ministry is, of course, not just limited to mining. Peru is one of the countries of the world most likely to be afflicted by problems of global warming, with increased temperatures further exacerbating problems of drought. Proper water management is of increasing importance, both in the sierra as well as along the coast. Issues of air contamination are of key importance in places like La Oroya, identified as among the ten worst environmental disaster zones in the world. The quality of air in Lima itself is a major health problem.

There are real reasons to believe that Garcia’s announcement is designed more to appease the critics of free trade in the United States than it is a genuine attempt to grapple with Peru’s environmental predicaments. In order to secure passage of the legislation in the US Congress to ratify the FTA, the government had to turn up the music with regard to Peru’s intentions on labour legislation and the environment.

This is not to say that an environment ministry with teeth is impossible to achieve, but simply that it is not very likely. In his influential article in El Comercio at the end of last year (see last Update editorial) Garcia argued the need to push ahead with exploitation of Peru’s natural resources, encouraging foreign investment by whatever means possible. He decried the beatings of 21st century environmentalists as a just a repetition of the anti-capitalism of the previous centuries. Peru, he argued, should harvest the country’s forests, mines, hydrocarbon deposits and fishing resources untrammelled by such opponents of ‘development’.

Although it is an advance to have a cabinet minister whose remit is to protect the environment, he or she will probably not have the weight necessary to stand up to the ministers of energy and mines or of economy and finance, not to mention a president whose very words seem to run counter to the prudent stewardship of natural resources. So, it’s far too early to claim this is a major step in the right direction.