SETENA Reforms Begin With New Director

María Guzmán began her duties as the Secretary General of the Technical Secretariat of the Environment Ministry (SETENA) this week as part of a process aimed at reforming SETENA, Environment and Energy Minister Roberto Dobles told The Tico Times.

Guzmán, who used to head the Environmental Quality Management Division of the Environment and Energy Ministry (MINAE), was officially inaugurated June 16, according to MINAE spokeswoman Patricia Alpizar.

She succeeded former Secretary General Patricia Campos, who will be transferred to a different department within MINAE, Minister Dobles said.

“With this change, SETENA’s reform begins,” said Dobles, explaining that the switch is not a result of poor performance on Campos’ part.

Experts from the Inter-American Development Bank (BID) and the Canadian government are expected to assist in developing a plan to reform SETENA, he added.

Talk of SETENA undergoing a process of modernization began during the administration of former President Miguel Angel Rodríguez (1998-2002). Ex-President Abel Pacheco (2002-2006) furthered the modernization project by requiring SETENA personnel to keep electronic copies of the agency’s many paper files.

SETENA was created in 1996 to evaluate environmental-impact studies and environmental management plans for any development project that could potentially impact the environment (TT, July 2, 2004).