The case dates back to September 2013, when Costa Rican authorities discovered that Nicaragua had been dredging canals through Isla Portillos to connect the San Juan River with the Caribbean Sea despite that fact that the International Court of Justice had declared the territory “disputed."
The mitigation work that started this week in Isla Portillos, or Isla Calero, comes just three weeks before oral arguments are set to begin in the territorial dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica before the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
A comprehensive environmental impact assessment for the entire canal project is being directed by the British firm Environmental Resource Management (ERM), which promised to issue conclusions in March or April.
Environment Vice Minister Ana Lorena Guevara reiterated on Thursday that Nicaragua's dredging of two artificial canals in Costa Rica's northeastern region had caused considerable environmental damage to protected wetlands.
