Martha Martinez / Reform Agency
Monday, April 24, 2023 | 22:54
Mexico City.- The Plenary of the Chamber of Deputies approved a reform that toughens the penalties for the crime of illegal logging, especially when it is carried out in Protected Natural Areas (ANP).
The modifications to articles 418, 419 and 423 of the Federal Penal Code were approved with 452 votes in favor, 26 against and one abstention.
The reform increases the penalties for those who cut down or destroy natural vegetation and establishes higher penalties for cases in which these activities are carried out through violence.
Currently, the law establishes a penalty of six months to nine years in prison and a fine of 100 to 3,000 days for anyone who dismantles or destroys natural vegetation, illegally logs or changes the use of forest land, and indicates that these penalties will increase by 3 years. and a thousand days of fine in the case of ANP.
The approved project proposes that for this last case, the prison sentences will increase up to four years and the economic ones up to 5 thousand times the value of the UMA.
It adds that, when these crimes are carried out with violence, the penalty will be up to 12 years.
“When the behaviors referred to in this article are carried out using firearms or by any other violent means against people or to obtain a profit or economic benefit, a penalty of three to twelve years in prison and a fine will be imposed. from five hundred to five thousand times the daily value of the current Medical and Updating Unit”, he indicates.
The reform increases the conducts subject to sanction, among them the alienation, distribution, supply, purchase, reception, acquisition, storage, safekeeping and possession. In addition, it reduces the amounts that warrant sanction from four to two cubic meters.
The project states that those who transport firewood or dead wood for domestic use will not be penalized.
The PAN deputy, Saúl Téllez, indicated that according to recent studies published by the Global Forest Watch organization, Mexico ranked ninth in the list of the 10 countries with the greatest loss of primary forests during 2019, practically at the same level than Laos and Cambodia.
The PAN member recalled that, in 2020, the country was left without 300,000 hectares of tree cover, in addition to the fact that 122 critical areas were identified where there is clandestine logging, illegal sale of wood, change of land use, arson and the presence of the organized crime, according to data from the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat).
Despite this, he indicated, in 2021 31,348 million pesos were allocated to this sector, an amount slightly higher than the 28,900 million pesos labeled for Sembrando Vida, the flagship program of the federal government.
He pointed out that since the start of the program, in 2019, it was reported that some planters felled trees on their land to gain access as a beneficiary, resulting in the loss of 73,000 hectares of forest cover.
He said that to this is added the construction of the Mayan Train, which in its change of route of the Cancun-Playa del Carmen section, 20 thousand trees were felled.
The PAN member maintained that the above is an example of the importance of raising awareness about policies that have been distorted, in order to correct them in the future with the aim of protecting the environment.
The representative of the Green Party, José Luis Llaven, acknowledged that according to the World Bank, the illegal sale of wood generates profits of between 10 and 15 billion dollars a year,
He indicated that for this reason, it is very attractive for organized crime to dedicate themselves to illegal logging, hence the need to approve initiatives that favor the conservation of nature, including tougher penalties for illegal logging.
The project was sent to the Senate of the Republic, for its constitutional effects.
