Members of several environmental groups have filed a complaint with the Jalisco State Human Rights Commission (CEDHJ) citing negligence on the part of the state government for allocating insufficient funding in its 2023 budget to prevent and fight forest fires.
In representation of this collective, Emmanuel Arriero of the NGO Observatorio de Medio Ambiente, called on Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro to dismiss Environment Secretary Jorge Israel García Ochoa, who only took over as head of the Semadet agency in September of last year, moving from his post as director of the Agencia Metropolitana de Bosques Urbanos (Metropolitan Urban Forest Agency).
“It sounds harsh but one has to ask whether he is competent,” Arriero said, noting that the state of Jalisco leads the nation in the number of fires reported in 2023.
As of this week, reports of 750 fires have been received, affecting 72,547 hectares in Jalisco, according to the Comité Estatal de Prevención y Combate de Incendios Forestales (State Committee to Prevent and Combat Forest Fires).
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