There Are No Studies to Substantiate the Charges That Apply To National Parks
<p style="text-align:justify">According to SIGEN, the entity that manages the concessions lacks economic and financial works that justify the amounts paid by tourist providers for exploiting the properties. The agency noted that environmental impact studies are not always done within the regulation, nor are there risk prevention strategies.</p>
A study by the General Audit Office of the Nation (SIGEN) states that the National Parks Administration does not have economic and financial studies that base the fees that are applied to the tourist providers for the exploitation of the properties.
Likewise, the control body detected that there are "missing" inspections that the Administration should carry out to know if the providers comply with the obligations established in the concession contracts.
In the Parks Administration, the SIGEN discovered the "lack of risk maps" that establish the prevention strategies that each region should have. These measurements can also serve to justify how human resources and available materials are distributed.
According to the regulations governing farms, parks must be subjected to environmental impact studies before the concession is granted and at the time of renewal or expansion. However, SIGEN notes that the examinations are not carried out in the totality of the cases provided for by the regulations.
"Although improvements have been made, the internal control system - of the Administration - continues to be weak," the report notes, adding that, in addition to the "corrective actions" being carried out, " an important incidence of factors external to the protected area, such as grazing, oil exploitation, deforestation, exotic vegetation and fire risk, which, together with control weaknesses, can affect the conservation objectives of the organism.
In addition, the Watchdog registered other irregularities in several National Parks. In Nahuel Huapi, for example, "a considerable percentage" of users who participated in a survey showed their "disagreement with the presence of rangers, amount of sanitation available and cleaning."
Meanwhile, in the Calilegua National Park, in Jujuy, the control body discovered "risks to visitors due to lack of adequate signage that includes prevention and information cards", especially considering "the dangerousness of the road "that is in the estate.
Although the Baritú National Park in Salta is the "most biodiverse protected area of NOA and the country, it is the one that provides the least scientific information," the report points out.
In the province of La Rioja is the Talampaya National Park, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. There, the SIGEN found that delimitation and signaling is "inconvenient in most of the sectors covered", which does not contribute to adequately safeguard existing archaeological and paleontological sites. At the same time, there are also loose animals belonging to the inhabitants of the area and, for the control body that represents "a risk for the visitors and the native flora."