The Board of Corpoguajira, approved and adopted the Comprehensive Management Plan for the Washington Lagoon, located in the municipality of Maicao, with an extension of 834.7 hectares. The document was prepared by the Corporation, in association with the Caribbean Environmental Heritage Foundation.

The Plan, It is made up of three components: descriptive, organization and operation.

“Washington Lagoon has numerous natural values, fulfills vital functions in the water cycle, like the capture of rain, flood control, sediment filtration and aquifer recharge”, Romero Perez explains Arcesio, General Manager Corpoguajira.

As part of the zoning, the following areas were identified:

Environmental Preservation and Protection Zone: It corresponds to spaces that maintain integrity in their ecosystems and have characteristics of special value in terms of uniqueness., biodiversity and usefulness for the maintenance of the structure and functionality of the wetland.

Recovery Zone – Environmental Restoration: They are the spaces that have been subjected by humans to intensive and inadequate processes of appropriation and use., or that due to natural processes present erosive phenomena, sedimentation, instability, contamination, among others.

Sustainable use zone: It refers to spaces in the wetland that can be used for the development of productive activities.. These areas must be subject to regulations aimed at preventing and controlling the environmental impacts generated by their exploitation or use.. In the environmental management of these areas, sustainable development must be ensured, for which actions aimed at preventing, controlar, cushion, repair or compensate for unfavorable environmental impacts.

The different uses and activities possible to carry out or not, in each of the management zones of the Washington lagoon will be defined and regulated by Corpoguajira, jointly with the Mayor's Office of Maicao and incorporated into the Territorial Planning Plan of that municipality, based on the following:

Main Use: Desirable use whose use corresponds to the specific function of the area and offers the best advantages or greatest efficiency from ecological points of view, economic and social.

Compatible Uses. They are those that do not oppose the principal and agree with the potentiality, productivity and other related natural resources.

Conditional Uses: Those that present some degree of incompatibility with the main use and certain foreseeable and controllable environmental risks for the protection of the natural resources of the wetland, They are subject to permissions or previous updates, as well as specific management conditions.

Prohibited Uses: Those are considered incompatible with the main use of the particular area and with the purposes of environmental conservation and management.. They involve serious ecological risks, for the health and safety of the population.

Users of Washington Lagoon and natural or legal persons in general, that cause any damage or environmental impact to the natural values ​​of this ecosystem, They will be considered violators in environmental matters, Therefore, their actions will be subject to the application of the corresponding sanctioning measures., in accordance with the provisions of current legislation.