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Argentina (archive)

Background

Argentina signed the agreement on September 27, 2018. It was ready to be debated into Argentina’s new congress on March 1, 2020, but is currently being held until after quarantine is over and congress is back in session (break started March 20). Basically govt. is very aware and there’s been a huge support system for it (40 organizations) but they’ve suspended the debate until they can meet in person ー however they are hopeful that they’ll ratify in the next few weeks!

Environment

Deforestation

Since 1996, when the government authorised the introduction of genetically modified soya bean, Argentina has cleared nearly a quarter of its native forests. Argentina is the first global exporter of soy, and the biggest provider of flour and biodiesel made from its derivates.. However, according to the coordinator of Greenpeace’s forest campaign in Argentina, Hernán Giardini, “the advance of genetically-modified soy production since the mid-nineties until now, and the intensive cattle raising in the north” are the main causes for forest loss in the country.

According to a rating created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Argentina is among the top ten countries that destroy their forests the most, and the FAO calculates the loss has amounted to more than 7.5 million hectares since 1990.

Between 1998 and 2006, the deforested surface of Argentina was of almost 3,000 hectares (the equivalent of 250,000 hectares a year or one hectare every two minutes).

The funds assigned by the Argentinian Congress for forest protection in 2016 are 23 times less than what is established by the national forestry norm.

Combined, soya bean, soya meal and soya bean oil make up 31% of the country’s exports.

“What producers have done to get around the forest law is obtain written statements from community chiefs agreeing to deforestation in exchange for houses and water deliveries,”

Fracking

The “Vaca Muerta” oil and gas project, which promises to double oil and gas production over the next six years in Argentina, is facing such strong headwinds from current fiscal, market, political and environmental forces that “the plan is likely to fail,” according to a report released by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a global financial research group.

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The Vaca Muerta deposit extends over 30,000 square kilometers in Patagonia, between the provinces of Neuquén, Río Negro, La Pampa and Mendoza. It represents 43% of total oil production (505,000 barrels per day) and 60% of gas production

In the surrounding area the mapuche indigenous people who live there are claiming the right to their lands because they were never consulted and claim that they have had to move because of the contamination caused by the hydraulic fracture, necessary for the extraction of non-conventional hydrocarbons.

Defenders

Argentina has a comprehensive legal structure for the elimination of racial discrimination and equal rights for all its inhabitants. However the implementation of laws is weak and significant challenges remain.

The situation of indigenous peoples in certain areas is terrible, as they live in extreme poverty, in socio-cultural isolation and without access to basic services such as health, decent accommodation and even drinking water. The territory of the communities, even those few that have managed to obtain title, is in danger because control of their natural resources is not effectively secured.

In the last years there have been some achievements in terms of the titling of community lands, but at the same time there has been an explosion of authorizations for clearing, forestry or mining operations that put the community balance at risk. There is also serious concern about the environmental pollution caused by such activities, which have been carried out without serious environmental impact studies or participatory hearings (CELS, 2016).

Mapuche peoples (Patagonia, affected by fracking at Vaca Muerta)

31 ‘registered’ indigenous groups → 92% do not have the government-officiated title to their own land, discrimination especially against those who speak their own language

Wichí people in/around Salta are being affected by the deforestation and have been evicted by the police, are constantly fighting construction efforts

Indigenous Communities Act passed in 2006 was meant to suspend evictions and protect indigenous land, but the required surveys were only held in half of the indigenous communities and illegal evictions are still taking place. In 2017, the majority of the 225 unresolved land conflicts involved illegal evictions and development on indigenous communities.

Groups

Target

Allies in Argentina

Allies in Argentina

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