The Statement #
While the national government argues that the changes seek to ‘order the regulatory framework’ and encourage investments, experts and organizations warn of a ‘serious setback’ in environmental protection, the Higher Institute of Environmental Studies (ISEA) send a presentation signed by Dr. Inés del Valle Asís, PhD in Economic Sciences - Economics Mention and Valuation Specialist of natural resources and environment. Director of ISEA-Secyt-UNC
It also stipulates that each province determines which glaciers it protects and which can be used for extractive activities.
In view of this, the ISEA asked the committees of Deputies to totally reject the reform in order to safeguard intergenerational equity and the human right to water. The ISEA Board of Directors is made up of representatives of each of the Academic Units of the UNC.
The 10 highlights of the statement #
1- Violation of the National Constitution #
The proyected bill violates Article 41 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to a healthy environment and establishes that the Nation must enact laws of minimum protection budgets as a uniform and non-derogable protection floor throughout the country.
2- Fragmentation of the protection regime #
By allowing each province to determine which ice bodies it protects, the federal management unit is broken. The ISEA warns that glaciers are socio-hydrological systems that exceed provincial boundaries and must be managed in an integrated way.
3- Violation of the principle of non-regression #
The reform contradicts the Escazú Agreement, with supralegal hierarchy in Argentina, which prohibits regressing the levels of environmental protection already achieved for economic reasons, especially when this can cause irreversible damage.
4- Risk to strategic water reserves #
Glaciers are natural ‘water tanks’ essential for human consumption, agriculture, and power generation. The reform, by limiting protection only to bodies with ’effective water function’, endangers these critical reserves.
5- Ignorance of the impact on climate change #
The ISEA highlighted that glaciers act as thermal regulators. Their alteration could accelerate global warming and compromise biogeophysical processes essential for climate stability.
6- The IANIGLA Weakening #
The project reduces the role of the Argentine Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences (IANIGLA, from CONICET) to a simple registration body, limiting its scientific power to define and monitor glaciers under international standards.
7- Lack of consultation with indigenous peoples #
The non-compliance with ILO Convention 169 is denounced, since there were no instances of prior, free and informed consultation with the affected indigenous communities, who have the right to participate in the management of their resources.
8- Prioritization of the Rigi over the environment #
The ISEA pointed out that the real objective of the reform is to enable projects under the Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI), favoring extractive activities such as mining in areas that are currently protected.
9- Incongruence with climate policies #
The bill violates Law 27,520 on Adaptation and Mitigation to Climate Change, which obliges the State to establish measures to protect glacier systems in the face of current climate vulnerability.
10- Legal uncertainty and litigation #
Far from providing certainty to investors, the ISEA warns that the unconstitutionality of the project will generate permanent litigation in each of the projects that seek to be authorized under this new regulation.
Citation #
- The article Ley de Glaciares: el ISEA denuncia que la reforma del Gobierno es inconstitucional y pone en riesgo las reservas de agua was published today on UNCiencia, the online medium of the Secretariat of Science and Technology of the National University of Córdoba
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