The deforestation in Salta advances: according to Greenpeace, between January and September of this year, 10,928 hectares have already been lost.
The organization toured native forests and recorded clearings in four farms in the southeastern province.
For months now, the NGO has been warning about the new forest law in the province, which will accelerate the destruction of the natural ecosystem in Salta.
The figure comes from a satellite monitoring conducted by the environmental organization, which also detected an increase in requests for “land use change” following the regulation of the new Native Forest Territorial Ordinance (OTBN) last August.
The new law in Salta that facilitates deforestation and generates controversy
The recent OTBN of Salta called for public hearings to transform 40,577 hectares so far this year.
Most of these calls were made after the regulation published on August 11 in the provincial Official Gazette.
According to a survey by Salta/12, some 31,331 hectares involved in these projects correspond to hearings called after the new regulation.
Despite the provincial Environment Secretariat clarifying that the OTBN will not have retroactive effect on projects submitted before its regulation, there is concern for the future.
“Incredibly, the new Forest Law of Salta establishes a flexible zoning, which does not geographically determine where it is prohibited to clear“, warned Hernán Giardini, coordinator of the Greenpeace Argentina Forest Campaign.
The clearing cases that worry in Salta
Among the largest projects awaiting a hearing for clearing is the farm Los Dragones in the San Martín department.
If it advances, this project would affect 6,562 hectares net, plus 2,684 hectares of protection and reserve.
It should be noted that this area includes territories of indigenous communities bordering Rivadavia.
Another significant case is the farm Las 100 Leguas in Anta, where a land use change was requested for 6,983 hectares net, with an additional 4,713 hectares of “protection and reserve”.
The hearing is scheduled for November 7 at the Tolloche Integral Center.
The previous complaint by Greenpeace about deforestation in Salta
Earlier this month, Greenpeace filed a document with the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation denouncing that the update of the OTBN violates the National Forest Law 26,331.
This time, the environmental association incorporated as a new fact the regulation of the controversial norm recently approved by the government of Gustavo Sáenz.
This is the second time Greenpeace has challenged the new Salta ordinance.
In February of this year, when the Provincial Executive enacted the law, the organization had already raised objections.
The organization lists five critical points:
- It will allow clearings in 720,000 hectares
- Validates illegal clearings without requiring their restoration
- Enables clearings in currently protected forests
- Fragments the territory of threatened species like the jaguar
- Did not consult indigenous communities in its development
“Deforestation is an ecocide that causes climate change, species extinction, floods, droughts, desertification, diseases, evictions of indigenous people and peasants, loss of food, medicines, and timber,” said Giardini.
The climate commitment that Argentina would fail to meet due to deforestation
The organization recalled that Argentina signed a commitment to Zero Deforestation by 2030 at the Glasgow Climate Summit 2021, but maintains high rates of native forest destruction.
The province will enable more than 700,000 hectares through quotas by basins, which “will inevitably cause landowners to accelerate the request for clearing permits“.
Therefore, Greenpeace launched the campaign votaporlosbosques.org to demand that forest fires and illegal clearings be considered a criminal offense.
More than 270,000 people have already participated in this citizen initiative, and everyone can sign.
