“Major environmental setback”: the harsh report on the Argentine situation
The Argentine Association of Environmental Lawyers (AAdeAA) and the Collective Action for Ecosocial Justice (CAJE) presented a harsh report pointing to the Argentine government for the “greatest environmental setback” since the return of democracy.
It is the first Report on Environmental Regressions, a document analyzing the measures taken by the current administration of Javier Milei since December 2023.
According to the survey, the country is experiencing “the greatest regression in economic, social, environmental, and cultural rights since the return to democracy”.
“We must document what is happening”: what the document says
Enrique Viale, president of the AAdeAA, explained that the document, over 80 pages long, compiles measures taken since the beginning of the administration. Such as the transition from Ministry of Environment to Undersecretariat, budget cuts in firefighting, attacks on science, and institutional dismantling.
“When things are erased in one stroke, it takes decades to recover. That’s why we documented it,” Viale pointed out. Furthermore, he announced that the report will be sent to the Executive Branch, Congress, and international organizations.
“Climate denial” and “political persecution”, report’s allegations
The survey denounces that President Milei and part of his cabinet hold denialist positions on the climate crisis and its human causes. It even mentions that the president of CONICET, Daniel Salamone, has repeatedly shared messages in line with these positions on social media.
The document also details the advancement of fossil fuels, the increase in lithium and metallic mining, the dismantling of environmental regulations, and the use of state intelligence for “political persecution”.
It also lists the closure or weakening of key agencies such as the Ministry of Environment, INTA, INA, ACUMAR, INAI, and the National Directorate of Emergencies, along with the dissolution of the National Directorate of Agroecology, INAFCI, INASE, and ENOHSA.
The disappearance of these institutions, the report warns, leaves “without technical and financial support for conservation and environmental management policies“. Furthermore, it denounces that laws and funds aimed at protecting ecosystems have been eliminated or modified, while regulations like the Basic Law and the RIGI are consolidated as tools to “legalize dispossession”.
The report will be presented first to the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, and international forums such as the Escazú Agreement.
“Climate denial is not an anomaly, it is the project,” the document concludes. It also calls to stop the dismantling of environmental policies and to build a future based on ecosocial justice, democratic participation, and the protection of life.
