Cecilia Fernández Castañón – Cecilia Fernández Castañón

Argentina’s health guardians at risk of extinction

By Cecilia Fernández Castañón on enero 5, 2024enero 8, 2024Leave a Comment

Since 2021, the nation has been involved in a plan to conserve primates and their vital role in ecosystems and safeguarding human health. But will these efforts persist under Milei’s government, which has declared budget cuts for both the environment and science?

There are five nonhuman primate species living in Argentina, primarily in the northern region, all of which are currently endangered. The most critical situation is that of the brown howler monkey (Alouatta guariba), with only an estimated 50 individuals remaining in the province of Misiones.

Other species found in the country are the caraya (Alouatta caraya), mirikina (Aotus azarae), black caí (Sapajus nigritus) and yungas caí (Sapajus cay).

These animals play a critical role in ecosystems and are considered essential for human health care. They serve as sentinels, providing warnings about the circulation of potentially lethal viruses, such as the one responsible for diseases like yellow fever.

They also contribute to biodiversity and ecological balance through functions such as seed dispersal, insect consumption, and, in some cases, the pollination of plant species.

In 2021, Argentina launched a National Plan for the Conservation of Primates. The programme has seven objectives, including conserving native forests to reduce habitat loss, increasing connectivity between areas with primate populations, restoring degraded forests, implementing native forest management, assessing and reducing the impact of yellow fever, reducing the removal of primates from the wild and implementing environmental education programmes.

The plan was submitted by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, one of the ministries abolished by the new government led by President Javier Milei, inaugurated on 10 December.

The planning and execution of the plan also engaged scientists from agencies affiliated with the Ministry of Science, another sector dismantled in the new administration. This restructuring aims to significantly reduce the state’s operational expenses as part of a strategy to mitigate the profound economic challenges confronting Argentina.

While some of the objectives outlined in the primate protection plan have already shown signs of progress, the majority involve extensive, multi-year efforts. But the continued implementation of these actions might face challenges due to potential funding shortages.

WHY CONSERVATION PLANS MATTER

Species conservation plans are essential tools for conserving the environment and biodiversity. Many South American countries with high primate diversity, including Ecuador, Colombia and Peru, have made progress in recent years in creating such frameworks. These plans not only facilitate the coordination of actions at the national level but also enable the development of regional strategies for broad conservation efforts.

Martín Kowalewski, an Argentine primatologist and member of the Primate Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), played a key role in the development of the Argentine primate conservation plan. He has also contributed to similar initiatives involving participatory processes in Bolivia and Paraguay.

“These plans involve different social actors who are committed to taking on tasks for the conservation of species,” Kowalewski told FairPlanet. “The aim is that they are not just statements by scientists, but that they include contributions from society as a whole.”

He added, “In the case of Argentina, a comprehensive plan was approved and is now well underway, with the priority being the recovery of the critically-endangered brown howler monkey in Misiones, in coordination with existing plans for the species in Brazil. That’s why it’s important for each country to have a plan, because it gives us a framework for working together.”

One of the plan’s primary achievements has been the identification of priority areas for the conservation of Argentina’s primates. In a scientific paper published in 2022, researchers warned that only 7 per cent of the territory occupied by the five species in the country is protected.

It is therefore essential to expand protected areas, the researchers concluded, particularly in the provinces of Chaco and Formosa, where deforestation rates are high.

However, the creation of new protected areas does not appear to be a priority for the new government. Both President Milei and his vice-president, Victoria Villarruel, voted against the establishment of three new national parks in recent years while serving as deputies in the National Congress.

In fact, during the presidential campaign, Villarruel spoke out publicly against the creation of new protected areas in an interview, arguing that they would involve the creation of new public positions that expand the state structure.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FACTOR

Another focus of the monkey conservation plan is to educate society. To this end, work has begun in Misiones, a province that hosts more than 50 per cent of Argentina’s biodiversity and three of the country’s five primate species.

“Conservation of the areas where the monkeys live is a priority,” said Patricia Sandoval, a biologist who works as Director of Biodiversity in the Ministry of Ecology and Renewable Natural Resources of the province of Misiones. “This means working closely with the people who carry out productive activities in these areas to ensure that there is a harmonious coexistence between citizens and nature.

“That is why we are developing educational strategies both in the formal system, through actions in schools that include biodiversity issues at all levels, and with other proposals consisting of campaigns and workshops in communities that target different age groups.”

One example she referred to are campaigns addressing yellow fever, a potentially lethal disease caused by a virus transmitted through mosquito bites.

“Sometimes, monkeys were associated with the transmission of the disease and this caused fear in some communities who wanted to keep them away or even eliminate them,” Sandoval told FairPlanet. “Campaigns have been launched to explain how the virus is transmitted, so that people understand that mosquito breeding sites must be eliminated and that monkeys are not a threat.”

In fact, local experts note that monkeys play a pivotal role in public health by serving as epidemiological guardians for yellow fever. The presence of deceased monkeys in the forest is considered an indicator of virus circulation, prompting those responsible for health strategies to ramp up vaccination campaigns among the population.

COPING WITH CRISES

Currently, the future of initiatives aimed at protecting and conserving Argentina’s monkeys hangs in uncertainty. At the conclusion of this inquiry, the fate of environmental policy remains unclear, given the absence of a dedicated ministry. Instead, it will hinge on a yet-to-be-appointed sub-secretariat within the Ministry of the Interior.

FairPlanet reached out to career officials from the former Ministry of Environment who had been involved in the Primate Conservation Plan. But these officials chose not to comment on the continuity of the policies, citing the ongoing transition in the area and the lack of details available at the moment.

Meanwhile, Misiones assures that efforts to protect the monkeys will continue.

“In our province, the continuity of the environmental policy is guaranteed,” said Stella Maris Brodzicz, Director of Fauna at the Ministry of Ecology. “We will keep working as we have in recent years, in close collaboration with the health sectors to issue early warnings for yellow fever, with education to train our community and with scientific teams to achieve connectivity between areas where endangered monkey populations live.”

For Martin Kowalewski from IUCN, the primary threat jeopardising the continuity of the plan is the shortage of funding.

“In recent years, our country has undergone major political changes, with short cycles of governments with very different ideological positions that have had an impact on scientific and environmental issues,” he told fairPlanet. “In some of the previous administrations we have seen, for example, the management of national parks or scientific institutes being defunded. This is something that does not happen in other countries, where there is continuity in certain policies and consensuses that are not discussed. But in Argentina, unfortunately, we are used to going through this type of crisis very often.”

Nevertheless, the primatologist expressed confidence that it will be possible to sustain certain designed actions and maintain primate conservation efforts in Argentina. His optimism is based on the prospect of regional collaboration and the effective management of international project funds allocated for specific initiatives.

Article published in Fair Planet: https://www.fairplanet.org/story/argentinas-health-guardians-at-risk-of-extinction/

How an eccentric climate change denier who went viral on social media could become Argentina’s next president

By Cecilia Fernández Castañón on octubre 8, 2023octubre 17, 2023Leave a Comment

Argentina is in the midst of its presidential election process, and the recent primaries on 13 August saw economist Javier Milei emerge as the leading candidate.

Milei transitioned into the political arena a few years ago, gaining recognition through his harsh critiques of the political establishment, which garnered significant attention in both traditional media and on social platforms.

Currently, he serves as a member of parliament and is the founder of his own political party, La Libertad Avanza, which secured nearly 30 per cent of the vote despite lacking a comprehensive organisational structure and representation in many regions across the country.

Milei’s rhetoric during his numerous media appearances and campaign events has stirred considerable controversy. Among other statements, he has advocated for unrestricted civilian access to firearms, the sale of organs for transplant purposes and the abolition of public education and health care. In a staunch defence of the free market, he has gone as far as to claim that should he come to power, companies will be permitted to pollute a river without restrictions.

According to him, climate change is “a lie of socialism.”

In the weeks leading up to the general elections, set for 22 October, where Argentina’s next president, who will succeed the current Peronist government’s candidate Sergio Massa, is yet to be determined, there looms a cloud of uncertainty surrounding the direction of environmental policy in this vast and ecologically diverse Latin American nation.

Scientists, environmentalists and activists in the country are currently evaluating the most effective ways to navigate a potential Milei presidency.

“CARING FOR NATURE IS NOT JUST FOR HIPPIES AND ACADEMICS”
A recent study conducted by more than 80 scientists from around the world highlights the significance of considering nature’s diverse values. The study outlines aspects that have often been overlooked in decision-making models, including the perspectives of local communities and the importance of biodiversity.

One of the paper’s lead authors is Christopher Anderson, an Argentine researcher and member of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

“The results of this study show that it is essential to integrate different ways of valuing nature into political and economic decision-making,” Anderson told FairPlanet. “This is important conceptually, practically, effectively and ethically. We need to address all these dimensions in order to achieve, for example, the Sustainable Development Goals agreed by the UN or the target of 30 per cent protected areas by 2030.”

He added, “None of this will be possible without the participation of communities and indigenous peoples, the recognition of their rights and their involvement in the construction of these goals.”

Environmental protection and conservation policies in Argentina seem to align with the traditional patterns highlighted in this study, Anderson argued. These policies often prioritise economic or environmental values, potentially overlooking the interests and concerns of local communities.

“For the ecologist,” he added, “there have been some positive regulatory innovations in the country in recent years, such as the approval of a law that establishes comprehensive environmental training for people working in the public sector, with a sustainable development perspective and special emphasis on climate change.”

He further emphasised the National Constitution guarantees Argentine citizens the right to a healthy environment and the existence of a federal system that establishes that rights over nature belong to the provinces.

“Caring for nature is not just for hippies or academics,” he added. “There are reports from the World Economic Forum that show that if we don’t take environmental issues into account, there can be significant losses. On the other hand, nature-positive business models can generate billions of dollars and jobs.”

Embracing what the World Economic Forum terms “nature-positive business models” has the potential to generate substantial economic benefits and job opportunities on a global scale, Anderson said. A tangible illustration of this approach, he added, can be observed through the support for initiatives like Biodiver Ciudades, currently being implemented across several cities in Latin America. This initiative prioritises investments in nature-based solutions, including the enhancement of public spaces and the expansion of green areas within urban environments.

In these cities, he pointed out, the perspective on nature has shifted from being perceived as a hindrance to development to an integral and indispensable component of urban design.

Anderson expressed a sense of sorrow and concern when reflecting on the electoral support garnered by the far-right candidate during Argentina’s primaries. He drew parallels with situations in other countries, such as Brazil with the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro and the United States with Donald Trump, where similar political dynamics have unfolded and had what he considers to be detrimental consequences.

“What all these cases have in common is that not only do they undermine democracy with a far-right authoritarian populism, but they profess freedom [while] in reality [they] drive a process in which the subject does not assume the consequences of its own actions and only favours a traditional white elite that reduces nature to an asset in a controlled market controlled by the same elite.”

The institution where Anderson works is located in Patagonia and is part of CONICET, Argentina’s largest science and technology organisation, which is internationally recognised for its high quality work. On several occasions, candidate Milei has expressed his intention to shut down or privatise this institution, questioning its effectiveness.

WHAT ARE YOUNG PEOPLE VOTING FOR?
Libertad Avanza, being a newly established political party, currently lacks representation in any of Argentina’s 23 provinces. This means that the party does not have governors or provincial legislators in any province, limiting its ability to establish a party structure outside of Buenos Aires, the capital city. Even within Buenos Aires, the party has a relatively modest presence, with only three deputies holding seats in the provincial legislature.

Libertad Avanza’s limited presence in the provinces is reflected in its relatively small number of supporters who organise events in public squares. Critics of Milei have pointed out that he has not extensively traveled to the provinces during his campaign, primarily focusing on Buenos Aires, a fact they claim might limit his understanding of the country.

In the absence of a widespread party structure in a vast country spanning almost 3 million square kilometers, social networks have played a pivotal role in solidifying Milei’s image as a potential presidential candidate. Over the past few years, footage of his provocative appearances on television and live streams have gone viral, garnering millions of followers.

Although Javier Milei’s voter base in the last elections was believed to span various age groups and social strata, his appeal is particularly strong among individuals under the age of 30. Paradoxically, this demographic is also one of the most active and mobilised segments in environmental activism and the battle against climate change.

According to Magdalena Eulsmesekian, a member of Jóvenes por el Clima, the local branch of Fridays for Future, “The environmental agenda was hardly present in any of the manifestos of the three parties that won the most votes in the primaries.

From this space, she added, they developed an environmental electoral platform that proposes “to build a system that works for both the environment and the people.” The document will be promoted through the organisation’s official channels, with the aim of being taken into account by the candidate who becomes president.

But this will not be an easy task if the winner of this month’s elections is Milei, as he repeatedly expressed his disbelief in scientific evidence ascribing climate change to anthropogenic factors.

“In environmental matters, denial is due to lack of knowledge,” Eulsmesekian told FairPlanet. “Milei and his team of advisers have shown themselves to be uninformed on this issue. He and his vice-presidential candidate, Victoria Villarruel, [have even] voted against the creation of three national parks in Congress.”

Martina Gómez, another activist from Jóvenes por el Clima, told FairPlanet that these actions do not only hinder the creation of tools to tackle the climate and the ecological crisis, but also hamper the generation of revenue through tourism or the creation of new jobs, said

According to Eulsmesekian, there are multiple reasons why a large number of young Argentines find Milei appealing. “These are not people who don’t believe that climate change is real, but who simply consider the issue secondary,” she said. “For Milei’s supporters, the environmental issue is a soft agenda that is not important because we live in a country with foreign debt, economic crisis, inflation and almost 50 per cent poverty.”

She added, “But it is a mistake to think that these issues are unrelated to climate change, because the consequences of the crisis will hit the poorest and most vulnerable sectors the hardest.”

Regardless of the election results, the next few years will be challenging for environmental activists in the country, Gómez remarked. “What remains for us is to continue to work on explaining the consequences of not taking action to stop climate change. We have to avoid getting angry with those who voted there, and try to explain why their position is completely wrong.

“To do this,” she concluded, “we plan to give strong support to scientists working on these issues and develop joint working strategies, because we all have the same goal.”

Article published in Fair Planet: https://www.fairplanet.org/story/argentina-elections-javier-milei-climate-change-young-voters/

Can COP15 save South America’s most deforested region?

By Cecilia Fernández Castañón on diciembre 29, 2022enero 27, 2023Leave a Comment

The historic Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework acknowledges the contributions of indigenous peoples and local communities to nature preservation and protects their rights. How could it benefit South America’s most deforested region?

COP 15, which took place between 7 and 19 December in Canada, resulted in a historic agreement to stop the alarming loss of biodiversity worldwide. 196 states agreed on four goals and 23 targets that should guide their actions until 2050.

One of the major highlights of the final document, which is known as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, is that for the first time it recognises the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.

This recognition could be key in establishing new conservation strategies in the Chaco Forest, an eco-region of enormous biodiversity, which is home to one of the largest indigenous communities in Argentina, including the Qom, Wichí and Moqoit ethnic groups.

In recent decades, the area has been extensively deforested, which resulted in the conversion of millions of hectares of native bush into fields where soybeans are grown and cattle are raised for export.

This process is leading not only to the loss of the Cacho’s biodiversity and valuable ecosystem services, but also to the elimination of traditional knowledge and ancestral ways of life.

Some believe that the region’s resisting populations could gain now greater protection through the recognition obtained by this unprecedented international agreement.

DEFORESTATION AND DISPLACED COMMUNITIES

The Chaco Forest has one of the highest deforestation rates in South America, and changes in its land use have deepened in the last 20 years, resulting in the displacement of the region’s inhabitants.

Verónica Quiroga is a biologist who has been studying the process of defaunation of the Chaco Forest over the past two decades. In an interview with FairPlanet, she said that the changes in the environment are highly noticeable.

“Habitat for species is being lost throughout the region due to the advance of the agricultural and livestock frontier,” she said.

“Although there is a Forest Law in Argentina, no progress has been made in regulation. The deforestation and the removal of timber from the forests are permanent and these problems continue to worsen.”

According to the specialist, the establishment of protected areas will not be enough to halt these processes, but it will be essential in order to work with the communities. “We need biodiversity conservation corridors to connect these pristine areas, which are very important, with the entire matrix of forests where people are living,” she explained.

In this sense, she stressed that it will be necessary to guarantee respect and improve the quality of life through sustainable productive alternatives, both for local and indigenous communities.

“They are the owners of these lands, and they are the ones who should decide how and how much they are used,” she said. “We need to keep them there to conserve these ecosystems, [and prevent them] from selling their lands to large companies that eliminate native forests and convert them into productive fields that degrade the environment.”

“THEY ARE THE OWNERS OF THESE LANDS, AND THEY ARE THE ONES WHO SHOULD DECIDE HOW AND HOW MUCH THEY ARE USED.”

GUARDIANS OF BIODIVERSITY

According to data from the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues presented at COP 15 in Montreal, indigenous peoples represent 6.2 percent of the global population and protect at least 80 percent of the planet’s remaining biodiversity. This demonstrates their invaluable role in conservation, which was recognised in the new global agreement.

In a press release issued in recent days, the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB) welcomed the fact that the text of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has “strong language on respect for the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities”.

In this regard, one of the IIFB members from Argentina, Viviana Figueroa, said “they are recognising that Indigenous Peoples can also make contributions to biodiversity conservation.”

In particular, she highlighted the inclusion of indigenous rights in Target 3, known as the commitment 30×30. Its goal is to “achieve and enable, by 2030, at least 30 per cent of terrestrial, inland water and coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, to be conserved and effectively managed through ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed protected area systems, and other effective area-based conservation measures, recognition of indigenous and traditional territories, where appropriate, integrated into wider landscapes, seascapes and oceanscapes, while ensuring that any sustainable use, where appropriate in such areas, is fully consistent with conservation outcomes, recognising and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.”

A FUNDING CHALLENGE

In order to achieve the goals set at COP 15, it will be essential for low and middle income countries, such as Argentina, to be able to access the necessary funding to design mechanisms that protect the biodiversity of environments such as the Chaco Forest.

This is the view of Ana Di Pangracio, director of Argentina’s Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN), who participated as an observer in the negotiations in Montreal.

“To reduce poverty, we need a healthy biodiversity,” she told FairPlanet. “All countries have to commit more of their national budgets to both conservation and sustainable use and restoration of biodiversity. Developed countries need to rise to the challenge and mobilise the resources needed to make the commitments a reality.”

She added, “UN reports indicate that only 20 percent of the money needed to make the Aichi Targets a reality was mobilised. That cannot be repeated this time.”

Di Pangracio believes that follow-up will be crucial. “What has been established are global targets, but the real challenge will be to follow them up and work together with other states, for example, in the case of the conservation of the Chaqueño Forest, which extends across different countries in South America.”

Article published in Fair Planet https://www.fairplanet.org/story/can-cop15-save-south-americas-most-deforested-region/

Pueblos indígenas, claves en la conservación de la biodiversidad del Bosque Chaqueño

By Cecilia Fernández Castañón on diciembre 19, 2022enero 27, 2023Leave a Comment

La región que sufre una de las tasas de deforestación más altas del mundo es hogar de comunidades ancestrales con saberes únicos. La Convención de la ONU que se realiza hasta el 19 de diciembre pone el foco en sus derechos.

El 80 por ciento de la biodiversidad del mundo se encuentra en territorios de pueblos indígenas, como los que habitan en el Bosque Chaqueño, la segunda ecorregión de América después del Amazonas y una de las que presenta la mayores tasas de deforestación a nivel mundial. Para poder preservar esos ambientes y sus valiosos servicios ecosistémicos, diversos sectores resaltan la necesidad de adoptar estrategias de conservación incorporen la perspectiva de Derechos Humanos.

Esta es una de las premisas con las que se trabajó en la 15ª reunión de la Conferencia de las Partes del Convenio sobre la Diversidad Biológica (CDB) de las Naciones Unidas, conocida como COP15, un encuentro que comenzó el 7 diciembre en Montreal y finalizó hoy.

Los resultados de las negociaciones entre representantes de 196 estados fueron plasmados en un documento final que sentará las bases de las estrategias que se implementarán hasta 2030 para intentar frenar la alarmante pérdida de biodiversidad que se registra a nivel global.

Nota completa publicada en TELAM https://www.telam.com.ar/notas/202212/614678-pueblos-indigenas-biodiversidad-bosque-chaqueno-cop15.html

The tue cost of Argentina’s lithium rush

By Cecilia Fernández Castañón on octubre 31, 2022noviembre 18, 2022Leave a Comment

Lithium, a key mineral in the manufacturing of batteries powering electric vehicles, is found in abundance in northern Argentina, and companies from across the world are eager to exploit it. As provincial governments get their hopes up, indigenous communities and activists warn of the risks.

Along with Bolivia and Chile, Argentina has one of the world’s largest lithium reserves.

The mineral has been garnering rising attention in recent decades as it is one of the main components in the manufacturing of batteries, primarily ones used to store power in electric vehicles – a central pillar in the energy transition away from hydrocarbons.

Since the 1990s, foreign companies have been setting up operations in the country’s northwestern region to extract lithium, generating extraordinary profits that are not reflected in the local communities. All the while, the environmental implications of these extractive activities remain unknown, as the impact studies available are insufficient and outdated.

In Salta and Jujuy, two of the provinces where the salars from which lithium is extracted are located, indigenous communities are mobilising and demanding their right to determine what type of activities take place on their own territories. Some agree with the exploitation of lithium, while others reject it outright, claiming it threatens their way of life, traditions and ecosystems.

HIGH-ANDEAN WETLANDS

Unlike other places in the world where lithium is extracted from rocks, in the South American salars the mineral is easily accessible. It is obtained through a brine decanting process which despite involving some complexities is significantly cheaper.

However, the method has a high hydrogeological impact, as large volumes of water are used. The environments in which these salars are found are high-Andean wetlands, which are oases in the arid desert of the altiplano, and reservoirs of carbon that serve to regulate climate on both a regional and global scale.

In recent years, there have been unsuccessful attempts in Argentina to mount legislative protections for the country’s great diversity of wetlands. The latest setback came last month, when the governors of the Norte Grande succeeded in stopping a bill from advancing in the Lower House of Parliament.

The group, made up of representatives from ten provinces, including those with lithium reserves, issued a statement explaining why they believe that the current bill, which has been widely debated and analysed, should not go forward.

Meanwhile, around two thousand scientists and academics issued a public petition in which they refute each of the provincial leaders’ arguments.

ENTHUSIASM RISES AMONG LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

While the price of lithium continues to rise and reach historic records around the world, internal debates in Argentina on the issue persist. With several nuances, different national and provincial governments in recent years have considered lithium as an opportunity, but there is no social consensus on what are the best ways to mine it.

The Constitution of the Argentine Republic establishes that natural resources belong to the provinces. This is the main tool that governors have to consider: That they have decision-making autonomy and establish their own agreements with companies. One of them, Gerardo Morales of Jujuy, went so far as to offer Elon Musk – the owner of Tesla – the lithium reserves of his province via Twitter.

Argentina’s mining laws date back to the 1990s and have not been updated since. They establish very low royalty margins, which means that companies that set up operations in the country make extraordinary profits with little oversight by the state.

For the time being, lithium has not been declared a strategic mineral in Argentina, which would allow for greater regulation of its exploitation. One of the more salient state actions in recent years has been the state-owned company Y-TEC‘s construction of a factory for the design and manufacture of lithium cells and batteries. This, however, is a long-term project.

EXTRACTIVISM AND GEOPOLITICS

“The lithium issue seems to be replicating in a new way patterns of Argentina’s insertion in international trade that we have historically seen in other primary products,” Ariel Slipak, coordinator of the research area of the Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN), told FairPlanet.

“These are the same asymmetrical patterns where the economic benefits go to a few and the country is left with the socio-environmental problems linked to their exploitation.”

For a decade, the economist has been involved with groups that study the geopolitics of lithium in South America, and claims that this is an opportunity for a very limited group of actors.

“Only large transnationals and some very small local groups are benefiting,” he said. “The contributions that communities receive are very marginal, with mechanisms that are limited to a very small donation, such as a health centre or a community club, which appear in towns with the corporate branding.” He added, “This shows that power is very asymmetrical and that the social and economic relations that are established reproduce paternalistic patterns.”

According to Slipak, in order to reverse these models, it is necessary to increase the mechanisms for participation, consultation and information for communities and civil society.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE UNDER PRESSURE

The Salinas Grandes, located in Salta and Jujuy, is the fourth largest salar in the world, and is home to 33 communities of indigenous peoples who are demanding their right to decide on their territories. Their petition has reached the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR).

While waiting for a response on the case, they are trying to go on living with a semblance of normalcy. “The communities are facing enormous pressure, both from the companies that come daily to their territories to hand over folders with promises and requests for exploitation, as well as from the governments,” said Alicia Chalabe, a lawyer who specialises in human rights and represents the communities in their claim.

“There is an overwhelming urgency to implement projects to exploit lithium that conflict with the way of life of these peoples.”

These emergencies represent a gap for indigenous communities. “These are groups that continue to work salt in ancestral ways. They are mining cooperatives dedicated to the production and extraction of salt with a very particular harvesting method. They are also involved in tourism, which is very intense in the area” Slipak said.

“They are communities that stand out because they carry out permanent territorial management and oppose these projects because they believe that the arrival of the companies will produce changes in their culture, in their modes of production and in their way of inhabiting the territory.”

Published on Fair Planet https://www.fairplanet.org/story/the-true-cost-of-argentinas-lithium-rush/

Lessons from Argentina’s abortion rights movement

By Cecilia Fernández Castañón on agosto 19, 2022septiembre 23, 2022Leave a Comment

As inequalities in abortion access and the criminalisation of obstetric emergencies persist in Argentina, the work of activists and experts pushing for change reverberates beyond the country’s borders.

After a historic campaign lasting more than two decades by the nation’s feminist movement, Argentina finally passed a law on 30 December, 2020 permitting abortion up to 14 weeks of pregnancy.

But although the legislation covers all provinces and the service is officially accessible throughout Argentina, structural inequities in the health system persist and women in certain areas of the country face obstacles in accessing the procedure.

The legalisation of abortion has also failed to end the criminalisation of obstetric emergencies. Most recently, the country has been roiled by the case of a woman from Corrientes who had been imprisoned for eight months after suffering a miscarriage at home.

Against this backdrop, the recent overturning of the Roe vs Wade ruling, which legalised abortion in the United States for more than 50 years, raised the alarm about the possibility of a rollback of reproductive rights acquired by women elsewhere in the world. It demonstrated that legal norms alone are insufficient in guaranteeing access to abortion and that consistent monitoring of reproductive health services is essential.

EARLY INDICATORS

In the first year since the law passed, 74,071 treatments with misoprostol – a drug recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for safe abortions – were distributed through Argentina’s health system. This figure is substantially higher than in 2020, when abortion was only available in specific cases, such as a risk to the mother’s life or rape, and only 18,590 were provided.

Additionally, the number of clinics that perform abortions increased by 46 percent, with a total of 1,327 centres in the country, as reported by Proyecto Mirar, an initiative monitoring the implementation of abortion law and policy in Argentina. The initiative’s ultimate objective is to improve access to and the quality of services and contribute data to the process of expanding rights in the region.

“We are monitoring more than 90 indicators that allow us to see the evolution in real time and identify gaps and inequalities by jurisdictions to detect which are the most vulnerable populations that we should attend to,” Mercedes Krause, a researcher at the Centre for the Study of State and Society (CEDES) and a member of the Proyecto Mirar team, told Fair Planet.

“The first data showed that the number of services provided has increased significantly, but also revealed that the provinces in the north of the country have the most difficulties in accessing abortion,” she added. “This has to do with many factors, but mainly with the fact that they are the ones that historically have the greatest public health needs, as they have very low budgets and more impoverished populations than the rest of the country.”

CRIMINALISATION CONTINUES

After being prosecuted and imprisoned for eight months in a police station in a city in the province of Corrientes, a 30-year-old woman who had an obstetric emergency at home and lost an advanced pregnancy was released and acquitted in early August. The legal procedure had multiple irregularities and it was the mobilisation of feminist activists which gave visibility to the incident.

This, however, is but one example of what continues to occur in certain provinces in Argentina, where health services do not have the necessary preparation to assist women and guarantee access to their reproductive rights as recognised by the law. According to a report on the criminalisation of abortion and other obstetric events by the Centre for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), the majority of criminalised women in the country come from vulnerable socio-economic backgrounds.

The recent situation in Corrientes indicated that the legalisation of abortion has not been able to resolve this crisis. The investigation published by CELS points to several examples of involuntary and traumatic situations in the course of a pregnancy in which a complication in an unexpected birth, a birth in poor conditions or a spontaneous abortion – under circumstances of precariousness and fear – result in serious criminal charges, such as aggravated homicide or abandonment of a person.

“These are other ways in which the criminalisation of women and their reproductive capacity is advancing,” the report indicates.

WHAT CAN BE LEARNED FROM ARGENTINA’S CASE

The green bandanas identifying the pioneers of Argentina’s campaign for legalising abortion have spread to other Latin American countries. The symbol, which was inspired by the badges worn in the 1970s by the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo who protested against the disappearance of their children kidnapped and murdered by the military dictatorship, was also adopted by some US women who are mobilising to recover the rights taken away from them.

“The determination of the women of Argentina, who pushed for 20 years to get a law, is something that should inspire us in the United States,” Brianna Keefe-Oates, a public health researcher and doctoral candidate at Harvard University, told Fair Planet.

“We have different systems and situations, but it’s important that we look at what were the most effective strategies for gaining popular and legislative support to bring back guaranteed access to abortion across our country.”

Keefe-Oates is currently working as a consultant for Ibis Reproductive Health, an NGO researching social and clinical science with the goal of improving access to and the quality of health services with a particular focus on reproductive justice and equity. Through Ibis, she works with Proyecto Mirar in Argentina and believes that the permanent monitoring of the implementation of laws and the elaboration of reports is the best way to guarantee the right to abortion and improve access to various services.

“It is important to establish the key indicators to measure quality and to know who is accessing abortion and who is not,” Keefe-Oates added. “Preliminary data is showing us that women living in the poorest provinces of Argentina are the ones who have the most difficulties.

“This is similar to what is happening in the United States, where in the most powerful states women can still access abortion, but many others have lost that possibility. These are the inequalities in access that must be ended.”

Published in Fair Planet https://www.fairplanet.org/story/lessons-from-argentinas-abortion-law-and-its-shortcomings/

Saving America’s largest dry forest

By Cecilia Fernández Castañón on agosto 9, 2022septiembre 23, 2022Leave a Comment

Argentina’s Gran Chaco has one of the highest deforestation rates in the continent. Now, local and international networks are working to prevent an irreparable environmental loss.

After the Amazon, the Gran Chaco is the largest and most biodiverse ecoregion in the Americas. It is also the most threatened due to the conversion of natural environments into productive fields for the cultivation of commodities for export, such as soy and beef.

More than half of this enormous ecoregion, which covers more than one million square kilometres, is located in Argentina, where a law on native forests was passed 15 years ago, establishing a regulation that has been unevenly implemented.

Deforestation did not stop even during the COVID-19 pandemic, and NGOs such as Greenpeace have denounced the expansion of the agro-livestock frontier in the region.

According to a report by Argentina’s Ministry of Environment, a total of 6.5 million hectares of native forests were lost in the country between 1998 and 2018. Nearly 90 percent of this area is located in the Chaco region, which includes the provinces of Santiago del Estero, Salta, Chaco and Formosa.

The Gran Chaco continues to be a neglected and impoverished region, but its natural wealth is gaining relevance on local and international agendas due to the significance of its environmental services.

Several projects are now bringing together public and private actors interested in halting the devastation of these ecosystems and improving the living conditions of its inhabitants, including indigenous communities.

A LOCAL NETWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Twenty years ago, representatives of various institutions concerned about rural development in the region created the Chaco Argentina Agroforestry Network (Red Agroforestal Chaco Argentina – REDAF). Currently, consists of 15 organisations that work in the region, as well as people who, based on their experience in technical, political and academic fields, contribute to the cause.

Together, they help foster a better quality of life for rural and indigenous communities in harmony with the region’s natural resources. They also created a Land, Natural Resources and Environment Observatory, which seeks to monitor and spotlight instances of conflict over land tenure, deforestation and other environmental problems.

A recent paper published by members of REDAF warns that the major illegal deforestation campaign in the dry Chaco region is closely associated with the power of landowner-producers and provincial government agencies in charge of enforcing the Forestry Law. The latter, the paper indicates, authorise re-categorisations that enable the advance into areas that were previously prohibited.

The authors of the study highlight the need to develop policies that integrate economic, agricultural and environmental sectors in order to halt deforestation on the agricultural frontiers.

“Land tenure reform can facilitate forest protection, while incentives for land-use diversification and criminal punishment of illegal deforestation are key to changing producer behaviour towards more balanced forms of production and conservation,” the study reads.

HOW TO EMPOWER COMMUNITIES

“More than half of the remaining native forests in the dry Chaco region are located in indigenous territories,” said Micaela Camino, a young biologist who left Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires and settled in the Chaco region in order to develop scientific projects with a strong social agenda.

“It is necessary to create the conditions so that the communities can stay there and lead dignified lives because they are fundamental for the conservation of the environment.”

This is why she founded Proyecto Quimilero, a campaign to spread awareness of the importance of conserving an endemic species of peccary (Catagonus wagneri) that lives in the Chaco and is threatened by the loss of its habitat. This year, her work received one of the Whitley Awards, a distinction given by a UK conservation foundation to promote the protection of endangered environments around the world.

With the funding, Camino plans to strengthen her work with local communities, empower them to continue to inhabit their lands and stop large corporations from eliminating the forests that are home to this peccary and other threatened species.

“The wisdom of indigenous peoples is key to knowing and caring for the fauna and environment of the Chaco,” the researcher told FairPlanet.

DEFORESTATION-FREE COMMODITIES

To curb deforestation in the Chaco, the involvement of both governments and corporations will be crucial. New international regulations that will require traceability of products entering markets could force companies to adapt their production processes and adopt environmentally responsible practices.

These actions would not only serve to halt the advance of productive fields over native forests, but also help restore damaged environments.

To coordinate these processes by replicating models already applied in other parts of the world, the Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA) – a multi-stakeholder partnership platform initiated to support the implementation of private-sector commitments to remove deforestation from supply chains – recently created a programme specifically tailored to the Gran Chaco, with hubs in Argentina and Paraguay.

“The goal is to achieve zero deforestation in the value chains of commodities produced in the region, mainly soy and beef, from a productive and conservationist perspective,” Daniel Kazimierski, Gran Chaco Special Advisor and Argentina Coordinator at TFA, told FairPlanet.

“THE WISDOM OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IS KEY TO KNOWING AND CARING FOR THE FAUNA AND ENVIRONMENT OF THE CHACO.”

The proposal, which is funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and supported by countries such as the UK, the Netherlands and Germany, consists of promoting collective actions that engage the productive sector and local governments.

The plan, which began in 2021 and will run for three years, aims to position the Chaco in different global forums to make its need for protection visible, as well as to create public-private coalitions to fuse production with conservation and obtain funding for these actions, granting incentives to producers who adapt their practices or restore environments.

The attention being drawn to the Chaco at the global level could be a positive step towards halting the tragic disappearance of its environments, wildlife and communities.

It will now be necessary to closely follow-up on the fulfillment of the commitments made.

Published in Fair Planet https://www.fairplanet.org/story/saving-americas-largest-dry-forest/

The desired Argentine red shrimp and the uncertainty of its sustainability

By Cecilia Fernández Castañón on junio 1, 2022septiembre 22, 2022Leave a Comment

The red shrimp, Argentina’s most valuable fishery produce, generates record-breaking foreign exchange earnings from exports and genuine employment. But as the pandemic progressed, a controversy arose between the government, industry and scientists concerning what are the best measures to protect the species.

Because of its exceptional size and characteristic flavours, the Argentine red shrimp (Pleoticus muelleri) is highly valued in different parts of the world. Recently, catches of this species have grown substantially in the South Atlantic, generating enormous economic income for the country through exports and genuine employment due to the growth of the fishing industry.

However, there is a concern in some sectors about the possible overexploitation of the resource and the consequences that these record-high levels of fishing could bear on the future of a species that is, in many aspects, still unknown. Despite the strict protection measures imposed by the Federal Fisheries Council, there are few instances of enforcement.

While the demand for shrimp is satisfied in different markets with those obtained in artificial hatcheries of the Litopenaeus vannamei species, Argentinians have a particular wild taste and reach sizes of up to 22 centimeters, which make them extremely attractive for markets of in Europe and the United States. Between 2018 and 2019, exports of this crustacean have generated revenues of $1.3 billion and $1 billion, respectively. The figure dropped to $830 million in 2020 due to restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but but recovered in 2021, with nearly $1.2 billion in exports at a record price of over $7,200 per tonne.

A MULTI MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS

Argentina’s fishing industry is increasingly turning to shrimp, which is thus consolidating itself as a multi million-dollar business that generates a significant foreign currency income for the country through exports and around 18,000 high-paying registered jobs – a very attractive fact in a country with high rates of informal work and low incomes. However, uncertainty about how long the country can sustain high catch levels of shrimp without affecting the resource worries business people, researchers and officials alike.

“Maintaining the resource depends on us and that is why we are working hard for. The restrictive fishing measures applied recently allowed us to have these current high levels of catches,” said Adrián Awstin, former secretary of fishing in Chubut – one of the main shrimp catching areas – and current representative of the province before the Federal Fisheries Council. “The objective is to take care of the resource and prevent what happened with other species, such as hake, which was overfished in the 1990s; it was then necessary to establish a total closure, which seriously affected the entire work chain.” Awstin claims that the ban on fishing in the San Jorge Gulf, an area between the provinces of Chubut and Santa Cruz that has been identified as a shrimp breeding area, was a key to the increasing number of shrimp being caught in Argentina.

Although catch zones are respected, some fishing practices could be putting the species at risk. Scientists in charge of the Prawn Fishing Programme of the National Institute for Fisheries Research and Development (INIDEP) warned both in an official report and in press statements that the fishing effort increased this season because there was a greater number of boats and trips operating in the same place.

This practice often results in boats catching more shrimp than they can process on board, and they end up discarding them back into the sea, depredating the resource and harming the marine ecosystem. They do so despite the fact that this practice is prohibited by law.

In this regard, the Association of Argentine Federal Shrimp Shipowners (ALFA) denied that the practices of the outrigger trawlers are putting the conservation of the species at risk and pointed out that they were warned only about the need to implement improvements in the handling of the products to maintain quality standards. “The fleet has matured and no one would think of fishing during the shrimp breeding season, but we are constantly working on training for our teams,” said Mariano Retrivi, partner of the Buena Proa company and current President of ALFA. “Techniques are improving and evolving, not only fishing techniques but also handling, conditioning and conservation.”

But news of Argentinian shrimp going to waste is not new. In 2020, due to a protest by maritime workers, around 200 tonnes of shrimp were not processed in time and ended up in a rubbish dump in Puerto Madryn, in Chubut.

Added to this problem is the incidental catch, or bycatch, that occurs when fishing for shrimp. The technique used to fish them is called trawling, by which the seabed is “swept” with a net. This process removes not only the shrimp from the sea but also other fish that swim alongside them, such as hake (Merluccius hubbsi), a species that has not yet recovered from the effects of overfishing in recent decades.

SPECIES STILL HARDLY KNOWN TO SCIENCE

Although there are several studies on the population and reproductive dynamics of this crustacean, the genetic aspects of the species are still unknown. A young researcher from the National University of Southern Patagonia, Estefanía Gesto, is studying the genome of the Argentine shrimp.

“The research is about the genetic variability of the entire distribution of the species, from the state of Espírito Santo in Brazil to the province of Santa Cruz in Argentina,” she explained. “While there are some studies on mitochondrial and nuclear genes, none came to a satisfactory conclusion about the population structure, an essential issue for the management and conservation of the species.”

Gesto’s studies could help explain why the catch levels and size of shrimp caught in Argentina are much higher than those caught in Uruguay or Brazil, where the species is also found.

“So far, management strategies have been defined on the assumption that it is a widely distributed species and that it is a single stock, but our preliminary results indicate that the population in Argentina differs genetically from that of Brazil and that, in turn, at the Uruguayan level we find a secondary contact between the two populations,” Gesto said. “These aspects must be taken into account when defining conservation measures so that the genetic diversity of the species and its ability to adapt are not lost.”

Published in Fair Planet https://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/fishery-latin-america/the-desired-argentine-red-shrimp-and-the-uncertainty-of-its-sustainability/

98 years on, Napalpi Indigenous Massacre trial opens in Argentina

By Cecilia Fernández Castañón on mayo 6, 2022septiembre 22, 2022Leave a Comment

The killing of hundreds of people at Napalpí in Argentina’s Chaco province in 1924 is now being prosecuted as a crime against humanity. This is an unprecedented lawsuit in Latin America that could mark a milestone in the acknowledgment of and compensation for the indigenous genocide.

In an unprecedented trial for Latin America, Argentina is trying as a crime against humanity the Napalpí Massacre, an attack committed in 1924 against indigenous people of the Qom and Moqoit ethnic groups in the current territory of the province of Chaco, which resulted in the death of between 300 and 500 people.

At that time, the government – supported by the police and landowners in the area – shot down from a plane a community that was subjected to a regime of semi-slavery and was demanding better working conditions.

The consequences of this massacre were ignored by both the authorities and official media at the time, and survivors were persecuted and silenced for nearly a hundred years. The trial will constitute a new milestone in history and, as many believe, help pave the way to recognition and reparation for the the atrocities committed against the indigenous communities of Argentina and the Americas.

Fundamental in effecting this momentous opportunity for justice was the contribution of a diverse group of researchers, indigenous community representatives and federal prosecutors who managed to gather valuable testimonies and pen academic works referring to this horrific event. It is a “trial for truth” that is intended to become a stage for reflection and learning for the whole of society, which is why all the hearings are being broadcast live on streaming platforms, making them accessible to the entire country and the world.

TRUTH TRIALS: FROM DICTATORSHIP TO INDIGENOUS GENOCIDE

Argentina’s experience with truth trials dates back to the late 1990s, when lawsuits were filed in different cities to determine the state’s responsibility for crimes committed during the military dictatorship that governed the country between 1976 and 1983. In compliance with the recommendations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the state began to respond to the truth claims of the victims of state terrorism.

In the Napalpí case, the truth trial was promoted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, considering that it is the appropriate mechanism to judge this case since the perpetrators are no longer alive. Therefore, the ultimate objective will be to fulfil the victims’ rights to the truth.

The hearings began on 19 April and will continue through 19 May, moving between different public auditoriums in Chaco and Buenos Aires. More than 50 witnesses have been called to testify to make diverse contributions to the case, including a survivor of the massacre, Rosa Grillo, who is over 110 years old and witnessed the attack as a child.

The case also includes reports made by the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF), a pioneering body in the application of archaeological techniques to cases of human rights violations. The excavations they carried out in Napalpí in 2019 confirmed the presence of human remains in places that coincide with survivors’ descriptions.

The contribution of researchers who tackled the indigenous question in Argentina was also fundamental to the cause. Academic studies carried out by historians and different social scientists over the last decades indicate that an indigenous genocide had been perpetrated in Chaco; one which some of them contend still persists today through, for instance, the erasure of indigenous languages.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ORAL TESTIMONIES

To put together the puzzle of what happened in Napalpí on 19 July, 1924, it was essential to gather testimonies from indigenous communities. Survivors recounted that on that day a plane flew over an area where about a thousand women, children, men and elderly people were living and began to drop food and sweets. When the indigenous people came out to pick them up, claimed the survivors, the plane began to shoot at the crowd – killing most of them. Those who survived the torrent of bullets hid in the bushes until they managed to escape. Many of the survivors never spoke again of the macabre atrocity they had experienced.

One of the main figures in this reconstruction process was Juan Chico, a Qom historian who was the link between all the various actors who managed to make the Napalpí Massacre visible. Chico died in June 2021 due to complications from COVID-19, but his legacy reached the trial through his colleagues.

“The function that orality has within our community is fundamental and it is what we will present in the trial as a testimony of what our communities lived through,” Raquel Esquivel, a member of the Qom community who accompanied Juan during fieldwork, told FairPlanet.

Esquivel is presenting the results of interviews she had conducted in her community starting in 2007 when she was a political science student and began to ask herself questions about the past. “My maternal grandmother is Qom and speaks the language, but my mother does not. When I asked her why they hadn’t taught it to her, they told me ‘it was wrong’ and that many people had died because of it,” she recalled. “I didn’t understand much, but when I grew up and studied I found a short text about what had happened in Napalpí and started to investigate. This was a topic that was not talked about in our community.”

Since then, Raquel has been able to conduct interviews with many of the survivors of the massacre and their families. “More than an investigation, for me it was a search for my identity. I went to a school in a city, outside the community. My parents took us out of the countryside to [integrate us with] society, but my skin and my features never allowed me to deny my origin,” she said.

“From the age of 6 I had to face discrimination and although some things have changed, society is still unfair to us. That is why I am confident that this process will help us to begin to heal wounds and overcome the stigmatisation that exists towards indigenous people.”

JUSTICE FOR COLLECTIVE MEMORY

Zunilda Niremperger is the judge presiding over the trial that is trying to reconstruct the historic event in Chaco. “The intervention of the justice system in cases such as this one is very relevant for the revindication of collective memory. Mainly because it legitimises the voice of the communities, who are often excluded, like so many other vulnerable groups,” Niremperger told FairPlanet.

The trial represents a procedural challenge, however, as it attempts to reconstruct and probe events that occurred more than 90 years ago; furthermore, there are no living defendants. “As a national judge it is a privilege to be able to lead this process which, if what the prosecution and the plaintiffs claim is proven, represents a crime against humanity committed towards a group that presents an intersectionality of vulnerability,” judge Niremperger said.

“Indigenous communities have not only been historically neglected, but have also been victims of violations of all their rights through massacres, policies of extermination and abandonment, which have placed them in socio-economic situations of maximum vulnerability that should be taken into account by all those who work in the state,” she added. “Our goal must be to help balance all these existing asymmetries.”

Published in Fair Planet https://www.fairplanet.org/story/98-years-on-indigenous-massacre-trial-opens-in-argentina/