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ENVIRONMENT-ARGENTINA: Chronic Problems, Acute Symptoms

Maricel Drazer

BUENOS AIRES, May 24 2006 (IPS) - In Argentina, an area 10 times the size of the capital is deforested every year, while the burning of forests generates more greenhouse gases than the country’s motor vehicles, according to a new report by the Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina.

“The environmental situation in the country is disturbing,” Marcelo Acerbi, the Fundación’s director of conservation and sustainable development, told IPS. “There is no province that does not face some major problem.”

The Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina (Argentine Wildlife Foundation) is an associate of WWF International, the world’s largest independent conservation organisation.

The nearly 600-page report, “The Environmental Situation in Argentina 2005”, which was released Tuesday after taking nearly a year to draw up, points to problems like the clearing of forests for large-scale agriculture, pollution, overfishing and desertification.

“Annual deforestation affects an area 10 times the size of the city of Buenos Aires,” states the report, which adds that “in 2002, there were an estimated 33 million hectares of trees in the country, but 250,000 hectares are lost every year.”

The Fundación, which has been active in Argentina for nearly three decades, also warns that the burning of forests in the Gran Chaco region produces more carbon dioxide emissions than what is generated by all of the country’s motor vehicles put together.

Vegetation in the Gran Chaco region – shared by Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia – is a mixture of savannah, shrubland and hardwood forests alternating in belts and patches.

The report is made up of over 80 articles reflecting the views of more than 140 scientists, researchers, activists, officials and members of the business community.

It also includes the results of the National Environmental Survey, which was carried out to assess public perceptions on the state of the environment.

According to the Survey, which was conducted by a public opinion consulting firm, nearly half of the respondents – 46 percent – believe the situation has gotten worse in the past five years.

Pollution was cited as the most pressing concern by those polled in 15 of the country’s 23 provinces. Floods, logging, and forest fires were other top concerns.

Although many of the problems are related to industry in urban areas, there are also cases of pollution generated by mines in remote regions like the Patagonian steppes in southern Argentina, the puna altiplano plateau in northwestern Argentina, the Andes mountains along the western border, and the yungas rainforest in the northwest, where mining has had a severe impact on local water supplies.

The survey also asked respondents who they would hold accountable for the country’s environmental problems. A broad majority – 70 percent – said the government was responsible. More specifically, 46.8 percent blamed provincial governments, and 26.9 percent blamed the national government.

The report also mentions the ongoing conflict over two paper pulp factories being built on the Uruguayan side of a river that forms the border between Argentina and Uruguay. It states that the dispute “highlights the transnational dimension of these (environmental) impacts, and in consequence the need to coordinate new and better mechanisms of joint planning between neighbouring nations, in order to prevent such problems.”

“The protection of a healthy environment must be at the centre of our public policies,” said Argentine President Néstor Kirchner early this month in the northeastern town of Gualeguaychú, whose residents have led major demonstrations and blocked traffic between the two countries to protest the potential environmental impact of the two pulp mills.

With respect to Kirchner’s speech in Gualeguaychú, Acerbi said “That must immediately be reflected in actions. So far we have only heard words.”

“We have seen isolated efforts,” the activist acknowledged. But “In a federal country like ours, the government can have a strong influence on and work closely with the provinces so that they administer their territory in a less chaotic manner.”

With regard to Argentina’s environmental legislation, constitutional lawyer Daniel Sabsay said at the presentation of the book that “our laws are not deficient; what we have are serious shortcomings in the application and enforcement of the laws, and in environmental oversight.”

“There has to be a clear understanding that talking about the environment does not mean losing opportunities for growth,” Daniel Tomasini, coordinator of the environment and sustainable development in the Argentine office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), told IPS.

The UNDP is presently involved in 25 environmental projects in Argentina, focusing on biodiversity, desertification, pollution and climate change, which involve a total investment of six million dollars a year.

“We are increasingly convinced that we must also focus on consumption, to create responsible consumers,” said Acerbi.

“The productive sector often has to increase prices in order to be environmentally responsible, but then finds that there are no buyers for these products – that no one is willing to pay the price,” he said.

The recommendations laid out in the last chapter of the report include the creation of a ministry dedicated exclusively to the environment, and land use zoning.

“The problem is that positive environmental actions take the stairs, and environmental conflicts take the elevator,” Tomasini remarked.

The report by the Fundación is the third of a series, and was financed by the Spanish International Cooperation Agency (AECI), the embassies of the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the World Bank, and a group of companies.