The far-right president seeks to reform rules that protect fragile ecosystems.
On Thursday, the Argentine Senate is expected to debate a reform of the glacier preservation regime sponsored by far-right President Javier Milei.
The bill, which must also be reviewed by the Chamber of Deputies, grants provinces the authority to determine which areas near glaciers would permit mining activities.
Milei seeks to amend the 2010 Glacier Law, a pioneering regulation in Latin America that establishes the protection of glaciers and the periglacial environment as strategic water reserves. The law has faced sustained opposition from sectors linked to large-scale mining that have sought to limit its scope.
In 2019, however, the Supreme Court upheld its constitutionality and reaffirmed that glaciers and the periglacial environment are public goods and that collective rights such as access to water prevail over individual interests.
In 2024, Milei had already attempted to amend the law to allow economic activities in periglacial environments, but the effort failed amid strong opposition from environmentalists.
The text reads, “The police under Javier Milei’s administration arrested an A24 cameraman who was covering the debate on the Glaciers Law in Congress and also confiscated his camera.”
Argentine Glaciers in Retreat
Milei’s proposal comes at a time when Argentina’s glaciers are disappearing as a result of global climate change and the expansion of mining projects in glacial and periglacial zones.
According to official data, the updated glacier inventory indicates Argentina has 16,968 ice bodies, 16,078 of which are in the Andes mountain range and 890 in the South Atlantic islands. The country’s glaciers cover a surface area of 8,484 square kilometers.
In 2024, Argentina presented a stark assessment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: rising temperatures have caused the retreat of nearly all Andean Patagonian glaciers in recent decades, with 48 out of 50 main glaciers of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field showing sustained decline.
The Perito Moreno Glacier has lost more than 700 meters at its front over the past seven years. Other sectors such as the Canal de los Tempanos have seen retreats of nearly 800 meters in four years, raising alerts about a possible point of no return. In 2024, the Glaciar Martial Sur was declared extinct.
The sign reads, “Water sustaining the people’s life originates in the glaciers.”
Ecosystem Protection Is Not a Priority For Mining Companies
The current legislative debate unfolds amid tensions between conservation and exploitation. Environmental groups denounce that the Milei reform could pave the way for mining projects in periglacial and highly fragile ecological environments, with potential adverse effects on water basins and regional biodiversity.
They also argue that several concessions may lack adequate environmental impact assessments and warn of the absence of a centralized national registry of projects in glacial environments. Environmental defenders criticize insufficient monitoring and enforcement capacity by authorities, despite the 2010 Glacier Protection Law.
They note that the Milei reform proposes transferring responsibility for impact assessments to provinces, which could create regulatory disparities and reduce the capacity to respond to threats such as contamination, accelerated melting and the effects of mining extraction.
Without a clear registry and a proper oversight framework, glacial zones and their surrounding areas would be exposed to conflicts between economic development and conservation.
Environmental organizations contend that the reform represents an “unconstitutional environmental regression” because it could undermine commitments and principles enshrined in the Escazu Agreement, which Argentina joined to strengthen transparency, access to information, public participation and environmental justice.
Several sectors in Argentina defend the current regulation as a minimum floor of protection for strategic ecosystems that function as freshwater reserves for communities and productive sectors.
For his part, Milei hopes the Senate will approve the amendment to the Glacier Law. He also expects his political allies to secure passage of the amended Minimum Budgets Law for the Protection of Glaciers and the Periglacial Environment.
teleSUR/ JF
Sources: EFE – Radio Con Vos – Pagina 12
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