Argentinian politicians have approved a bill earlier pushed by the country’s right-wing President Javier Milei that authorises mining in ecologically sensitive areas of glaciers and permafrost, a move that has outraged environmentalists.
The Chamber of Deputies, Argentina’s lower house of Congress, approved the amendment early on Thursday with 137 votes in favour, 111 against and three abstentions after nearly 12 hours of debate.
The amendment to the so-called Glacier Law, which was already approved by the Senate in February, would make it easier to mine for metals such as copper, lithium and silver in frozen parts of the Andes mountains.
Environmentalists say the reforms will weaken protections for crucial water sources.
Thousands of people took part in a demonstration on Wednesday afternoon outside parliament, with sporadic clashes with police occurring.
Some held banners with slogans such as “Water is more precious than gold!” and “A glacier destroyed cannot be restored!”
Seven Greenpeace activists were arrested earlier in the day after scaling a statue outside parliament and unfurling a banner urging politicians “not to betray the Argentine people”.
The passage of the amendment is another victory for Milei, who pushed through looser labour laws in February despite repeated street protests.
Nicolas Mayoraz, an MP from Milei’s ruling La Libertad Avanza party, told lawmakers that combining “environmental protection and sustainable development is possible”.
Environmental activist Flavia Broffoni rejected the government’s position.
“The science is clear … there is absolutely no possibility of creating what they [the government] call a ‘sustainable mine’ in a periglacial environment,” she told the AFP news agency after addressing the protest outside parliament.
‘Environmentalists would rather see us starve’: Milei
There are nearly 17,000 glaciers or rock glaciers – a mix of rock and ice – in Argentina, according to a 2018 count.
In the northwest of the country, where mining activity is concentrated, glacial reserves have shrunk by 17 percent in the last decade, mainly due to climate change, according to the Argentine Institute of Snow Research, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences.
Milei, a free-market radical who does not believe in man-made climate change, argues the bill is necessary to attract large-scale mining projects.
Argentina is a major producer of lithium, which is critical to the global tech and green energy sectors.
Its central bank has estimated, based on industry forecasts, that the country could triple its mining exports by 2030.
“Environmentalists would rather see us starve than have anything touched,” Milei has argued.
Under the current law, a scientific body designates protected glaciers and periglacial environments.
The reform would give individual provinces more powers to decide which areas need protection and which can be exploited for economic purposes.
