Buenos Aires Argentina
The organization Equística Defensa del Medio Ambiente (Equística Environmental Defense) filed a collective environmental protection action against the Municipality of Rosario, the Province of Santa Fe, the Municipality of Victoria, the Province of Entre Ríos, and the National Government, due to the illegal fires occurring on the chain of islands off the coast of the city of Rosario, which were seriously affecting the health of the inhabitants. The lawsuit requested the urgent adoption of a precautionary measure ordering the defendants to effectively and immediately cease all fires taking place on the aforementioned islands.
The precautionary measure included in the injunction was resolved by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (CSJN), which unanimously determined that the Paraná Delta is a vulnerable ecosystem in need of protection and that "the fires, while an age-old practice, have reached a scale that affects the entire ecosystem and the health of the population." In this regard, the Court ordered the Provinces of Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Buenos Aires, and the Municipalities of Victoria and Rosario, as a precautionary measure, to immediately establish an Environmental Emergency Committee, which must adopt effective measures for the prevention, control, and cessation of illegal fires in the Paraná Delta region.
On August 11, 2020, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (CSJN) ordered, as a precautionary measure, that the Provinces of Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Buenos Aires, and the Municipalities of Victoria and Rosario, establish an Environmental Emergency Committee; that said Committee adopt effective measures for the prevention, control, and cessation of illegal fires in the Paraná Delta region; and that within 15 calendar days, they submit a report on compliance with the ordered measure. Pursuant to this precautionary measure, the National Government appeared in the case to submit the minutes of the meeting of the High-Level Interjurisdictional Committee and the formal establishment of the Environmental Emergency Committee (CEA).
The CEA presented the minutes of meetings where it was decided to adopt initial measures in order to prevent, control and stop the irregular fires in the Delta.
Through this resolution, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (CSJN) deems the requirements set forth in the precautionary measure of August 11, 2020, to have been met in due time. Specifically, the defendants' obligation to immediately establish an Environmental Emergency Committee and to submit a report on their compliance with the ordered measure within 15 calendar days. Simultaneously, through the resolution of August 12, 2022, the CSJN places upon the Environmental Emergency Committee (CEA) the obligation to report every 30 calendar days on the activities carried out within the framework of the Committee and the degree of effectiveness of the measures adopted for the intended purposes.
In August 2022 , the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation issued a resolution regarding the minutes presented by the CEA (Environmental Emergency Committee) and the presentations made by the National State that were presented through the CIAN (High Level Interjurisdictional Committee).
The organizations appreciate that the ruling will be implemented within the specified timeframes and terms, with effective measures for the prevention, control, and cessation of illegal fires in the region, as stipulated in Law 26.562. This will safeguard not only the health of the affected populations and ecosystems, but also future generations.
The Court's decision, in addition to providing a framework for promoting solutions for the Delta, is also a call to the National Congress to institutionalize the PIECAS (Comprehensive Plan for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Wetlands) and enact a law establishing minimum standards for environmental protection of wetlands. It also calls on the Provinces to enact, in due course, regulations that support and complement the PIECAS.
Implementation
The Supreme Court issued precautionary measures to stop the fires immediately and requested reports from the provinces and the national government on the actions to address the situation.
The current status of the case remains active and is relevant in the context of environmental protection and climate litigation in Argentina.
The precautionary ruling recognizes that the Paraná Delta is a vulnerable ecosystem that needs protection and points out that fires constitute a danger to it because "forests are lost, the function of wetlands is affected, the use of the land is abruptly changed, countless species of subtropical origin, wildlife, flora, fauna and biodiversity disappear."
In that regard, the Court concluded that there was sufficient evidence to prove "a severe impact on an environmental or ecological resource of an interjurisdictional nature; that there is effective environmental degradation or impact on the Paraná River Delta, which seriously compromises its functioning and sustainability; that its conservation is a priority, not only in the interest of present generations, but also in defense of future generations; and that as a consequence of these fires, there is an impact on air quality."
- Equistica Environmental Defense Civil Association.
- Municipality of Rosario.
- Municipality of Victoria.
- Province of Santa Fe.
- Province of Entre Ríos.
- National State.
The city of Rosario is located in the southern part of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, and is adjacent to the Paraná Delta wetland, which is an ecosystem that, in addition to harboring a rich biological diversity, fulfills various environmental services such as the recharge and discharge of aquifers, flood control, retention of sediments and nutrients, stabilization of coasts, protection against erosion, climate regulation, and an extensive list of goods and services.
The indiscriminate burning caused a health problem, especially for the inhabitants of the city of Rosario, which was confirmed in an air quality study carried out by the Environmental Laboratory of the Faculty of Exact Sciences, Engineering and Surveying of the National University of Rosario (UNR), which indicates that the product of the fire outbreaks generated in the islands of Entre Ríos opposite Rosario, exceeded five times the value allowed by regulations on the matter.
The geographical area encompassing the Paraná Delta was identified as "... the area corresponding to the Paraná Delta Basin, in which case the surface reaches 17,500 km2 and is developed on the northeastern margin of the province of Buenos Aires, the south of Entre Ríos and a relatively small portion of the west of Santa Fe."
The Paraná Delta Region is one of the richest areas in biodiversity in Argentina, it forms a unique natural unit due to its specific biogeographical features that arise from the coexistence in the region of species of different origin.
The services provided by wetlands can be classified into provisioning services (provision of food, water, among others), regulating services (regulation of floods, droughts and diseases), supporting services (soil formation, nutrient cycling) and cultural services (recreational, spiritual, religious).
These services come from the ecological functions that take place in wetlands, that is, from the natural activities or actions of ecosystems resulting from the structure and physical, chemical and biological processes that occur in them.
In the islands of the Paraná Delta, fire is a tool systematically used to clear vegetation. This practice is driven by the expansion of the agricultural frontier and the displacement of livestock farming to lands known as "marginal areas." This practice has negative environmental impacts, altering the deltaic environment and resulting in a loss of productivity, biodiversity, and the aforementioned ecosystem services that this wetland provides.
The progression of the fires in the islands, which have been raging for over two years without pause, has reached a point where the smoke has become a health risk in addition to the serious environmental damage. Cardiologists report that the affected population is exposed to an incredible amount of particulate matter, known as PM2.5. The World Health Organization (WHO) explains that particulate matter is a common indicator of air pollution and affects more people than any other pollutant. One of the sources of these particles is the fires in the islands. The WHO sets 25 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter as the threshold for indicating that an environment is potentially polluted. In Rosario, it was recently reported that these levels quadrupled as a result of the various fires in the Paraná Delta region.
- Convention on Wetlands of International Importance
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
- National Constitution.
- Law 26.562 on Minimum Environmental Protection Standards for the Control of Burning Activities
- Law 26.815. Federal Fire Management System
- Law 26.331 on Minimum Budgets for Environmental Protection of Native Forests
- Law 25.675. General Law of the Environment.
- Law 27.520 on Minimum Budgets for Adaptation and Mitigation to Climate Change.