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Lithium and Energy Transition: 10 Key Questions

Lithium has become a central resource for the global energy transition, driven by growing demand for rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage. Argentina, with its high Andean salt flats in Jujuy, Salta and Catamarca, holds a significant share of the world’s reserves — but its exploitation generates tensions that go far beyond the economic.

This document addresses ten questions about lithium and the energy transition: what it is and why it gained relevance, how it is extracted, what environmental and social impacts it generates in the territories, and what legal framework regulates the activity in Argentina. It also examines what a “just transition” means and how the country fits into the global lithium supply chain.

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The VUDAS fight crosses borders: the IACHR analyzes the case for human rights violations in Córdoba

Fundeps, together with the United Neighbors in Defense of a Healthy Environment (VUDAS), submitted a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The goal is for this international body to assess the responsibility of the Argentine State regarding the illegal operation of the company Porta Hnos. S.A. in the San Antonio neighborhood of the city of Córdoba. Recently, the IACHR notified that the petition is in the “admissibility” stage, and the Argentine State must submit relevant information before July 25.

In April 2024, the Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies (Fundeps), together with the United Neighbors in Defense of a Healthy Environment (VUDAS), submitted a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The purpose of the petition is for the IACHR to become aware of the violation of fundamental rights resulting from the illegal operation of the company Porta Hnos. S.A. in the San Antonio neighborhood of the City of Córdoba, and to assess the responsibility of the Argentine State in this regard.

Over the course of these 13 years of struggle, VUDAS has filed numerous administrative complaints and legal actions at various levels of government, supported by solid independent studies that prove the serious damage caused to the environment and the health of families in the neighborhood. However, to this day, they have not received any solutions from local authorities. That is why we decided to bring their case before this international body.

Recently, we were notified that the petition has moved to a new stage in the process: the admissibility stage. This means that the IACHR considers the petition to meet the formal requirements and is ready to be analyzed in depth. To that end, it has requested information from the Argentine State, which must respond within four months of the request being sent—by July 25. Reaching this stage is of great importance, as only a small number of the thousands of petitions the IACHR receives annually make it this far.

In the petition, we request that the competent authorities be required to:

  • Adopt the necessary measures to stop the pollution caused by Porta Hnos. S.A.

  • Order the immediate relocation of the plant located at Avda. Valparaiso 4850, City of Córdoba, outside the urban area of the city, in compliance with current environmental legislation.

  • Take all necessary measures to identify and remediate the environmental damage caused by the plant’s operations.

  • Provide free medical and psychological assistance to those affected by the environmental pollution.

  • Order the creation of a Community Development Fund to be financed by the company.

All of this is within the framework of the serious pollution caused by the company’s operations, which affects the community’s rights to health, a healthy environment, a dignified life, and citizen participation, among others, for those living near the bioethanol plant.

A company that breaks the law with state backing

Over all these years, the company has failed to comply with the Environmental Impact Assessment procedure, despite it being a mandatory legal requirement for this type of industry and having been ordered by at least four court rulings at different levels. Even more serious is the fact that this noncompliance is not only due to the company’s refusal, but also because the Ministry of Environment and Circular Economy itself has refused to require the company to carry out the assessment.

In this context of state absence and neglect, progress in this international instance represents an opportunity to seek justice for all the environmental and social harm caused by the company. It also represents a renewed push in the sustained struggle of VUDAS, supported by Fundeps, which motivates us to continue forward with the same commitment to access to justice and environmental democracy. As well as for a more just, equitable, and sustainable society, based on public policies that guarantee the human rights of all people.

Author:

Ananda Lavayen

Contact:

Laura Carrizo, lauracarrizo@fundeps.org

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Questions and Answers on Access to Environmental Information

In the following guide you will find questions and answers about access to public environmental information and useful information to make requests to the State.

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The exploitation of lithium in the high Andean salt flats: a socio-environmental analysis based on the Argentine case

This report aims to address the different conceptual, legislative and discursive perspectives and components that intervene in this context of global energy transition and the consequent acceleration in the demand for lithium in our country and region. It seeks to take a comprehensive approach to lithium exploitation in Argentina and the region, providing elements for an informed discussion.

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Stories and experiences of socio-environmental struggles in Córdoba

By compiling some of the experiences of struggles of the Cordoba communities, we aim to provide a collective response to the challenges that arise around the processes of environmental conflict.

The truth is that there is no single way to organize, no single way to ask the authorities for answers, and much less a single way to confront a socio-environmental conflict. However, we observe that there are common practices that have been strengthened and that serve as a guide for other struggles.

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Executive summary – The effects of climate change in the province of Córdoba

This summary reflects the main data collected and systematized from the realization of a diagnosis of climatic phenomena in the Province of Córdoba between the years 2000 and 2020.

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Diagnosis – The effects of Climate Change in the province of Córdoba

The present work aims to reveal the climatic phenomena that occurred throughout the years 2000 to 2020 in the province of Córdoba and based on this, make visible the local reality and the serious impacts of climate change year after year, as well as public policies existing to date.

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Situational Diagnosis of the Water Resources of Córdoba: Los Molinos Lake and San Roque Lake

This document seeks to analyze the current status of Lake San Roque and Lake Los Molinos from a comprehensive approach, from various sources of information. The objective is to achieve a complete understanding of the dimension of the problem and, based on this, weigh the measures and actions of prevention, mitigation and recomposition that it demands.

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Report: Demands and Challenges in Access to Public Environmental Information

Within the framework of the project “Strengthening the capacities of civil society in the exercise of the right to public information through the Escazú Agreement”, we shared the debates and reflections on the effective fulfillment of this right.

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ESCAZÚ AGREEMENT: Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters

This resource is intended to publicize the content, the rights it guarantees and the obligations of the State that govern the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean – called the Escazú Agreement. In addition, it incorporates in its annexes tools and models to exercise these rights before the authorities.

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Impact of COVID-19 on the Sustainable Development Goals

(ONLY SPANISH) The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented global impact in the modern era. Many countries are in a health, economic and social emergency due to the negative consequences of the fight against the new coronavirus.

Undoubtedly, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established for the United Nations 2030 Agenda will be affected. In this paper we analyze some of the positive and negative impacts on the SDGs, although we anticipate that in general the outlook is negative, especially if we focus on the effects it will have on community health and the increase in inequalities due to the economic slowdown. world.

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Agrochemicals, an environmental and public health problem

This document aims to examine, from a comprehensive environmental and public health perspective, the impacts caused by the application of agrochemicals. One of the many consequences of the existing agricultural production model in Argentina is linked to the excessive application of agrochemicals and their consequent negative externalities for the environment, public health and the general population.

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