Esta entrada también está disponible en: Spanish
[photo: glaciers of the Famatina Mountains contribute water to the Chilecito and Famatina communities of La Rioja Province – Argentina]
January 28, 2017 – The Florida-based Center for Human Rights and Environment published today a guideline document in very simple terms, to help explain in simple language, the significance of the glacier inventory published recently by the Argentine Glacier Institute (the IANIGLA), in which glaciers, rock glaciers and periglacial environments were registered. This is a conflictive area of Argentina, pitting local government representatives wanting to promote large-scale mining against local communities, set on keeping mining away from the area.
Some of the main conclusions of CHRE’s report:
- We finally have an official glacier inventory for Famatina, registering 46 ice bodies, amongst these, glaciers and rock glaciers.
- With this document, we can refute the comments by former La Rioja high level government authorities (including the Governor and Environment Secretary) which had said that La Rioja did not have glaciers, or that it didn’t even snow in the Famatina Mountains.
- The confirmation of the presence of rock glaciers in the Famatina range, confirms that there is extensive periglacial environment, as rock glaciers are one element of the periglacial environment. Periglacial areas are protected by law.
- The IANIGLA will not conduct a deep study of the periglacial environment, but nonetheless, there are ways to register the ice resources it contains so as to protect it.
- Mining exploration and extraction are now prohibited in the Famatina Range where there are glaciers, rock glaciers and periglacial areas.
to read more:
Link to CHRE’s explicative document: (in Spanish Only)
https://center-hre.org/wp-content/uploads/Inventario-de-Glaciares-del-Famatina.pdf