Omnibus Law: Nation Would Reverse Course with More Environmental Changes

During the plenary session that is being held in Congress to debate the package of measures promoted by the national government, the Undersecretary of the Environment, Ana María Lamas, said that there was an “error” in two articles of the Forest Law; that periglacials “will never be touched” and that changes to the Burning Law are a permitted tool, but that “it has to be done carefully.” After a battery of questions promoted by environmental foundations, politicians and society in general, the official spoke about the modifications foreseen in the Forest Law, the Burning Activities Law and the Glacier Law.Forest LawLamas pointed out that there was an “error” in the inclusion of categories 1 and 2 and that they will be eliminated from the Law. These spoke of the removal of requirements provided for in the General Environmental Law on the information that natural and legal persons, public or private, must provide to the State on the environmental activities they carry out in different areas classified as category I, in red, which refers to areas of “very high conservation value that should not be transformed”. while category II is “sectors of medium conservation value”. Glacier LawHere the official determined: “Glaciers will never be touched to carry out any type of activity, nor will active periglacials. We say that the provinces have the power, with their environmental impact assessment laws, to verify that, on the periglacial area where they want to carry out some activity, there is no impact, especially on water issues.” Burning LawAt this point, Lamas pointed out that “it is a permitted activity” that is carried out “by firebreak, by fuel management” and “we have to allow productive activities to request these burnings.” However, he clarified that “it has to be done carefully and the provinces have to control it.”

Original source in Spanish