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Indigenous Peoples and the Energy Transition: Mining and Pollution in Argentina

BY SANDRA CEBALLOS FOR INDIGENOUS DEBATES

For over 50 years, through their steadfast activism, the Indigenous movement has played a key role in the international arena, achieving recognition of our collective rights as peoples within nation-states. Today, climate change — which threatens all of humanity and our Mother Earth — demands that we continue to hold States accountable. Indigenous Peoples are without doubt among those most severely affected by global warming. The energy transition required to address climate change must respect the human rights of Indigenous Peoples, incorporate our ancestral knowledge, and align with the goals of sustainable development.

The energy transition — a shift toward a more sustainable energy system — is both urgent and necessary to mitigate climate change and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. This involves significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, lowering energy consumption, and increasing the share of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal. It also requires decreasing the world’s dependence on fossil fuels and fostering innovation and technological development.

Argentina’s legal framework on Indigenous Peoples is of constitutional status. It recognizes their pre-existence as distinct peoples, their right to collective ownership of ancestral territories and to management of natural resources. Although Argentina has ratified ILO Convention 169 and endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, there are still no national laws regulating collective land ownership or the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent. As a result, the effective exercise of Indigenous Peoples’ specific collective rights is often dependent on the political will of national and provincial governments.

Regulatory Rollbacks and Violations of Rights in Argentina

The Argentine Republic has signed and ratified the Paris Agreement. In December 2020, it submitted its Second Nationally-Determined Contribution (NDC), committing to limiting net greenhouse gas emissions to no more than 359 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2030, in line with Article 4.4 of the Agreement. The government’s current actions are, however, moving in the opposite direction. President Javier Milei, who denies the existence of climate change and has claimed it is “just another collapsing lie”, ordered the withdrawal of Argentina’s delegation on the third day of COP29, held in Baku, Azerbaijan — a move that caused significant concern among other delegations.

In recent months, the government has introduced a series of regulatory changes that pose serious threats to the rights of Indigenous communities. These measures dismantle oversight mechanisms for extractive activities and have a severe impact on Indigenous territorial rights. They also encourage the intensified exploitation of natural resources by repealing laws deemed “restrictive” and dismantling state regulatory bodies — signalling a policy of full deregulation in the agricultural, energy, and mining sectors.

Furthermore, the National Executive issued Emergency Decree 1083/2024, which repealed the most recent extension of the Indigenous Territorial Emergency Law. The expiry of this legal protection leaves Indigenous communities at risk of forced evictions — some of which have already begun — and is heightening tensions that need to be urgently addressed through the passage of a law to implement Indigenous communal land ownership. In addition, in 2020, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued its ruling in Lhaka Honhat v. Argentina, ordering the State to adopt “legislative and/or other measures to provide legal certainty for the human right to Indigenous communal property”.

A New Form of Colonialism

In an increasingly adverse context for Indigenous rights, lithium extraction — a key component of the energy transition — is advancing rapidly. Pía Marchegiani, Deputy Executive Director of the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN), notes that, in recent years, global demand for lithium has surged, largely driven by mounting pressure from the Global North to accelerate energy transition strategies. “But what about ecosystems and human rights?” she asks.

Indeed, complaints from Indigenous Peoples have intensified in response to the exploitation of natural resources by companies operating with the backing of both provincial and national governments. These operations often ignore environmental impact assessments and violate the human rights of those most affected. While moving away from fossil fuels is undeniably urgent, doing so by replicating the current model of excessive natural resource consumption will only reinforce the very same extractivist logic that underpins today’s energy system — a model that is abusive, individualistic, and inherently harmful to both people and the planet.

Lithium extraction has caused significant damage in several regions of Argentina.This is not an isolated phenomenon but part of a long history of plundering and sacrificing natural resources that has repeated itself throughout the continent. Since European colonization, Latin American territories have been treated as raw material reserves for the Global North. In this context, resistance to extractivism represents a continuing struggle to defend Indigenous lands and territories.

Colonial dynamics have intensified across the region in recent decades, marked by an increasing concentration of land and resources in the hands of large foreign corporations, facilitated by local governments. The Indigenous organizations are, however, responding.

Diaguita Women Defenders of Life

In the official discourse promoted by both transnational corporations and local governments, the energy transition is portrayed as the arrival of progress to rural territories. In the province of Catamarca, media campaigns and official announcements seek to reinforce the idea of the “benefits” that mining would bring. From this perspective, it seems as if domestic economies and local forms of organization are “backward” compared to the innovation and “prosperity” promised by large mining projects, along with the promise of job creation.

The young Indigenous women of the Union of the Diaguita Nation Peoples are promoting a community defence strategy in response to the contradictions posed by the energy transition in their territory. They are rolling out concrete, localized practices that challenge exploitative policies, halt the plundering of their lands, and call for action. The young women from the Yocavil Valley, east of Catamarca, assert that life must be defended in real-time: “We can’t just keep watching companies destroy the territories without doing anything.”

The Yocavil Valley has a long-standing history of struggle by the peoples who have ancestrally inhabited it. The young Diaguita women leaders state that they are choosing to care for the land today because tomorrow will be too late, emphasizing that progress and development are not the same. Milagros Romero, from the Toro Yaco community, explains that a full life is related to both practice and reflection on how we consume, produce, and care for nature. For this reason, the Union of the Peoples of the Diaguita Nation produces and markets their food, spices and crafts while protecting the natural environment they belong to, all while actively blocking the entry of extractive companies. “We know very well the wealth we have; we do not want their so-called progress. That is why we are organizing to preserve our territory from mining companies,” explains Milagros.

Similarly, in December 2024, the Solidarity Union of Communities of the Diaguita Cacano People issued a declaration condemning the presidential decree that repealed the Indigenous Territorial Emergency Law, and they called for the establishment of an Indigenous parliament. The declaration argued that the sole purpose of the decree was to allow unrestricted exploitation of Mother Earth and to dispossess Indigenous communities of their legitimate rights, which are recognized by international treaties and national legislation. Additionally, it warned that the situation had deteriorated because the government deemed the number of registered communities excessive and was labelling many as non-existent.

The Kolla People of Salinas Defend Their Territory Against the Expansion of Lithium Mining

In Jujuy, the communities of the Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc region are facing a serious violation of their human and environmental rights. Mining exploration continues to advance despite the absence of complete and comprehensive environmental impact assessments covering the entire basin, which are essential to accurately identify the real risks in this water-scarce area. The Indigenous Communities’ Assembly of Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc has been engaged in decades of struggle and advocacy across multiple arenas. They have even drafted their own Free, Prior, and Informed Consent protocol, which the provincial government has yet to implement.

Additionally, the brothers and sisters of the Kolla people of Jujuy from Salinas Grandes took part in the so-called Third March for Peace, which challenged the then provincial government led by Gerardo Morales in 2023. At that time, the executive branch imposed a provincial constitutional reform favouring resource exploitation at the expense of Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Consequently, the communities endured violent repression, various forms of persecution, and the criminalization of social protest.

The Supreme Court of Justice of the Province of Jujuy granted an injunction affirming the right to environmental public information. This ruling benefits the Indigenous communities of Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc, recognizing their right to access reliable environmental information—a right already enshrined in the Escazú Agreement. The legal action was brought by the Foundation for Environment and Natural Resources (FARN) in order to obtain information on lithium and borate mining applications to operate within their territories.

Moreover, in a letter dated 24 February 2025, the Kolla communities of Jujuy received encouraging news: the World Bank has suspended all planned hydrological studies that were to be conducted without consulting or involving the Indigenous communities in the Salinas basin. The financial institution has also ordered the suspension of these studies until all stakeholders can engage in meaningful dialogue.

A Transition That Upholds Human Rights

The energy transition in our countries must represent an opportunity to move toward fairer and more equitable processes of energy production and distribution. In this context, the role of the international human rights protection system is crucial to ensuring respect for and enforcement of human rights within climate crisis solutions.

As stated by the International Forum of Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change in their final advocacy document on “Just Transition” for COP28 of the UNFCCC: “The rights, perspectives, knowledge systems, and lived experiences of Indigenous Peoples must be considered and fully integrated into the definitions, criteria, and implementation of Just Transition projects and programmes.”

The normative framework established in the Declaration, alongside the commitments made under the Paris Agreement, moves us closer to the ideal of “justice” in the Energy Transition. The current extraction of transition minerals such as lithium, copper, and nickel on Indigenous territories is, however, happening without their Free, Prior and Informed Consent—falling far short of what justice requires.

Sandra Ceballos is President of the Association of Indigenous Women Lawyers (AMAI) and a professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). She specializes in Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights, and International Cooperation, holding a Master’s degree in International Human Rights Law from UBA.

Cover photo: Indigenous representatives from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru gathered in El Moreno, Jujuy, to denounce the impacts of lithium mining on their territories. Photo: Beatriz Gutierrez

Tags: Indigenous Debates

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