In Argentina, the consolidation of President Javier Milei’s political support following the 2025 midterm elections has strengthened a reform agenda that is having profound consequences for environmental governance, democratic institutions and human rights protections.
The government’s environmental policy is shaped by a climate-denialist approach that minimizes the environmental and climate crisis as a public policy priority. This perspective has translated into a systematic weakening of environmental institutions, a reduction in public spending on environmental protection and climate action, and the promotion of regulatory reforms designed to facilitate large-scale investments in extractive sectors.
One of the clearest examples of this trend is the progressive dismantling of the national environmental authority. Since 2024, the Ministry of Environment has been downgraded to a subsecretariat and has experienced dramatic budget reductions. Similar cuts have affected protected areas, wildfire management, sanitation programs and renewable energy policies, despite the increasing impacts of climate change across the country, including devastating floods and wildfires.
At the same time, the government has prioritized economic deregulation and the expansion of extractive activities. The Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI) has become a cornerstone of this strategy, offering significant benefits to large-scale mining, hydrocarbon, forestry and infrastructure projects. In our view, this framework privileges investor interests while weakening environmental safeguards and limiting the state’s capacity to regulate activities that may generate environmental damage.
This model has also been accompanied by growing pressures on Indigenous Peoples’ rights and territorial protections. Measures affecting Indigenous communities, combined with security policies aimed at guaranteeing the operation of extractive projects, reveal a broader pattern in which social and environmental concerns are subordinated to investment objectives.
The environmental agenda cannot be separated from the government’s international positioning. Argentina has moved away from its traditional support for multilateral cooperation and has increasingly aligned itself with positions promoted by the United States administration. Public criticism of the Sustainable Development Goals, the announcement of withdrawal from the World Health Organization and the decision to withdraw Argentina’s delegation from COP29 are all part of this broader shift. Although Argentina ultimately remained within the Paris Agreement, the government’s climate discourse continues to reflect a denialist approach that is increasingly visible among far-right political movements worldwide.
Within this broader context, the reform of Argentina’s Glacier Protection Law represents a turning point. Approved in April 2026, the reform modifies one of the country’s most important environmental protection frameworks. For fifteen years, the Glacier Law provided a system based on scientific evidence and minimum environmental standards designed to protect glaciers and periglacial environments as strategic freshwater reserves.
The new legislation substantially reduces the scope of protection. It transfers key decision-making powers to provincial governments, weakens the role of scientific criteria established through the National Glacier Inventory and opens the door for activities that were previously restricted in glacier environments.
This reform is both regressive and unconstitutional. By allowing provinces to determine which glaciers deserve protection, it undermines the principle of minimum environmental standards established by the Argentine Constitution and fragments a protection system that was designed to be uniform throughout the country. It also replaces scientific evidence with discretionary political decisions, creating conditions that favor extractive activities over environmental protection.
Equally concerning was the legislative process through which the reform was approved. More than 102,000 people registered to participate in the congressional hearings discussing the proposal, yet fewer than one percent were allowed to speak. Rather than adapting the process to accommodate this unprecedented level of public engagement, Congress maintained the original format, effectively excluding the overwhelming majority of participants. This represented a serious limitation on meaningful public participation and weakened the legitimacy of the debate.
The Glacier Law reform also illustrates the “provincialization” of environmental governance. Beyond deregulation, the reform reflects a broader strategy of transferring responsibilities from the national government to subnational authorities -provinces-, even in areas where the Constitution assigns the federal government a central role. This process is taking place without the institutional capacity or financial resources necessary to ensure effective implementation and risks creating increasingly unequal levels of environmental protection across the country.
This trend extends well beyond environmental policy. It reflects a broader weakening of democratic institutions and constitutional safeguards. Many of the government’s most significant reforms have advanced through executive action or limited public debate, reducing opportunities for legislative oversight and citizen participation.
Yet the constitutional right to a healthy environment remains firmly established in Argentina’s legal framework. Over more than three decades, environmental rights have become deeply intertwined with human rights protections and continue to provide a strong basis for social mobilization and judicial action.
The process surrounding the Glacier Law reform also demonstrated the strength of organized civil society. Despite significant obstacles to participation, citizens mobilized in defense of water, glaciers and environmental rights. By the time this article was finalized, legal actions challenging the reform had gathered close to one million signatures.
This growing civic engagement suggests that, even in a context of institutional weakening and environmental deregulation, demands for environmental protection, democratic participation and water security remain powerful forces within Argentine society. These demands are unlikely to disappear and will continue shaping the country’s environmental and political future.
Read the full article on the current state of environmental governance in Argentina by Andrés Nápoli and Pía Marchegiani in the latest FARN Environmental Report.