In Mendoza, Argentina, residents are mobilizing in defense of water and nature.
Mendoza province is experiencing hours of tension and mobilization after the recent adoption of a law that environmental organizations say paves the way for polluting mining. Nora Moyano, activist of the “Asamblea de Las Heras por el Agua Pura”, paints in this interview a distressing but combative picture of the current situation.
The province of Mendoza (2 million inhabitants) is renowned for its wines, notably Malbec, which is world famous. It is located in the west of Argentina at the foot of the Andes mountain range. But this note does not deal with wine but with water, more precisely with the danger for the inhabitants and the nature represented by the San Jorge mining company, which is based on an open-cast mining model oriented towards extraction copper and gold.
The main concern of environmental organizations is the pressure that this type of project exerts on water systems. The Mendoza Cordillera is a key area for drinking water supply and irrigation, presenting vulnerabilities to large-scale extractive activities, including soil modification, alteration of watercourses, high consumption water and the risk of dispersion of toxic substances. Representatives of citizen organizations contest the validity of the environmental impact study, citing a lack of response to their objections and the need to apply the precautionary principle.
Read the full text and the interview with Nora Moyano on Le Club de Mediapart (French)
