Overview
- Argentina's Chamber of Deputies approved the reform early Thursday in a 137–111 vote with three abstentions, and it will take effect once it is published in the official gazette.
- The law shifts key decisions from a national scientific system to provincial authorities, narrows which ice bodies get protection, and makes the National Glacier Inventory nonbinding.
- Thousands protested outside Congress during the debate as police made several arrests, and groups including Greenpeace and the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation said they will file a class-action suit.
- Provincial governors and mining firms argue the change brings legal certainty for copper and lithium projects, with a Central Bank projection suggesting mining exports could triple by 2030.
- Scientists warn the rollback threatens water supplies in arid regions, noting Argentina has nearly 17,000 glaciers and that northwestern glacial reserves shrank about 17% over the past decade.