Series of technical reports of the World Bank in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay N° 9, 2016 ARGENTINA COUNTRY ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS World Bank Group Global Practice Environment and Natural Resources Regional Office of Latin America and the Caribbean Country Environmental Analysis: Argentina Report N° 11996 May, 2016 Second Edition B Acknowledgments The report is based in the diverse challenges faced by the environment and natural resource sector in Argentina, especially those relating to new challenges in the rural economy, but also by urbanization and industrial development. Steady economic growth, increasing equality, and structural economic transfor- mations fundamentally change the features of environmental challenges – but also how they can be man- aged to help reverse environmental degradation, and to demonstrate that environmental sustainability, economic growth, and shared prosperity can be mutually supportive goals. The Argentina Country Environmental Analysis report was prepared by a team of World Bank Group staff and consultants working on sustainable development, environment and natural resources. Staff from other global practices and sectors, such as urban, DRM, energy, and agriculture, contributed importing supporting material. The World Bank team Battaglini, Emilia Lead Environmental Specialist Gaggero, Elba L. Senior Environmental Specialist Gotz, Gunnar Consultant (data & econometrics) Guttikunda, Sarath Consultant (air quality modelling) Hamed, Maged M. Lead Environmental Specialist Herrera, Pablo F. Environmental Specialist Lampietti, Julian Program Leader McCall, Kevin Consultant (policy & institutions) Miethke Morais, Livia Consultant (data) Sanchez-Triana, Ernesto Lead Environmental Specialist Sander, Klas Senior ENR Economist Acknowledgements We thank Jesko Hentschel, World Bank Country Director for Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, for his general guidance and elaboration of the document. We thank the members of the Argentine Government, namely Silvia Mucci, Patricia Holzman, Diego Moreno, Agustín Harte, Silvia Révora, Juan Pablo Vismara, Miguel Garaicoechea, Andrés Meiszner y Nicolás Lucas, for their comments and constructive suggestions. We also thank the members of the World Bank for their support, opinions and constructive feedback. Namely, the following people: Raúl Alfaro-Pelico, Carter Brandon, Paul Martin, Verónica Jarrin, Ana Luisa Gomes Lima, Marcelo Acerbi, Maged Hamed, Peter Jipp, John Morton, Tuuli Bernardini, Ruth Tiffer-So- tomayor, Jan W. Radermacher, Daniela Gayraud, Graciela Broda, and Carolina Cerrar. 1 Table of Contents Executive Summary 7 1. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN TRANSITION 18 1.1. Objectives and Scope of the Study 19 1.2. Structure of the Report 20 2. THE STATE OF ENVIRONMENT AND THE COST OF ENVIRONMENTAL 21 DEGRADATION 2.1. The Rural Environment and Natural Resource Management 21 2.1.1. Deforestation 22 2.1.2. Agrochemicals 27 2.1.3. Water Pollution 29 2.1.4. Riverine Flooding 30 2.1.5. Uranium mining legacies 31 2.2. The Urban Environment 32 2.2.1. Air Pollution 32 2.2.2. Solid Waste 38 2.2.3. Urban flooding 41 2.3. Climate Change 42 2.3.1. Climate Vulnerability 42 2.3.2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Low Carbon Growth 44 2.4. Institutions and Policy Framework 45 2.4.1. Institutional Framework 45 2.4.2. Policy Framework 47 3. PUBLIC OPINION, GOVERNMENT SPENDING AND PRIORITY SETTING FOR 50 ENVIRONMENT 3.1. Public Perception of the Environment and Associated Challenges 50 3.2. Public Expenditures for Environment 53 3.3 Identification of Priorities and Budget Allocation 55 4. THE WAY FORWARD: RECONCILING ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP AND 57 ECONOMIC GROWTH 4.1. A New Political Mandate 57 4.2 The Opportunity of Institutional Reforms 58 4.3 Linking Environmental Stewardship with Growth and Economic Development 59 4.4 The Way Forward 60 Annex A: Exploring Forest-Poverty Linkages in northern Argentina – A preliminary econometric 63 analysis Annex B: Summary of environmental issues in Argentina – status quo, guidelines, and trends 71 Annex C: Summary of environmental issues in Argentina – cost of environmental degradation, 74 public opinion, and public expenditure Annex D: Argentina CEA EDGAR Emission Summary for 7 Cities (Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Rosa- 76 rio, Mendoza, Salta, Neuquén, San Salvador de Jujuy) References 86 2 Figures Figure 1: Export shares by commodity (in %) ............................................................................................. 22 Figure 2: Shift from traditional grazing agriculture towards crop cultivation ............................................ 22 Figure 3: Tree cover loss in Argentina between 2001 and 2014 ................................................................ 23 Figure 4: Soy cultivation area per province ................................................................................................ 24 Figure 5: Distribution of regions cultivating soy over time......................................................................... 25 Figure 6: Variation in cattle stock between 2008 and 2011 and percentage change in cattle stock in Northern ARG compared to traditional cattle ranching provinces............................................................. 25 Figure 7: Absolute tree cover loss and poverty in urban and rural areas measured as unmet basic needs in percentage .............................................................................................................................................. 26 Figure 8: Agro-chemical inputs in Argentina .............................................................................................. 28 Figure 9: Agro chemical use per ha cropland over time and in comparison with all American countries (including North America) ........................................................................................................................... 28 Figure 10: Fertilizer use in relation to harvested crop area........................................................................ 29 Figure 11: Areas with high arsenic concentration in the groundwater (red or orange) ............................. 29 Figure 12: Natural disaster between 1950 and 2015 in Argentina – Occurrence and total economic damages ...................................................................................................................................................... 30 Figure 13: Comparison between tree cover loss and magnitude of flooding in Argentina ........................ 31 Figure 14: Argentina - Population by size of urban settlement .................................................................. 31 Figure 15: Leading causes of YLLs to premature death in Argentina .......................................................... 33 Figure 16: Health Risk Factors in Argentina ................................................................................................ 35 Figure 17: Circulating vehicle fleet in Argentina; year of construction of the current fleet....................... 36 Figure 18: Modeled PM 2.5 Air Pollution in Buenos Aires and Jujuy (µg/m3) ........................................... 37 Figure 19: Solid urban waste by type of disposal ....................................................................................... 39 Figure 20: Regional waste management characteristics ............................................................................ 39 Figure 21: Urban households not covered with waste collection by socioeconomic level (SE) ................. 39 Figure 22: Percentage of households with regular waste collection in main Argentine agglomerations .. 40 Figure 23: Urban households located close to a dumpsite in % according to household characteristics (left) and waste generation by type of waste (right) .................................................................................. 40 Figure 24: Urbanization and the effects for runoff water .......................................................................... 41 Figure 25: Annual precipitation in mm in Argentina 1955-2007 ................................................................ 42 Figure 26: Observed change in temperatures and precipitation between 1960-2010 .............................. 43 Figure 27: Projected changes in temperature and precipitation for the period of 2015-2039 compared to 1980-2005 ................................................................................................................................................... 44 Figure 28: GHG emissions in Argentina by source ...................................................................................... 45 Figure 29: National Government Spending on Environmental Management. Composition (2005-2014) . 53 Figure 30: Public Environmental Expenditure in four areas of interest ..................................................... 54 Figure 31: Development of world market soy prices .................................................................................. 63 Figure 32: Distribution of soy cultivation areas and total tree cover loss in Argentina (2002-2014)......... 64 Figure 33: Opposing trends – soy and beef production in Argentina between 2000 and 2014................. 65 Figure 34: Geographical distribution and intensity of the unmet basic needs and total tree cover loss 2002-2014 ................................................................................................................................................... 68 3 Figure 35: Absolute tree cover loss and poverty in urban and rural areas measured as unmet basic needs in percentage .............................................................................................................................................. 68 Figure 36: Tree cover change and poverty change between 2001 and 2010 ............................................. 69 Figure 37: Modeled PM2.5 concentrations(mg/m3) .................................................................................. 75 Figure 38: PM10 Emissions (sum of emissions from all grids covering the urban airshed)........................ 77 Figure 39: CO Emissions .............................................................................................................................. 79 Figure 40: NMVOC emissions (tons/year)................................................................................................... 81 Figure 41: SO2 emissions (tons/year) ......................................................................................................... 83 Tables Table 1: An Approach to Prioritization of Environ-mental and Natural Resource Management Issues .... 14 Table 2: Qualitative Illustration of the Benefits and Costs of Deforestation .............................................. 27 Table 3: Results for a public opinion survey on Argentina’s main environmental problems ..................... 51 Table 4: An Approach to Prioritization of Environment and Natural Resource Management Issues ........ 57 Table 5: The effect of agricultural cultivation on tree cover loss in northern Argentina ........................... 66 Table 6: Fixed-effects regression to explain tree cover loss in Argentina .................................................. 67 Table 7: Correlation Matrix for tree cover loss and change in poverty ...................................................... 69 Table 8: Summary of environmental issues in Argentina – status quo, guidelines, and trends................. 70 Table 9: Summary of environmental issues in Argentina – cost of environmental degradation, public opinion, and public expenditure ................................................................................................................. 73 4 Abbreviations ACUMAR Authorities of the Matanza-Riachuelo Basin - Autoridad de Cuenca Matanza Riachuelo ARG Argentina BAMA Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area CEA Country Environmental Analysis CIAFA Chamber of fertilizer and agro-chemical industry COED Cost of environmental degradation COFEMA Federal Environmental Council COPD Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease EIA Environmental Impact Assessments EM-DAT The international disasters database ENR Environment and natural resource EPI Environmental Performance Index FAOSTAT Statistics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization GHG Greenhouse Gas INDEC National Institute of Statistics and Censuses - Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos de la República Argentina INTA National Agricultural Technology Institute - Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria LUCC Land-use or cover change LULUCF Land-use change and forestry MAyDS Ministry for Environment and Sustainable Development NGO Non-governmental organizations NOx Nitrogen oxides PM Particulate matter RE Renewable energy SAyDS Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development SIIA Information system on agricultural products - Sistema Integrado de Información Agrope- cuaria SO2 Sulfur dioxide WHO World Health Organization 5 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY been declining since 2001 and measures for educa- This country environmental analysis (CEA) for Argen- tion and health show a positive trend. Developments tina (ARG) is a systematic, country-level diagnostic on the environmental side, however, have not been of the state of the environment and natural resource equally positive. Deforestation has become a major (ENR) use. It serves as an environmental quality base- environmental issue in the North of Argentina and line against which future trends and changes in envi- flooding events are affecting thousands of Argentini- ronmental quality and associated drivers can be ana- ans throughout the country every year. Air pollution, lyzed. Furthermore, it provides a financing and waste management and water pollution are becom- budget analysis for the ENR sector and assesses the ing serious problems especially in the growing urban policy and institutional framework readiness for ad- centers of Argentina, but remain only partially ad- dressing ENR issues. The main objective of this CEA is dressed. to support the government of Argentina in analyzing critical environmental constraints to sustainable Despite several successes, for example the manage- growth and shared prosperity and propose broad pol- ment of Protected Areas in support of a vibrant na- icy actions to address them. The CEA is also a tool to ture-based tourism sector, the country’s record on engage with civil society and development partners environmental management remains mixed. The and broaden the policy dialogue on key cross-sectoral number of visitors to protected areas increased by issues associated with the country’s main environ- 88% between 2004 and 20132. Tourism provides an mental challenges. important economic dividend for Argentina in terms of employment (1 million jobs), income (10% GDP), This CEA does not attempt to cover all challenges and foreign currency that should not be underesti- and is limited to the most important issues of envi- mated (MINTUR, 2014; WTTC, 2015). In contrast to ronmental management and degradation1. The these important achievements, deforestation, land complexity of the environmental challenges in Argen- degradation, air and water pollution, and the man- tina has increased with the transition from a rural to agement of solid waste remain significant challenges. an industrial economy with a high degree of urbani- Argentina’s score for the Environmental Performance zation. Given the distinct features and response Index (EPI)3 is 79.84 out of 100 and the country is mechanisms, the analysis is separated by rural and ur- ranked 43 out of 180 countries. The lowest ratings ban environmental challenges. Interlinkages are (out of 180) are for biodiversity and habitat (125), highlighted whenever necessary. It is emphasized fisheries (124), and forests (112). that additional in-depth studies are likely to be needed to further analyze various linkages and im- The State of Environment and the Cost of pacts of environmental degradation and that would Environmental Degradation be built on better data availability and quality. Argentina has strongly improved its economic With economic growth, urbanization, and the emer- growth and poverty records since the 2001 financial gence of a middle-class, environmental challenges crisis, yet development has not always been sustain- have equally transitioned from being predominantly able and environmental friendly. Argentina’s econ- “traditional” to increasingly “modern” challenges, omy, one of the largest in Latin America, is endowed mainly associated with industrial agriculture and ur- with valuable natural resources. During the past dec- ban pollution. In the rural space, the structural shift ade the economy grew steadily, more people entered from traditional grazing agriculture to high intensity the middle class, and inequality lessened. Poverty has soy cultivation carried significant environmental ex- ternalities. To date, soy production is the number one 1The selectivity of issues as presented in this CEA is a result 2 MINTUR based on information from the National Parks Ad- of demands expressed by the former Government, but also ministration based on availability of reliable data. 3 Developed by Yale University: http://epi.yale.edu/epi 7 export commodity (28% of all exports) and the most classify, protect and monitor natural forests and a important agricultural product (INDEC, 2015). The mechanism to finance these efforts at the National structural transformation driven by high urbanization and Provincial levels through the Forest Fund (Fondo rates with 90% of Argentinians living in cities (UN Nacional para el Enriquecimiento y la Conservación WUP, 2014), growing urban population, and eco- de los Bosques Nativos). The Forest Fund set in mo- nomic growth is widening the range of environmental tion a process of strengthening institutions and en- challenges, for example, adding waste management, forcement of capacities. This effort is ongoing, how- air and noise pollution as key challenges to the list of ever insufficient funding seems to have slowed the well-known environmental management issues. process. Recent declines in deforestation rates may be partially attributed to the drop in commodity The Rural Environment and Natural Re- prices, so cannot yet be deemed as an exclusive result of the new policy. source Management Understanding the costs and benefits of deforesta- Between 2001 and 2014, Argentina lost more than tion for agricultural expansion is essential to deter- 12% of its forest area, the equivalent of losing a for- mine the trade-offs in land-use decision-making, and est the size of one football field every minute. In these should be carefully considered. Significant comparison, forest cover loss in Brazil was 7.4%, and costs are associated with the loss of ecosystem ser- worldwide it was 6.3%.4 During the same period, Ar- vices and land degradation resulting from deforesta- gentina ranked 9th as regards forest cover loss at tion, and deforestation in the upper watersheds of global scale and the province of Santiago del Estero the main river basins is associated with riverine flood- experienced the highest deforestation levels world- ing, which is the cause of half the economic damage wide5. Almost all deforestation (93%) took place in in Argentina resulting from natural disasters. northern Argentina and led to an estimated emission of GHG of roughly 1 billion tons. The move towards industrial agriculture is associ- ated with other challenges beyond deforestation. The main driver of deforestation in the last few dec- For example, Argentina has developed into the third ades is the continued expansion of industrial-scale largest producer of genetically modified (GMO) crops agriculture, especially for soy production, which ex- of which 86% is soy (ISAAA, 2015). This could have po- perienced a remarkable increase in cultivated area. tential future impact on access to markets where Deforestation for cattle production has also ex- GMOs are regarded negatively by consumers. Fur- panded in the region during this period. While the ther, the use of agricultural chemicals associated with primary driver of deforestation is soy production, the no-tillage agricultural production has dramatically in- underlying causes are related to (a) insufficient land creased. While the area under no-tillage, often use planning and enforcement, including insufficient termed “conservation agriculture” because it implies funding of the “Forest Law” (Ley 26.331 de Pre- reduced soil erosion, increased from 14% to 73% be- supuestos Mínimos de Protección Ambiental de los tween 1993 and today, the use of insecticide and Bosques Nativos), and (b) favorable policy, market herbicide increased 563% and 1111%6, respectively, and technological conditions, including high com- during the same period. modity prices which have favored the expansion of soy production. Flooding is the greatest natural disaster threat in Ar- gentina causing 60% of all natural disasters and 95% Further development of the sector should be com- of the economic damages7. While riverine flooding plemented by strengthened capacity to monitor and and urban flooding share common roots, their extent enforce environmental laws to help ensure that as- and economic impact are different. Riverine flood sociated externalities, including the negative im- events predominantly occurred in Northern and Cen- pacts of deforestation, are minimized and consid- tral Argentina, especially along the Parana River ba- ered in land use decisions. In 2007, the Forest Law sin, with gradually higher concentration in Northern (N° 26.331), introduced a requirement to identify, 4 Calculation based on Global Forest Watch Data (2016). 6 This number refers to all insecticides and herbicides, not 5 Sobre La Tierra (2016). just those used in no-till agriculture. 7 EM-DAT (2015). 8 Argentina. For riverine flooding, deforestation in up- of circulating cars has increased by a factor of six over per watersheds, poor rural drainage infrastructure, the last 25 years, from only 2 million vehicles in 1990 and increased rainfalls contribute to increase the risk to 12 million in 2014. Emission levels are not only in- of flooding. Indicative overlay of maps illustrating de- fluenced by the number of vehicles, but also by fuel forestation and riverine flooding events may suggest standards, quality of cars, type of vehicles on the a correlation between the spatial distribution of de- road, and transport behavior. Almost 50% of vehicles forestation and flooding events. are older than 10 years (22% older than 20 years) and 35% are diesel powered.9 Road transport is basically The Urban Environment the only mode of freight transport with 99% of sales value of goods transported by road (96% of trans- ported tons by road; Sanchez et al 2007). In the urban areas, where 90% of Argentinian popu- lation reside (UN WUP, 2014), environmental chal- The cost of air pollution impacts on society is esti- lenges are dominated by air and water pollution, mated at about 1.8% of GDP10. Ischemic heart dis- poor waste management, and exposure to natural ease, lower respiratory infections and chronic ob- hazards, especially urban floods. At present, the structive pulmonary disease (COPD) are all linked to data, information, and management capacity to ad- poor air quality and are among the four leading dress these emerging challenges significantly lack be- causes of years of life lost due to premature mortality. hind the speed at which these problems impact peo- In addition to mortality, poor health due to air pollu- ple and the economic development capacity of the tion impacts peoples’ productivity and their abilit y to country. The poor and vulnerable are disproportion- work and take care of their families11. For children, re- ally affected by urban environmental problems. While duced productivity translates into educational under- in the past the policy debate on environmental issues performance with long-term negative effects for eco- has mainly focused on “green” environmental issues, nomic performance and poverty alleviation. To cope, “brown” environmental challenges have increased households divert limited resources towards health and will require greater attention in the future. Ar- expenditures instead of using them for investments gentina’s path to economic prosperity is through effi- with returns for economic development and poverty cient, sustainable, and economically thriving cities. 8 alleviation. People suffering from chronic diseases While these generate agglomeration economies by are also less able to participate in social activities, in- concentrating ideas, talent, and knowledge, these are cluding community and political activities that often often constrained by market and coordination fail- provide the necessary framework in which economic ures that cause agglomeration externalities leading to development is embedded. higher costs—from more expensive land to conges- tion and environmental degradation. Agglomeration Water pollution from agriculture, industry and do- externalities thus need to be managed so that pros- mestic activities is increasing in many watersheds in perity does not come at the expense of livability. Argentina. Surface water is the main source of water consumption and is vulnerable to pollution from dis- Air pollution in Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Men- charges of untreated wastewater and/or industrial ef- doza are many times higher than the WHO recom- fluents, agriculture run-offs and domestic activities. mended threshold. The average PM2.5 pollution in Only 65% of municipal waste water is collected and Buenos Aires exceeds the WHO recommended only 12% is treated before disposal. The increasing threshold of 10 µg/m3 almost 6-fold, Córdoba about pollution of surface water is of particular concern as 3-fold, and Mendoza about 2-fold. Increased use of many regions in Argentina report high levels of arse- vehicles and extreme traffic congestions are the main nic contamination in groundwater. The agricultural sources of Argentina urban air pollution. The number 8 Leveraging the Potential of Argentine Cities: A Framework 11 Impact on productivity can have different time dimen- for Policy Action. World Bank, 2016 sions. Sick people may be able to allocate only reduced time 9 Asociación de Fábricas Argentinas de Componentes y Pro- to productive activities over a day, week, month, or year. motive S.A., 2014. Health impacts may also alter the whole productive life, i.e. 10 Data prepared by the World Bank as part of "An Economic by changing the overall time people do not work at all and Assessment of Environmental Degradation in Argentina ": the probability of having to be taken care of by others. Bjorn Larsen, John Magne Strukova Skjelvik and Elena Golub, 2015 (unpublished). For details, see also Annex C. 9 sector is the largest consumer of water (75%) fol- Buenos Aires and La Plata are located in the flood- lowed by municipalities (15%)12. prone, depressed Pampa region, which historically has been filled with small rivers and streams drain- Increased solid waste accumulation is a common ex- ing into the La Plata River basin. Over time, many ternality of economic growth and consumption, es- natural runoff systems have been covered up or pecially in urban areas, and impacts citizen’s quality "tubed" and are now blocked, increasing the risk of of life. Appropriate waste management is one of the flooding. The combination of urban flooding and riv- key challenges. Open dumps remain the most com- erine flooding increases the risk manifold. Housing mon mode of disposal in Argentina, particularly in developments that have been built in the floodplains poorer communities and neighborhoods. Increasing of the Parana Delta near Buenos Aires prevent the amounts of organic waste is a major source of vectors natural runoff of water that would cushion the impact and greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling is still very of floods, increasing the risk of urban flooding in the limited. Hazardous waste is also on the rise (e.g. med- metropolitan area. The Hydraulic Master Plan (Plan ical waste generated by increased health care service Director de Ordenamiento Hidráulico - HMP) pre- provision, and unregulated e-waste). The lack of pub- pared in 2004 by the government of Buenos Aires city lic official statistics on agricultural waste, non-hazard- lays out a comprehensive plan for improving protec- ous Industrial waste and construction and demolition tion against floods based on a basin-wide approach waste makes it very difficult to assess the full extent using a variety of nonstructural and structural of the issue. However, an unclean and disordered en- measures. Its ongoing implementation has already vironment has a systemic impact on livability, health, resulted in significant improvements in drainage ca- property values, attractiveness for businesses and pacity, as well as providing experience for knowledge tourism, and the population’s sense of security that is transfer to other provinces and cities in Argentina. well documented, particularly in Buenos Aires. The mining sector in Argentina suffers from poor en- Rapid urbanization and inadequate urban develop- vironmental management and enforcement that left ment are at the root of increasing urban flooding a legacy of harmful by-products, waste, and difficult and large cities like Buenos Aires and La Plata are mine closures. Mining in Argentina is a relatively new particularly vulnerable due to their location. In con- industry and the country has limited experience with trast to riverine flooding, urban flooding is in most mine closure and clean-up15. Years of lax environ- cases the result of heavy rainfalls concentrated in mental enforcement and management practices have time and location. For example, in February of 2015 resulted in undesirable accumulation of harmful solid Córdoba experienced 320mm of rain per square me- and liquid wastes associated with uranium mining ter within twelve hours, which is about three times and processing, and the generation of waste tailings the average rainfall in February for the city. With ur- and low-grade ore16. banization and the associated paving and construc- tion of buildings, land areas are transformed into im- Climate Change permeable areas where the possibilities of drainage are diminished and the water amounts in the draining Increasing frequency of extreme climatic events is systems and on the street increase13. In addition, magnifying environmental challenges and increasing when vegetation is replaced by urban infrastructure the vulnerability of urban population. For example, the capacity of evapotranspiration decreases14. Artifi- heavier, erratic rainfalls increase the probability of ur- cial barriers that are intended to protect communities ban flooding events particularly where adequate in one location, often accelerate the volumes of run- drainage systems and urban planning are lacking or off water for other communities downstream. 12 AQUASTAT (FAO). 15PRAMU project World Bank 2008 13 Ifthe population density increases from 0.4 habitants per 16It should be noted, however, that the legacy issue is not hectare to 50 habitants per ha (Buenos Aires average) the “nuclear waste,” but rather large amounts of low-grade tail- time of the runoff decreases to 10 % of its initial value and ings with radioactivity levels typically below what is com- the volumes increase by 1000 % (UNESCO 1987). mercially viable natural uranium ore. 14 Due to impervious surfaces like pavement and rooftops, a typical city block generates more than 5 times more run- off than a woodland area of the same size (US EPA) 10 existing systems lack proper maintenance/implemen- a healthy environment and procedural remedies tation. Increasing temperatures are expected to put available to citizens and NGOs when defending collec- more pressure on water supplies in the more water- tive rights. stressed parts of the country. Coupled with higher probability of heat wave events, increasing tempera- Most environmental regulatory powers are with the tures have adverse effects on human health and in- Provinces, and capacity and budgetary constraints frastructure (especially transport and power), and reduce their effectiveness. The 1994 reform codified trigger higher demands for electricity for cooling Provincial ownership over natural resources and pro- (with a disproportionate negative impact on the vided the legal basis for most regulatory powers deal- poor). This implies, inter alia, additional operational ing with natural resource use and environmental pro- costs to critical public infrastructure like hospitals and tection, including the hydrocarbon deposits and fish- schools. Contingent on energy generation technolo- eries within twelve miles of the coastline; with some gies and transport behavior, air pollution may also in- exceptions, such as nuclear and hydro-electric en- crease as a secondary effect. ergy, for which regulation is centralized. Devolution of power is common in a federal system and offers Projections suggest that the country as a whole will many benefits in terms of developing localized and see an increase in average temperatures and the tailored solutions to local priorities. Nonetheless, North and Central regions will experience an in- many provincial and municipal authorities lack the crease in both rainfalls and temperatures. Until technical capacity to set adequate thresholds of per- 2039, temperature will raise by 0.5-1°C, and by 2090, formance or the financial resources to monitor and temperatures in the north of Argentina are projected enforce environmental standards. to increase by 4°C on average, while in the south only by 1.1 °C. Regarding the projected precipitation, it The recently established Ministry of Environment seems reasonable to assume no significant changes, and Sustainable Development has a stronger man- as the projected changes are within the margin of er- date for policy development but also greater chal- ror. Wider and deeper sectoral data and further anal- lenges to address. Following the general election in ysis are required to improve modeling and under- October 2015, a new Ministry for Environment and standing of different impact scenarios including ef- Sustainable Development (MAyDS) was created, re- fects on agriculture and landscape. placing the Secretariat of Environment and Sustaina- ble Development (SAyDS) that was previously under Institutional Framework the jurisdiction of the Chief of the Cabinet of Minis- ters of the national government. Primary functions of MAyDS include environmental policy development Environmental governance in Argentina is multi-lay- and implementation and management of environ- ered and cuts across federal, provincial and munici- mental affairs, including information dissemination, pal levels. The current environmental governance relationships with environment-related non-govern- structure is based on the distribution of powers be- mental organizations (NGOs), and national coordina- tween federal, provincial and municipal governments tion with regard to international conventions. that was defined in the constitutional reform of 1994. The right of the Provinces to regulate natural re- source use and extraction dates back to 1853 and re- Public Opinion, Budget Allocation and Prior- mains a key feature of Argentina’s environmental ity Setting governance. To ensure a minimum threshold of envi- ronmental protection applicable nationally, the Con- A large majority of Argentines attribute great im- stitutional reform empowered the national congress portance to environment and natural resource man- to enact “minimum standards” 17 while allowing Prov- agement for economic development, health and inces to enact higher thresholds should they wish. The constitutional reform also included an explicit right to 17 The nine “minimum standards” in force are laws on: Gen- PCBs, Management of Water, Free Access to Public Environ- eral Environment, Hazardous Materials, Integral Manage- mental Information, Protection of Native Forests, Control of ment of Industrial Waste, Management and Elimination of Conflagration Activities, and the Protection of Glaciers. 11 wellbeing but see a deterioration of the environ- Overall, however, public opinions provide valuable in- ment over time. Survey results18 indicate deforesta- puts for priority setting, inform the design and imple- tion, waste management and water pollution are con- mentation of environmental communication strate- sidered major national concerns, while solid waste gies and monitor and evaluate on-the-ground results. and air pollution were perceived by respondents as the most significant environmental concerns impact- Environmental expenditures in Argentina appear ing their lives directly. Citizens have a more positive low but show an upward trend. National government perception of their local environment than they do of spending19 for Environmental Management 20 ac- the global environment (for example their opinion of counts for about 1.7% of the total public spending21, the status of the environment in their own town is and about 0.4% of GDP22. By way of comparison a more positive and less negative than that of the coun- conservative estimate puts the cost of environmental try as a whole, and that of the world). However, when degradation at 8.11% of GDP23. The level of environ- it comes to trends, the majority (63%) of the popula- mental expenditure in Argentina is slightly below the tion believe the status of the environment in Argen- level in other Latin American countries with strong tina has worsened during the last years (FVSA, 2014). environmental management (such as Costa Rica, Mexico and Chile) and clearly below that of OECD There is significant lack of trust in the government countries24. Given the limited data available on public when it comes to addressing environmental issues. spending below federal levels, these assertions only Only 20 % of the survey respondents (November, apply to federal level spending, while certain man- 2015) trust the national government to solve environ- dates for environmental management are executed mental problems compared to 41% that trust civil so- at other levels (provinces, municipalities). ciety organizations, while 13% trust the media and 8% trust the judiciary to resolve these challenges. Addi- Federal environmental spending is focused on spe- tionally, respondents seem to be unaware of actions cific projects and activities, and while these have led governments are taking to address environmental to important improvements in selected areas, nota- problems, or believe these actions are not enough. bly the Matanza-Riachuelo Basin, broader policy and More than 2/3 of the respondents believe that the na- institutional challenges persist. Almost one third of tional and local government are doing nothing or little national government environmental expenditures to address environmental issues. are for the clean-up of the Matanza-Riachuelo Basin, one third for water supply and sanitation and flood People’s perception and understanding of the control infrastructure, and only 4% for protection of causes and impact of environmental degradation native forests. The funding addressing forest manage- may guide policy makers on where more action or ment targeted a) implementation of the Forest Law 25 better information is needed. Citizens seem more (42%); b) conservation and management of national aware of the causes and impacts of urban environ- protected areas (41%); and c) fire management mental issues and less of those affecting the rural (17%). It is worth noting that the amount allocated for space. However, current views and opinions on the the implementation of the Forest Law represented environment may largely stem from anecdotal evi- only a minor proportion of the amount provided for dence and “hearsay” rather than the analysis of pub- in the law and an indication of chronic underfund- licly available data on the state of the environment. ing26. 18 An automatized and representative telephone survey was 21 Study on Environmental Expenditure in Argentina. Sep- conducted in November, 2015 following a similar survey ex- tember, 2015. Prepared at the request of the World Bank ecuted in 2014. by Oscar Cetrángolo, Martina Chidiak, Javier Curcio and Ve- 19 Accrued (current values). ronica Gutman. 20 In the context of this CEA Environmental Management 22 2013 data. expenditures refer to expenditures from the national gov- 23 This is the sum of costs of environmental degradation for ernment that are classified under “Ecology and Environ- the issues presented in Table A. ment” and “Water and Sanitation” in the Argentina national 24 For example, public environmental expenditures in the budget. The former category includes conservation and use EU28 countries ranged between 0.2% and 1.4% of GDP in of natural resources (forests, biodiversity, etc.); treatment 2013 with an average estimated at 0.7%. of industrial waste; air, water and soil pollution manage- 25Law 26,331 – Minimum Standards for the Environmental ment; the latter includes provision of drinking water, waste Protection of Native Forests. water management and flood management. 12 With the mounting complexity of modern environ- The opportunistic funding allocation for environ- mental challenges and an elevated institutional and mental issues reflects a lack of strategic prioritiza- political mandate for addressing environmental is- tion and programming in support of an objective- sues, the time is ripe for Argentina’s environment driven environmental agenda with clearly set activi- and natural resources management to turn over a ties, outputs, and outcomes. Great successes of the new leaf. The newly elected government has already past such as the establishment and management of taken several steps to strengthen its environmental Protected Areas may be jeopardized if environmental agenda and elevate environment and natural re- management approaches are not fundamentally re- source management integration into political and formed towards evidence-based priority setting that economic decision making. The government has also guides and align the allocation of funds. This applies taken concrete actions towards policy changes that to both the management of environmental issues at are immediately impacting environmental manage- local, domestic and regional level, as well as Argen- ment and degradation in various forms. This proac- tina’s commitments at the international level. tivity and openness to change will create opportuni- ties for improving the current status of environmental A systematic, transparent prioritization process pro- management in the country – but also new chal- vides a basis for discussion and exchange among po- lenges. The findings of this CEA should inform the litical and interest groups in allocating scarce re- change process by providing a consolidated analysis sources among numerous environmental chal- of the state of the environment in Argentina and its lenges. Table A illustrates such an approach, first associated governance system. By enhancing the ranking those issues identified in the citizens’ survey knowledge about environmental issues and natural as being of highest national or personal concern, and resource management challenges, the CEA intends to then those estimated to impose higher costs on soci- inform the policy dialogue, prioritize actions, and fa- ety. This analysis suggests that public expenditures cilitate decision making. are not always aligned with the key environmental is- sues identified on the basis of citizens’ perception and A core challenge to the new ministry will be the in- costs to society. While significant resources are allo- terpretation of its role in an environment of eco- cated to water pollution, which is an issue of signifi- nomic transition and restructuring. Accession to the cant concern, relatively smaller amounts are allo- OECD is on the Argentina’s political agenda and could cated to tackle deforestation and waste manage- serve as an outstanding opportunity for the ministry ment, and air pollution in particular suffers from a to scale-up its work. As experience from other coun- dearth of funding. It should be noted however that tries shows, one of the core though most challenging budget alignments and policies in other sectors may elements of the OECD accession process will be to el- also have a strong impact on the environment. Based evate environment and natural resource manage- on this analysis, deforestation, air pollution and waste ment standards to OECD levels. This process often re- management are identified as key areas for action, to- quires significant reforms of the environmental gov- gether with a concerted effort for data collection to ernance framework and may impact many other sec- improve targeting of resources for environmental tors that are politically and economically very im- management. portant for spurring growth and development. Many The Way Forward: Reconciling Environmen- reforms may be met with opposition, making the ac- cession process lengthy, costly, and demanding. tal Stewardship and Economic Growth 13 Table 1: An Approach to Prioritization of Environ-mental and Natural Resource Management Issues Environmental issue Public Perception Costs to Society27 Public Expenditure Current situation Future Major issue for Argen- Annual costs 4 % of federal environ- High deforestation Enforcement of for- Deforestation 0.74% of GDP tina ment budget rate vs. forest law est law is crucial Major issue for Argen- Annual costs No federal funds allo- Very high levels in Urbanization and Air Pollution tina and people 1.84% of GDP cated or no infor- large cities vs. low higher income mation available levels in small towns Major issue for Argen- Not surveyed 5-25% of total munici- Millions remain un- Amounts of waste Waste Manage- tina and people pal expenditure served vs. better are increasing vs. ment than LAC average coverage is easier in urban areas Major issue for Argen- Annual costs 0.4% 46 % of federal envi- Improvement in Available data does Water Pollution tina and people of GDP ronment budget Riachuelo vs. still pol- not allow prediction luted Land degrada- Not regarded as major Annual costs No federal funds allo- Conversion of forests Policies favoring agri- tion environmental issue for 3.56% of GDP28 cated or no infor- and grazing land into cultural expansion as Argentina and its people mation available cropland threat Not regarded as major Annual costs No federal funds allo- Poverty increases ex- Available data does Lead Pollution environmental issue for 0.91% of GDP cated or no infor- posure to lead not allow prediction Argentina and its people mation available Arsenic Pollu- Regarded as substantial Severe health im- No federal funds allo- High levels only in Cleaner surface wa- tion factor for water pollu- pacts (skin lesions cated or no infor- some regions ter could replace ar- tion and cancer) mation available senic groundwater Regarded as substantial Severe health im- No federal funds allo- widely used (e.g. Trend is so far de- Agro-Chemicals factor for AIR pollution pacts and water cated or no infor- glyphosate) vs. still creasing pollution mation available below world average Not regarded as major Annual costs 17 % of federal envi- Increasing occur- Urbanization and Urban Flooding environmental issue for 0.32% of GDP29 ronment budget rence with large constant high precip- Argentina and its people damages itation Riverine Flood- Not regarded as major Annual costs 17 % of federal envi- Increasing occur- Constant high precip- ing environmental issue for 0.34% of GDP29 ronment budget rence itation Argentina and its people Note: each environmental problem was evaluated and decided on what appears to be the most seriously problematic (red), problematic (yellow), not too problematic (green), and cases where it was not possible to make a statement (no color). The order of the table does not reflect an order of priorities. The implementation of environmental policies in an and themes, a division of roles and mandates regard- advanced economy such as Argentina may require ing regulatory and executive/enforcement powers further institutional reforms beyond the establish- within a governance structure might become neces- ment of a Ministry of Environment, in particular to sary. The implementation of modern environmental reinforce licensing and enforcement functions. policies often requires the establishment of an exec- Given the increasing complexity of environmental utive arm within national environmental governance. challenges across an increasing amount of sectors In that regard, and in support of their aims, environ- 27Data prepared by the World Bank as part of "An Economic Assessment of Environmental Degradation in Argentina ": Bjorn Larsen, John Magne Strukova Skjelvik and Elena Golub, 2015 (unpublished). For more details see also Annex C. 28 Cost of land degradation measure the loss of value due deforestation as one important factor, alongside with the conversion of shrublands, grasslands, cropland, barren land, and woodlands into less valuable biomes. Bouza et al. 2016 29 Costs from riverine (urban) flooding account for 49% (46%) of all natural disaster costs, which have a total annual cost of 0.7% of GDP 14 mental agencies commonly act as an operating au- standards as well as combine environmental and eco- thority and a licensing authority. They commonly nomic levers to influence polluters’ behavior should bundle agencies that had been created prior to ad- be among the priorities. dress specific, individual environmental management issues, for example regulatory functions within a spe- An Agenda for Action cific watershed. Based on the results of the CEA an indicative list of Argentina needs policy changes to foster the moni- recommendations has been developed for govern- toring of environmental assets in time and place ment action. This list could serve as a blue print for (such as land resources, forest stock, mineral re- addressing the issues studied in the CEA and could sources, and biodiversity), and reduce direct pollu- further benefit from a cost benefit analysis of the ac- tion impacts that may influence human health and tions, as a follow-up to the CEA in order to prioritize, environmental quality (e.g., air quality and access to determine their sequence and allocate sufficient re- basic environmental services). Such policies would sources. These actions, if implemented consistently, guide a transition to a more resilient and cleaner could reinforce the sustainability profile of Argentina economy and present economic opportunities that in a positive way. contribute to sustainable growth. Many implementa- tion mechanisms and resources for reconciling envi- Improve the Collection, Management, and Accessibil- ronmental sustainability with economic growth and ity of Data on the Environmental and Natural Re- social improvements are yet to be put in place. sources  Establish comprehensive environmental data col- Current policies need strengthening and realign- lection and monitoring systems, for example real ment across economic sectors to take account of the time collection of air quality data in urban areas, loss of value of natural resources and the human water quality monitoring, or data on deforesta- health cost. Focusing on selected policy measures can tion and land degradation. help reduce forest depletion, land degradation, and  Improve associated data management system to air pollution and simultaneously influence behavioral ensure a comprehensive and integrated manage- change—a win-win approach. Raising the importance ment and analysis of environmental data. of environmental protection by linking it to economic  Ensure transparency of environmental data, for development and well-being would create more op- example through its publication on (government) portunities for the integration of environmental man- websites and online databases. agement and climate change in the country’s devel-  Facilitate the usability of environmental data, for opment agenda. example through websites and mobile apps re- porting real time air quality, [possibly integrated Strengthening the effectiveness of environmental with hydro-met data reporting (weather reports) policy would require resources to help neutralize the negative ecological consequences of economic activ- Adapt Institutional Capacity and Scale-up Mandate ities that undermine the natural resource base. Total  The new ministry needs to implement an organi- spending for environment amounts to an average of zational structure embracing a wider range of en- 1.7% of federal government spending. Expressed as a vironment and natural resource management percentage of GDP, the public environmental ex- challenges and needs penditure amounts to 0.4% of GDP 30. Given the  Policy reforms need to go hand in hand with the amount of environmental problems that Argentina institutional reforms and should also include a has to solve, budget resources fall short of what is wider environmental agenda than before, espe- needed to combat environmental degradation. Align- cially addressing urban and industrial environ- ing environmental expenditures with policy priorities mental degradation, and reinforcing the frame- and areas of major concern such as air quality, defor- work for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) estation, solid waste management is a key for achiev-  OECD accession will require these reforms as a ing sustainable outcomes. Steps to align environmen- prerequisite to meet OECD standards and should tal policy and practice with international norms and serve as a catalyst for such a reform process 30 Source: footnote 27 15  The momentum of the ongoing institutional re- cover additional services. Undertaking a Value form process may be used to reinforce licensing Chain Study for Recycling. and enforcement functions, for example through  Bolstering the institutional framework: Develop- establishment of an executive arm within na- ing implementing rules and regulations for the tional environmental governance. “Ley de Presupuestos Minimos” for Solid Waste  Initiate capacity building for environmental sta- (Ley 25.916). Developing solid waste laws for all tistics to ensure accuracy of data collection of en- provinces. vironmental monitoring, including for reporting  Strengthening vertical coordination: Strengthen to meet regional and international conven- the technical assistance programs for provinces tions—national statistics offices can be trained to and municipalities. improve measurement and provide information  Mainstreaming land-use planning in the design of on the potential for using the U.N. System of En- developing policies: Incorporating solid waste vironmental-Economic Accounting. landfill locations as part of the planning process.  Strengthen the basis for policy development by  Initiating a systematic consultation process at the adopting the methods and definitions used to regional and municipal level with public authori- generate green accounts, in which monetary val- ties and civil society: Updating the National Plan ues are attributed to natural capital and biologi- for Solid Waste Management. cal resources (not as the only criteria to support decisions, but as one to consider among others). Address deforestation  While the Forest Law provides a good regulatory Improve air quality management framework for addressing natural forest manage-  Strengthen the current system of air quality mon- ments, specifically deforestation, there is a need itoring by expanding air quality monitoring pa- to better enforce compliance with its require- rameters/pollutants where the highest health ments and to provide additional financial sup- impacts are observed; break down TSP emission port. monitoring into PM2.5 and PM10; introduce con-  Establish a broader dialogue on the costs and tinuous monitoring for lead rather than monthly benefits of agricultural expansion to clarify the averages of discrete 20-minute measurements; trade-offs in land-use decision-making, as well as monitor ground-level ozone at more stations in the other negative externalities of industrial agri- cities. culture, especially in the light of the need to pro-  Reestablish a fiscally neutral (from a public fi- vide economic opportunities for the 90% of the nance point of view) annual vehicle technical in- population living in urban areas. spection system (emissions characteristic) with  Gradually expand and consolidate the effective the necessary diagnostic equipment and tech- management of the zones dedicated to conser- nical staff; reintroduce vehicle registration and li- vation and sustainable use under the Forest Law, censes to encourage adherence to emission to avoid further deforestation or forest degrada- standards and improvement of air quality. tion.  Reform the current system of pollution charges  Set national standards for Forest Law-related for air, water, and generation of waste by intro- public information. ducing meaningful economic incentives.  Promote the implementation of existing instru-  Assess options to combine air quality policy with ments, designed to benefit the poorest forest- carbon emission reduction policy, e.g. through dependent communities. innovative licensing and carbon pricing mecha- nisms. Increase Resilience to Climate Change and Natural Hazards Improve solid waste management  Improving environmental management is one of  Better defining and quantifying environmental is- the best adaptation strategies to manage climate sues: Updating the National Plan for Solid Waste risks, and efficient measures to achieve Argen- Management. Completing the Provincial Plans tina’s Nationally Determined Contributions for all provinces in the country. (NDCs) through the sustainable management of  Improving financial sustainability: Improving tar- natural resources are key to facilitating the tran- iff setting through provincial guides and norms to sition to a low-carbon economy. 16  Address urban flooding through and integrated  Likewise, expand the index-based disaster insur- urban-watershed management approach. ance system for flood/flash flood and mudflows  Provide tools – or the enabling environment for to protect the most vulnerable parts of the pop- private sector provision – for mitigating adverse ulation. effects on production, such as agricultural pro-  Develop innovative polices and implement ena- duction risk insurance, but also enhance hydro- bling frameworks for financing mechanisms that met data availability to enhance adaptive capac- target GHG emissions across sectors. ities of agricultural production vis-à-vis climate  Enhance the monitoring of GHG emissions variability. through the establishment of inventories. 17 Argentina has strongly improved its economic million hectares of natural forests and gave access to growth and poverty records since the 2001 financial an unprecedented amount of funds to around 4,000 crisis, yet development has not always been sustain- projects aimed at promoting the preservation, pro- able and environmental friendly. Argentina’s econ- tection and sustainable use of the native forests in omy, one of the largest in Latin America, is endowed 20% of that area.32 No-tillage agriculture is now prac- with valuable natural resources. During the past dec- ticed in more than 70% of the arable land area, a sig- ade the economy grew steadily, more people entered nificant achievement in natural resource manage- the middle class, and inequality lessened. Poverty has ment (FAO AQUASTAT, 2015). been declining since 2001 and measures for educa- tion and health show a positive trend. Developments Despite several successes, the country’s record on on the environmental side, however, have not been environmental management remains mixed. Loss of equally positive. Deforestation has become a major forest cover remains a challenge (9.7% in 2015 com- environmental issue in the North of Argentina and pared to 12.5% in 1990) mostly due to the continued flooding events are affecting thousands of Argentini- expansion of industrial-scale agriculture.33 Similarly, ans throughout the country every year. Air pollution, while key environmental health indicators have im- waste management and water pollution are becom- proved over time (99.1% of the population used im- ing serious problems especially in the growing urban proved drinking water sources in 2015, up from 95.6% centers of Argentina, but remain only partially ad- in 1999 (FAO AQUASTAT, 2015); 96.4% used im- dressed. proved sanitation facilities up from 87.4% over the same period and urban population living in slums has Natural capital is estimated to contribute 14% of Ar- decreased from 30.5% in 1999 to 16.7% in 2012 gentina’s national wealth. The notable performance (OMS/UNICEF, 2015)). Argentina’s score for the En- of Argentina’s system of protected areas (covering vironmental Performance Index (EPI) 34 is 79.84 out of close to 5.4% of total land area (UN MDGI 2014)31) is 100 and the country is ranked 43 out of 180 countries. key to the sustainable development of the tourism The lowest ratings (out of 180) are for biodiversity sector. It is a best practice example of how a country and habitat (125), fisheries (124), and forests (112). can derive a significant economic dividend from do- mestic and international tourism (1 million jobs, 10% In the rural space, the structural shift from tradi- of GDP), while at the same time conserving flagship tional grazing agriculture to high intensity soy culti- landscapes and species (MINTUR 2014; WTTC 2015). vation carried significant environmental externali- The Forests Law #26,331 (adopted in 2007 and regu- ties. Sheep ranching has lost importance in the Argen- lated in 2009) triggered the land use planning of 53 tinian economy since the 1960s and cattle ranching 31 UN MDGI 2014: Millenium Development Goals Indicators, 33 FAO 2015 available at 34 Developed by Yale University: http://epi.yale.edu/epi. http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Metadata.aspx?Indicato- rId=0&SeriesId=616. 32 Implementation Status Report 2010-2015, Law No. 26,331 Minimum Standards for Environmental Protection of Native Forests, MAyDS, 2016. 18 also started to decline in the last decade. By the mid- ronmental and natural resources degradation under- 1990s, the number of sheep had decreased to less mines growth and quality of life, and affects the poor. than 30% compared to 196035 and has remained at The cost of environmental health damages related to that level since. Wool production, the traditional air pollution alone is estimated at about 1.8 % of GDP, backbone of the rural economy in Patagonia, van- while the cost of deforestation amounts to about ished. Beef production, often perceived as one of Ar- 0.75% of GDP.36 Of all natural disasters, riverine gentina’s trademarks, experienced a peak in the mid- flooding events carry the highest economic damages 2000s, but has since dropped to only 25% of that (49%), followed by urban flooding (45%). (See Annex level. At the same time, crop production increased C) continuously, especially soy. To date, soy production is the number one export commodity (28% of all ex- Good stewardship of environment and natural re- ports) and the most important agricultural product sources is essential to Argentina’s transition towards (INDEC, 2015). This transition in the rural economy a modern, resilient, low-carbon economy. Adverse and agriculture production triggered important envi- climate change impacts will disproportionately affect ronmental externalities, especially deforestation in poor urban and rural households whose livelihood northern Argentina, and to some extent water pollu- strategies and economic income depend heavily on tion and riverine flooding. the country’s natural assets. Improving environmen- tal management is one of the best adaptation strate- Population growth, urbanization, and economic de- gies to manage climate risks. In line with Argentina’s velopment create new, modern environmental chal- climate change commitments and Nationally Deter- lenges. Over 90% of Argentinians live in cities. The mined Contributions (NDC) objectives, the sustaina- structural transformation driven by high urbanization ble management of natural resources is also key to rates, growing urban population, and economic facilitating the transition towards a low-carbon econ- growth is widening the range of environmental chal- omy. lenges, for example, adding waste, air, and noise pol- lution as key challenges to the list of well-known en- Argentina is at a critical juncture. The transition to a vironmental management issues. Air pollution and its more modern economy and OECD accession is a key effects on human health are very serious and an in- objective of the newly elected government. The ac- creasing concern: the World Health Organization cession process will provide momentum for reforms states that 3 of the top 4 leading causes of premature of the environmental governance framework and im- death are directly related to ambient air pollution. Air provement of the environment and natural resource pollution also impacts the productivity of humans, management standards. The government has already cognitive skills of students, and overall learning out- taken steps to strengthen its environmental agenda comes. The extractive and industrial sectors also gen- and elevate environment and natural resource man- erate very challenging externalities in terms of tech- agement integration into political and economic deci- nical management as well as economic impact. While sion making. Argentina has now more than ever the many countries increasingly acknowledge these prob- opportunity to move decisively towards a more sus- lems, Argentina still lacks the awareness and capacity tainable, resilient and inclusive growth. to address them. One limitation is that data on these modern environmental challenges continues to be Objectives and Scope of the Study fragmented, of low quality, and difficult to use to guide policy and investment decisions. The main objective of this CEA is to support the gov- ernment of Argentina in analyzing critical environ- Addressing environmental degradation through the mental constraints to sustainable growth and shared sustainable management and conservation of natu- prosperity and propose broad policy actions to ad- ral capital is critical to ensure continued and equita- dress them. The CEA is also a tool to engage with civil ble growth in Argentina. As a resource-based econ- society and development partners and broaden the omy with a high urbanization rate, Argentina’s envi- 35 Bjorn Larsen, John Magne Strukova Skjelvik and Elena FAOSTAT 36 Data prepared by the World Bank as part of "An Economic Golub, 2015 (unpublished). For details, see also Annex C. Assessment of Environmental Degradation in Argentina ": 19 policy dialogue on key cross-sectoral issues associ- Structure of the Report ated with the country’s main environmental chal- lenges. This chapter has outlined the rationale for the CEA, its objective, and scope. For the presentation of the de- This CEA aims at providing a summary overview of tailed analyses and recommendations the following key environmental challenges and their associated structure has been chosen: social and economic impacts. It will showcase how delaying policy actions that address environmental Chapter 2: The State of the Environment and the Cost challenges has an economic and social cost and sup- of Environmental Degradation presents the main en- port the government in setting its environmental pri- vironmental challenges, their trends, and their impact orities. Technical and economic analyses were car- on human health and natural resources. It also as- ried out to provide new insights into environmental sesses the economic cost associated with environ- and natural resource management in Argentina. Sec- mental pollution and deforestation and policy and in- stitutional aspects related to environmental and nat- ondary data and literature review completed the ural resource management. analysis. The limited accessibility and debatable qual- ity and quantity of environment and natural resource Chapter 3: Public Opinion, Government Spending and data allow only for indicative results in many in- Priority Setting for Environment presents the public stances, and highlight the need to improve data col- perception of key environmental challenges and how lection and access to adequately inform the technical the federal government prioritizes environmental ex- and policy dialogue on environmental management penditures. It then analyses the alignment of tech- in Argentina. nical, economic, public opinion and government pri- orities and provides insights on the directions govern- This CEA is only a first step towards evidence-based ment could take in setting its priorities. environment and natural resource management in Argentina. The complexity of environmental man- Chapter 4: The Way Forward: Reconciling Environ- agement has increased with the many facets of envi- mental Stewardship and Economic Growth summa- ronmental degradation associated with urbanization rizes key recommendations and cross-cutting themes and industrial development. This CEA only develops and proposes a number of broad policy actions to broad evidence for priority actions. More work on minimize economic and social losses related to envi- governance and institutional reforms, technical anal- ronmental degradation, improve the analytical un- ysis of pollution, flooding, and deforestation, ex- derpinning of decision-making and aim to reverse the environmental degradation and increase sustainabil- tended economic assessments of environmental deg- ity in the long term. radation, including the assessment of distributional effects, analyses of the political economy, poverty and social impacts, or economic analyses of policy re- forms would be needed to fully support any transition and reform process. 20 This chapter discusses Argentina’s main environ- commodity (28% of all exports) and the most im- mental challenges, their trends, their impact on hu- portant agricultural product. Forests and forest prod- man health and natural resources, the economic ucts are an economic asset and a source of liveli- cost associated with environmental pollution and hoods; in addition, forests play a critical role for car- deforestation and the related policy and institu- bon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, soil fer- tional aspects. The complexity of the environmental tility, watershed protection, and flood prevention. challenges in Argentina has increased with the transi- tion from a rural to an industrial economy with a high Argentina’s management of its vast biodiversity degree of urbanization. This CEA does not attempt to through its protected areas is best practice and ben- cover all challenges and is limited to the most im- efits tourism and the economy. The third country in portant issues of environmental management and the Americas to establish a national parks system af- degradation37. Given the distinct features and re- ter United States and Canada, Argentina has a system sponse mechanisms, the analysis is separated by rural of Protected Areas that makes up close to 7% of the and urban environmental challenges. Interlinkages total land area (1.6% of territorial waters) and in- are highlighted whenever necessary. It is emphasized cludes over 40 National Parks (SIB 2016). The number that additional in-depth studies are likely to be of national parks and protected areas visitors in- needed to further analyze various linkages and im- creased by 88% between 2003 and 2014, contributing pacts of environmental degradation and that would significantly to the tourism sector which overall ac- be built on better data availability and quality. counts for 10% of GDP and 5.4% of employment (MINTUR, 2014; WTTC, 2015). The Rural Environment and Natural Re- However, the structural shift from sheep and cattle sources Management ranching to industrial-scale agriculture and reliance on mining have worsened traditional environmental Land and natural resources have been the main pil- externalities and added new ones. Between 1990 lar of the country’s economic development and still and 2015, almost 20 % of forested area was cleared play a significant role in the economy thanks to the (FAO 2016), especially in northwestern Argentina, abundance of minerals and fertility of soils that pro- mainly for crop production, ranching and extension of duce high grain yields and meat of excellent quality. urban areas38. The increasing reliance on large-scale Agriculture accounts for 7-9% of GDP and 7% of jobs. agribusiness that followed the 2001 economic crisis Argentina is among the largest exporters of grains and accelerated the structural shift from traditional graz- oilseeds. While sheep and cattle ranching declined ing agriculture to high intensity soy and exacerbated over time, crop production increased continuously the negative impact on the country’s natural assets. and today soy production is the number one export This structural shift triggered environmental external- ities at much larger scale, especially deforestation in 37 The selectivity of issues as presented in this CEA is a result 38 FAO, 2016 of demands expressed by the former Government, but also based on availability of reliable data. 21 northern Argentina, and is adding new environmental Figure 2: Shift from traditional grazing agricul- challenges such as agro-chemical use and pollution, ture towards crop cultivation water pollution and secondary effects such as riverine flooding. Similarly, the boom in extractive industries triggered by increased demand for oil, gas, and min- erals brings environmental and natural resources management challenges of a larger scale that require management responses beyond local ad-hoc inter- ventions. Figure 1: Export shares by commodity (in %) Deforestation in Northern Argentina (mostly in the Chaco eco-region) is continuing at alarming rates and the cost of deforestation is estimated at about 0.75% of GDP40. The Chaco eco-region covers an area of ca. 1,080,000 km² spanning across Argentina (60%), Paraguay and Bolivia. It is a large, dry forest re- gion consisting of closed forest, open woodlands, shrub lands, and palm savannas. Between 2001 and 2014 Argentina lost ca. 50,000km² of forested areas, Deforestation a size equivalent to the Province Jujuy or Costa Rica. Most of the forest loss was in Northern Argentina (45,000km², equivalent to the size of Denmark) 41. Put The total loss of ecosystem services due to land-use differently, since 2001 Argentina has lost an average or cover change (LUCC) between 2001 and 2009 has of 0.67 ha of forests (about the size of a soccer field) been estimated at about US$70 billion39. Wetland every minute. Despite the very high rates of forest degradation cost the country an additional US$3.8 bil- loss in the Chaco eco-region42 responsiveness by de- lion or 1.5 % of the 2007 GDP. Cost of degradation of cision-makers in Argentina is rather limited, when grazing land on milk and meat production was esti- compared to other countries in the region43. mated at about US$0.586 billion or 11 % of the live- stock GDP, posing a threat to the traditional form of The main driver of deforestation in Northern Argen- cattle and sheep ranching. The IFPRI study also esti- tina is the expansion of industrial-scale agriculture, mated the returns of reversing land degradation at in particular soy production. Soy production in- about US$4 per US$ invested. Likewise, results of a creased by 85% in the 1980s and by 400% between cost benefit analysis show that alternative pasture 1990 and 2014; the area dedicated to soy increased management increased the sustainable stocking rate almost threefold over the same period.44 Deforesta- by 54 % and livestock productivity by 64 %. tion rates in 2000–2010 were three times higher than in the 1980s45. Soy growing in 39Analysis by the International Food Policy Research Insti- 43 Deforestation for soybean expansion has been identified tute (IFPRI), Bouza et al. 2016 as a major environmental threat in other regions (e.g. Bra- 40 zil). In Argentina, it has received less research attention and See footnote 36. 41 The Northern provinces Salta, Chaco, Formosa, Santiago the extent of the deforestation caused by soybean expan- del Estero, Tucuman, Jujuy, Catamarca, Corrientes and sion has not been quantified. (Grau et al. 2005) 44 Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. Misiones account for virtually all deforestation in Argentina 42 Zak et al. 2008 45 Piquer-Rodríguez et al., (2015) 22 Figure 3: Tree cover loss in Argentina between 2001 and 2014 forest lands is concentrated in regions where defor- price. In addition, the 2001 devaluation of the Argen- estation is a current problem – mainly Santiago del tine Peso incentivized export goods. The introduction Estero, Salta, and Chaco. Between 2002 and 2014 the of zero-tillage, a soil management technique that in- provinces of Corrientes and Jujuy (and La Pampa) ex- creases water storage capacity and lower runoff perienced the highest relative increase in soy cultiva- losses, opened areas that were previously closed to tion46; these regions have also a large record of defor- annual crops because of water restrictions. Between estation. There is little doubt among researchers that 1991 and 2008 the area under zero-tillage increased the Argentina’s “soy revolution”47 and associated ag- from 300,000ha to 22 million ha50. Such advance- ricultural expansion drove deforestation and resulted ments enabled the transformation of previously pris- in an overall loss of 22.5% of the Argentine Chaco eco- tine, less expensive land into potentially productive region’s forests48. land. Northern Argentina was initially not suitable for soy plantation; crop cultivation increased only re- High demand, currency devaluation, technological cently, taking advantage of the advances in crop pro- improvements, and weather patterns spurred the duction and increased rainfalls which have been re- expansion of agricultural production. Starting in ported in the last decades and which allow more rain- 2000, world market prices for grains and oilseeds fed cultivation in the region51 . started to increase and intensive and continuous cul- tivation became more lucrative. The introduction of While the immediate driver of deforestation is prin- transgenic soy in 1997 (Roundup Ready soybean) low- cipally the extension of soy production, the underly- ered production costs; while demand for soy in- ing causes are related to (a) insufficient land use creased as livestock feed and biofuel49 boosted its planning and enforcement thereof, including insuffi- 46 The increase was measured as (soy cultivation area in as stimulus for the biofuels industry. The law calls for man- 2014-soy cultivation area in 2002)/soy cultivation area in datory blends of 5 percent biodiesel and 5 percent bioetha- 2002. nol by 2010. In terms of tax breaks, the new law provides 47 Mathews and Goldsztein, 2009 exemption from several taxes, including Value-Added Tax 48 Piquer-Rodríguez et al. 2015; Grau et al. 2005; Zak et al. on capital goods projects associated with biofuels; income 2008. tax on biofuels production activities; and fuels excise. There 49 Higher demand for biofuel has been spurred by the ap- are also direct subsidies paid to spur investment. proval of ley 26 093 to promote biofuels which provides a 50 Trigo et al. 2009 mix of tax breaks and blending quotas, or mandates, to act 51 Grau et al. 2005; Grau et al. 2008 23 cient funding of the forest law, and (b) favorable pol- nificant or very mixed. This could indicate that farm- icy, market and agricultural conditions. Together, ers switched from other crops to soy and also that de- these conditions have favored investment in soy pro- forestation was foremost driven by soybean cultiva- duction. Further development of the sector should tion and not by other crops. An analysis on the effect be complemented by an appropriate framework to of beef and crop prices on tree cover loss shows that help ensure that associated externalities, including current prices have a positive and significant effect on the negative impacts of deforestation, are taken into current deforestation while meat prices have no sig- account in investment decisions, which are otherwise nificant impact. These results confirm that deforesta- not reflected in the direct benefits from soy produc- tion is more likely to be driven by soy production than tion. cattle ranching. Figure 4: Soy cultivation area per province The use of forest products has a modest impact on forest loss at large scale. However, this does not ex- clude that in some micro-environments the harvest and consumption of wood contributes to deforesta- tion and to forest degradation. The use of natural for- ests for meeting wood demand however is important, especially for the rural poor. This includes the use of wood fuels (wood, charcoal) as well as the selected use of (waste) wood for off-grid and mini-grid power generation in remote, rural areas. Argentina is a net importer of wood and other products from forest plantations. While the local production is increasing, it remains less developed than in other (neighboring) countries, such as Brazil or Chile. The Forest Law (#26,331) provides a good regulatory framework and forest governance has improved, but implementation is hampered by inadequate funding and lack of transparency. The Forest Law of 2007 was introduced to promote conservation of natural re- Cattle ranching plays a secondary role in driving de- sources, resolve and prevent environmental conflicts, forestation. Livestock ranching has decreased in im- and offer clear rules for investment to the private sec- portance (in relative and absolute terms) in Argen- tor. Recent data shows a slowing down in the rate of tina. By the mid-1990s the number of sheep had deforestation, a possible indication that improved shrunk to less than 30% of the amount in 1960 and forest governance is working. However, recent de- wool production, the traditional backbone of the ru- clines in deforestation rates could also be attributed ral economy in the Pampas, vanished (FAOSTAT, to the drop in commodity prices, so cannot yet be 2015). Cattle ranching decreased overall, except in deemed an exclusive result of this policy. Addition- Northwestern Argentina where it has increased and ally, the Forest Fund established by the Forest Law to correlation analysis shows that deforestation enabled compensate land owners for the conservation of their the increase in the cattle stock (or vice versa). native forests and enrichment of their land is still un- der development. Funding currently provided Regression analyses52 clearly show that deforesta- through the national budget is insufficient, and infor- tion is significantly and positively associated with an mation on how those resources are used is limited. increase in soy cultivation. 17% of every deforested Moreover, the government approach to finance the hectare in northern Argentine is associated with one conservation fund through a tax on agricultural ex- hectare of soy harvest area two years later, i.e. if trees ports is debatable given the role that agriculture ex- are cut down areas for soy production tend to in- pansion plays in driving deforestation. crease. The effects for other crops are negative, insig- 52 See Annex A. 24 Understanding the costs and benefits of deforesta- ecosystem services and land degradation associated tion for agricultural expansion is essential to deter- with deforestation, and as the discussion of flooding mine the trade-offs in land-use decision-making, and below highlights, deforestation in the upper water- these should be carefully considered. Table 1 pro- sheds of the main river basins is associated with riv- vides an indicative – and not exhaustive – list of ben- erine flooding, which is the cause of half the damage efits and costs that can be associated with deforesta- in Argentina resulting from natural disasters. tion. Significant costs are associated with the loss of Figure 5: Distribution of regions cultivating soy over time Figure 6: Variation in cattle stock between 2008 and 2011 and percentage change in cattle stock in North- ern ARG compared to traditional cattle ranching provinces 25 Changes in the use of natural resources have nega- also the highest deforestation. A clear correlation be- tive social impacts, especially on the most vulnera- tween tree cover loss and poverty exists however it is ble. The gradual shift away from family farms towards very hard to isolate a single cause-effect relationship. industrial operations has led to conflicts over land It might be that large scale farms clear forests and tenure especially for indigenous communities who push rural farmers out of the regions and into pov- usually don’t have titles to their lands and are vulner- erty. It could be that poor populations lack knowledge able to displacement or criminal charges for squat- about the consequences of deforestation and thus do ting. The shifting agricultural frontier has forced tra- not oppose it. Data also shows that provinces with a ditional farmers to abandon their land and move into high poverty reduction between 2001 and 2010 had cities where they are likely to end up in poverty and predominantly high deforestation rates too. This marginalization if they don’t find employment 53. seems to imply that higher deforestation rates con- tribute to higher poverty reduction. These seemingly Deforestation affects predominantly poor regions. A conflicting observations highlight the importance of comparison of 2010 census-based poverty data54 and having a more in-depth analysis of the deforestation- tree cover loss shows that deforestation took place poverty-agriculture nexus to inform policy develop- mainly in areas with high poverty rates and that the ment in this area. provinces with the highest share of rural poverty (Salta, Santiago del Estero, Chaco and Formosa) have Figure 7: Absolute tree cover loss and poverty in urban and rural areas measured as unmet basic needs in percentage 53REDAF 2012 housing situation, sanitation, water access, child education 54The 2010 census measured poverty through an unmet and risk of loss of income. basic needs indicator. Basic needs include for example the 26 Table 2: Qualitative Illustration of the Benefits and Costs of Deforestation Benefits Costs  Increasing agricultural production of export ori-  Loss of ecosystem services ented crops (especially soy)  Increased probability of flooding in rural and  Extending the area of cattle production urban areas  Increasing government revenues generated  Land degradation from tariffs and taxes of agricultural value  Impacts on surface water availability used as chains principle drinking water source  Increase in job opportunities in rural areas  Reduced availability of wood from non-planta- tion species  Increasing GHG emissions Agrochemicals (organic farms, for example). It is for this and other reasons that Argentina is debating the overall social The use of agro-chemicals has increased and poses and environmental costs and benefits of glyphosate- risks for human health and the environment, so ap- based crop production58. propriate environmental safeguards need to be ap- plied along its entire value chain. The use of agro- As the efficiency of the agricultural sector increased chemicals in Argentina has increased by 1000 % in the with more advanced technologies and methods, so last 20 years, from 26,000 tons in 1992 to 256,000 did the use of fertilizers and pesticides. The use of tons in 2011 (FAOSTAT, 2015). Among the agro-chem- agrochemicals per harvested crop area increased icals, the herbicide Glyphosate accounts for 75 % of from approximately 0.5kg/ha in 1990- to 2.5 kg/ha in the use in 2006 compared with only 50.1 % in 199155. 2011. This fivefold increase continued even when in The large use of glyphosate-based herbicide is driven the rest of the Americas the use of pesticides started by the shift in crop production to genetically modified to decrease. Argentina uses today (2014) almost eight soy that is glyphosate-resistant56. If not properly man- times as much fertilizers as it did in 1991. Likewise, aged, agro-chemicals, including fertilizer, pesticides, the use of fertilizers per ha of cultivated land in- herbicides, and fungicides, affect negatively the creased by 408% between 1991 and 2014 although it health of humans, animals, and ecosystems along the started to decrease in the past five years (CIAFA, entire value chain, e.g. during transport, storage, ap- 2015). However, the recent decrease of fertilizer con- plication, and disposal. The World Health Organiza- sumption seems to reflect higher prices and increased tion has declared Glyphosate as probable carcino- price sensitivity rather than a leveling of fertilizer con- gen57. Moreover, fertilizers washed into waterbodies sumption per hectare; if prices drop, fertilizer con- can lead to their eutrophication, while wind can carry sumption may increase again59. agro-chemicals to areas where they are not desired 55 Bouza et al. (2016) comparative advantage of soybean production and its role 56 Since the legalization of genetically modified soy in Ar- in the modern global economy. gentina in 1996, Argentina has developed into the third 59 Over the past five years the harvested crop areas in- largest producer of GMO based crops globally and soy creased without increasing the use of fertilizer per hectare. makes up the largest share of GMO crops in the country. This could be interpreted as reaching a constant level of fer- 57 For a discussion on differences in the carcinogenic evalu- tilizer consumption. A comparison between price levels and ation of glyphosate between the International Agency for consumption allow a different conclusion: During the finan- Research on Cancer (IARC) and the European Food Safety cial crisis of 2008 the fertilizer prices suddenly peaked and Authority (EFSA) see Portier et al. (2016) Argentina’s fertilizer consumption dropped sharply. Since 58 The impact of glyphosate is still debated to date. While the financial crisis fertilizer prices and consumption one some case studies are increasingly warning about harmful year later are inversely correlated (r=-0.4), while before effects of glyphosate on human health and the environ- 2008 they were positively correlated (r=0.69). This indicates ment (Paganelli et al. 2010), other studies stress the bene- two things. First, the agricultural sector has become price fits of conservation agriculture (CA) derived from the use of sensitive in the recent past and adjusts the application of glyphosate and other herbicides, along with Argentina’s fertilizers accordingly. Secondly, if prices drop in the future fertilizer consumption might increase again. 27 Figure 8: Agro-chemical inputs in Argentina Figure 9: Agro chemical use per ha cropland over time and in comparison with all American countries (in- cluding North America) 28 Figure 10: Fertilizer use in relation to harvested crop area Water Pollution taminated food) can lead to chronic arsenic poison- ing, skin lesions and skin cancer. Substituting ground water with surface water can help limit exposure to Many watersheds in Argentina are exposed to pollu- natural contamination. However, with increasing pol- tion from agriculture, industry and domestic activi- lution of surface water this option is less feasible and ties. Argentina has several major river systems, in- water treatment prior to consumption becomes man- cluding the Parana, Uruguay, and the Negro rivers. datory. Better watershed management would ensure The agricultural sector is the largest consumer of wa- a higher surface water quality and could be a very ef- ter (75%) followed by municipalities (15%; FAO AQ- fective method to alleviate this problem. UASTAT, 2015). Surface water is the main source of water consumption and is vulnerable to pollution from discharges of untreated wastewater and/or in- Figure 11: Areas with high arsenic concentration dustrial effluents, agriculture run-offs and domestic in the groundwater (red or orange) activities. Only 65% of municipal waste water is col- lected and only 12% is treated before disposal (FAO AQUASTAT, 2015). High levels of arsenic contamination in groundwater poses a serious health threat and coupled with in- creased water pollution it creates local constraints on the availability of uncontaminated drinking wa- ter. Many regions in Argentina report high levels of arsenic water pollution. Arsenic is a natural compo- nent of the earth crust and is present in the air, water and land. Arsenic is also used industrially as an alloy- ing agent and in the processing of glass, pigments, textiles, paper, metal adhesives, wood preservatives and ammunition. It is also used in the hide tanning process and, to a limited extent, in pesticides, feed additives and pharmaceuticals. Arsenic is highly toxic in its inorganic form and long-term exposure (by drinking or using contaminated water or eating con- 29 Riverine Flooding highest economic damages (49%), followed by urban flooding (45%; EM-DAT, 2015). Flooding is the greatest natural disaster threat in Ar- gentina in terms of economic damages and affected Deforestation, poor wetlands management and in- population. While riverine flooding and urban flood- creased rainfalls, contribute to increase the risk of ing share common roots, they are influenced by dif- flooding. A visual comparison between spatial distri- ferent causes (urban flooding, discussed later in the bution of deforestation and flooding events suggests report, is contingent on the typology, quality and that higher riverine floods occur in regions with de- maintenance of infrastructure and the design of the forestation. As deforested areas are located in the city). Riverine flooding (or flood plains) occurs when upper watersheds of the main river basins, deforesta- heavy rainfall causes high water levels in rivers to tion-triggered run-offs of water accumulate further overtop the banks and is most dangerous when peo- downstream in higher volumes and faster pace. ple occupy flood risk areas. In the past decades, flood Downstream, drainage canals built in wetland areas events predominantly occurred in Northern and Cen- that were built to reduce flood risk (locally known as tral Argentina, especially along the Parana River ba- canalization), changed the hydrology, led to stronger sin, with gradually higher concentration in Northern runoffs and resulted in even more flooding and sedi- Argentina. About 60% of all natural disasters and 95% mentation60. Finally, amount and intensity of rainfall of the economic damages and affected population grew overtime, with volume of rainfall up by 20% be- are due to flooding. Riverine flooding events carry the tween 1961 and 2010 (SAyDS, 2015d). Figure 12: Natural disaster between 1950 and 2015 in Argentina – Occurrence and total economic dam- ages 60 de Prada et al. 2014; Tucci 2007 30 Figure 13: Comparison between tree cover loss sequence of low flood years is often a reason to con- and magnitude of flooding in Argentina struct new buildings in flood risk areas. When a larger flood occurs, the flood damage increases and munici- palities are “forced” to invest in flood protection in this area. Municipalities have little incentive to miti- gate the risk by relocating people because relocation can be costly and difficult to accept, and when a ma- jor flood occurs, the national government provides fi- nancial support to the affected communities. Proper watershed management upstream and downstream can significantly decrease the probability and impact of flooding events. Uranium mining legacies Poor environmental management and enforcement in the mining sector have left a legacy of harmful by- products, waste, and difficult mine closures. Mining in Argentina is a relatively new industry and the coun- try has limited experience with mine closure and clean-up61. Years of lax environmental enforcement Lack of land use regulations, limited enforcement ca- and management practices have resulted in undesir- pacity, and false sense of security significantly in- able accumulation of harmful solid and liquid wastes crease the risk for people. The impacts of floods on associated with uranium mining and processing, and people’s life, wellbeing and assets greatly depend on the generation of waste tailings and low-grade ore the degree of control of settlements in risk areas. A containing low levels of radioactivity 62. Figure 14: Argentina - Population by size of urban settlement 61 PRAMU project World Bank 2008 62It should be noted, however, that the legacy issue i s not “nuclear waste,” but rather large amounts of low-grade tail- ings with radioactivity levels typically below what is com- mercially viable natural uranium ore. 31 The Urban Environment Air Pollution Urbanization in Argentina is among the highest in Poor air quality in urban areas has very serious Latin America and significantly higher than the health impacts on the population, especially the global average. Over 90% of the Argentine popula- most vulnerable groups. Ambient air pollution is tion lives in cities, compared to nearly 80% for Latin caused by a variety of pollutants, such as gases, par- America, the most urbanized region in the world (UN ticulate matters, and chemicals, originating from dif- WUP, 2014). Urban population continues to grow, es- ferent sources65. While data for Argentina is limited, pecially in small and medium size cities, demanding estimates indicate that over 100 million people in infrastructure, urban services, jobs and improve- Latin America and the Caribbean are exposed to air ments in quality of life. Argentina’s path to economic pollution levels exceeding World Health Organization prosperity is through efficient, sustainable, and eco- (WHO) guidelines66. Ischemic heart disease, Lower nomically thriving cities.63 While these generate ag- Respiratory Infections (LRI) and chronic obstructive glomeration economies by concentrating ideas, tal- pulmonary disease (COPD) are all linked to poor air ent, and knowledge, these are often constrained by quality and are among the four leading causes of market and coordination failures that cause agglom- years of life lost due to premature mortality. Further, eration externalities leading to higher costs—from as Figure 15 shows, the contribution of LRI and COPD more expensive land to congestion and environmen- as causes of years of life lost has significantly in- tal degradation. Agglomeration externalities thus creased over the last twenty years. As shown in Am- need to be managed so that prosperity does not come bient Particular Matter is the highest ranked health at the expense of livability. risk factor in Argentina that is not determined by in- dividual behavior (such as diet, smoking, unsafe sex, Urbanization, coupled with economic growth and or use of alcohol and drugs), but by the environment. the emergence of an urban middle class with ex- The health effects of outdoor air pollution fall dispro- tended consumption demand, creates new environ- portionately on infants, children and the elderly. mental externalities. In 1960 about 30% of the popu- Studies in other Latin American countries have shown lation of Argentina lived in rural areas and another that poverty and low socio-economic status can in- 30% lived in cities with less than 300,000 inhabitants; crease the negative effects of ambient air pollution on today less than 10% of Argentina’s population lives in health67. It seems plausible that poor population rural areas. Thirty percent of the Argentinian popula- groups, for example in informal settlements, are tion lives in cities with more than 1 million inhabit- more exposed to urban air pollution and less aware of ants.64 Since more and more people are living in urban the possible negative consequences. areas, pollution of air, water, soil, and waste genera- tion and management are becoming increasingly im- portant issues with high costs to societ 63 Leveraging the Potential of Argentine Cities: A Framework causing inflammation. NO2 and SO2 are chemicals pro- for Policy Action. World Bank, 2016 duced by the combustion of fossil fuels and play a major 64 Calculations based on data from UN World Urbanization role in generating photochemical smog, as well as creating Prospects. acid rain. Another important pollutant is lead (Pb); children 65 Particulate Matter (PM), Tropospheric Ozone (O3), Nitro- especially are at risk of significant neurological and devel- gen Dioxide (NO2), and Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) are some of the opmental damage from prolonged exposure. Pollutant im- most commonly monitored pollutants. PM in the atmos- pacts include health, cognitive and neurological deficits and phere is mainly attributed to the combustion of fossil fuels, damage to ecosystems, and cultural heritage. especially coal and diesel fuel, and is typically measured by 66 WHO 2005 particle size as either PM10 (particle diameter ≤ 10 microns) 67 For example, high rates of PM10 air pollution caused or as PM2.5 (particle diameter ≤ 2.5 microns). The smaller higher mortality rates for people living in the slums in Sao particles, the deeper they are able to penetrate into the Paulo and for people who did not complete primary school lungs, disrupting the exchange of oxygen into the blood and in Chile. 32 Figure 15: Leading causes of YLLs to premature death in Argentina Increased use of vehicles and extreme traffic con- Information on air quality remains limited and of un- gestions are the main sources of Argentina urban certain quality but points to road transport and die- air pollution. The transport sector is the main driver sel vehicles as the main source of pollution . The as- of urban air pollution. The number of circulating cars sessment and evaluation of air quality is mainly lim- has increased by a factor of six over the last 25 ited to the large urban agglomerations in the region. years, from only 2 million vehicles in 1990 to 12 mil- Similarly, systematic monitoring and recording have been limited to a few air pollutants, especially partic- lion in 2014. Emission levels are not only influenced ulate matter (PM) 10 and increasingly PM2.5. Infor- by the number of vehicles, but also by fuel stand- mation on other airborne pollutants remains limited ards, quality of cars, type of vehicles on the road, and often erratic. In addition, air measurement often and transport behavior. Most vehicles circulate in does not follow reliable protocol procedures, e.g. de- Buenos Aires. Almost 50% of vehicles are older than tectors and measurement stations are installed too 10 years (22% older than 20 years) and 35% are die- high above ground or in non-representative locations, sel powered (AFAC 2014). Road transport is basically further complicating the systematic assessment of air the only mode of freight transport with 99% of sales pollution and associated impacts on health and envi- value of goods transported by road (96% of trans- ronment. A few emissions studies done for the city of ported tons by road;). This indicates high truck cir- Buenos Aires and for the Buenos Aires Metropolitan culation within or near urban areas, which contrib- Area (BAMA) give some insights on the source of par- utes to higher emissions. Complementing the high ticulate matters emissions, their composition and patterns. For example, a study for BAMA indicates use of private vehicles, people living in Buenos Aires that about 67% of PM emissions are from road also rely less on mass transport (buses, metro) com- transport, about 21% are from electric power plants, pared to other Latin American cities. The use of bi- 5% are from industry, and 7% are from residential, cycles or walking is an outstandingly disregarded public and commercial sources. Road transport is also mode of transportation in Buenos Aires. the source of nearly 80% of nitrogen oxides (NO x) while 70% of sulfur dioxide (SO2) is from the electric power plants68. Another study estimated that PM 68 Matranga et al, 2012 33 emissions from 2.4 million road vehicles in BAMA in fold), Córdoba (3-fold), and Mendoza (2-fold). Pollu- 2006 were about 6,370 tons, of which about 91% tion is at the WHO threshold in Rosario and below the from diesel vehicles, 5% from gasoline vehicles, and threshold in Salta and San Salvador de Jujuy. For the 4% from natural gas vehicles69. Estimates of contribu- cities of Neuquen-Plottier-Cipolletti, which grew in tions from other sources - including industry, power population by about 2500% between 1950 and 2015, plants, fugitive dust from agricultural fields, re-sus- PM2.5 pollution was extremely high in the decade pended road dust, construction sites, and burning of 1970-1980, then gradually decreased below the solid waste and other biomass are unavailable. Such threshold until 2002; current values would exceed the estimates would require an inventory of emissions threshold again by about 2-3-fold. The model also es- from fixed sources, chemical analysis of PM, and ap- timates total NOX emissions (from 400,000 ton/yr in portionment studies70. Buenos Aires down to 45,000 in Córdoba and gradu- ally smaller in the other cities), and other pollutants. Air pollution in the main urban agglomerations is far Buenos Aires exceeds the levels of other cities by sig- above the WHO recommended thresholds. Using a nificant amounts. Transport remains the main emis- novel modeling approach based on EDGAR (Emission sion for all pollutants except SO2. Despite slight de- Database for Global Atmospheric Research)71 this CEA creases in air pollution in large cities and acceptable carried out an assessment of emission levels in the 5 levels in small cities, it seems likely that high urban largest urban agglomerations plus two cities with the growth rates and increasing traffic will contribute to highest growth rates during 1950-2015. According to higher levels of air pollution in the future (see graphs the model, PM2.5 pollution is above the WHO recom- in Appendix). mended threshold of 10 µg/m3 in Buenos Aires (6- 69 D’Angiola et al, 2010. About 39% of the diesel vehicle northwest about 15% of the time. Average wind speeds are emissions were from heavy duty diesel trucks and buses, 4-5 m/s. Arkouli et al (2010) found that ambient PM10 con- 26% were from light duty diesel trucks and diesel sport util- centrations in the city of Buenos Aires were highest when ity vehicles (SUVs), 20% from diesel passenger cars, and 6% the wind was from the northwest and northeast and lowest from diesel taxies. when from southeast and southwest. The difference in am- 70 Contributions to ambient PM2.5 from these sources also bient concentrations of PM2.5, however, was much depend on wind directions and speeds. Wind directions in smaller. BAMA are on average from the east and southeast about 71 EDGAR emissions inventory is a global database for the 30% of the time, from the south, southwest and west about years 1970 to 2008. Pollutants include PM, SO2, CO, NOx, 25% of the time, from the northeast and north-northeast VOC, and NH3. about 22% of the time, and from west-northwest and north- 34 Figure 16: Health Risk Factors in Argentina Source: Global Burden of Disease The cost of air pollution impacts on society is esti- limited resources towards health expenditures in- mated at about 1.8 % of GDP.72 In addition to mortal- stead of using them for investments with returns for ity, poor health due to air pollution impacts peoples’ economic development and poverty alleviation. Peo- productivity and their ability to work and take care of ple suffering from chronic diseases are also less able their families73. For children, reduced productivity to participate in social activities, including community translates into educational underperformance with and political activities that often provide the neces- long-term negative effects for economic performance sary framework in which economic development is and poverty alleviation. To cope, households divert 72 all and the probability of having to be taken care of by oth- See footnote 36. 73 Impact on productivity can have different time dimen- ers. sions. Sick people may be able to allocate only reduced time to productive activities over a day, week, month, or year. Health impacts may also alter the whole productive life, i.e. by changing the overall time people do not work at 35 embedded. Despite limited data on air pollution in ur- tries’ experience. Health problems due to poor out- ban areas beyond Buenos Aires, this CEA was able to door air quality have been among the main environ- estimate the cost associated with air pollution across mental concerns in many Latin American cities, in- Argentina at AR$ 33 - 48 billion in 2012, with a mid- cluding Mexico City, Santiago, Bogotá, Sao Paulo, point estimate of AR$ 40 billion (US$ 8.75 billion). Lima, and Quito. During the last two decades, several This cost is equivalent to 1.5 – 2.2% of Argentina’s countries in Latin America have begun to deal more GDP in 2012, with a mid-point estimate of 1.84%74. seriously with this environmental problem. In addi- However, this estimation could not take into account tion to strengthening environmental institutions and varying inter- and intra-city ambient air pollution ex- upgrading environmental measurement systems, en- posure levels and was limited by measuring ambient vironmental standards have been imposed through- air pollution instead of street level exposure75. out the region, especially for industries, new and old vehicles, and fuel quality. Poor air quality in urban areas is a global phenome- non76 and much can be learned from other coun- Figure 17: Circulating vehicle fleet in Argentina; year of construction of the current fleet 74 world’s largest single environmental health risk. In particu- See footnote 36. 75 Recent studies have demonstrated that street level expo- lar, the new data reveal a stronger link between both indoor sure and ambient air pollution levels can differ by a magni- and outdoor air pollution exposure and cardiovascular dis- tude of 20-40% (Goel et al. 2015). eases, such as strokes and ischemic heart disease, as well as 76 The WHO reports in its latest estimates that in 2012 between air pollution and cancer. This is in addition to the around seven million people died - one in eight of total already established relationship air pollution’s role in the global deaths – as a result of air pollution exposure (WHO development of respiratory diseases, including acute respir- GBOD 2014). This is more than double compared to previ- atory infections and chronic obstructive pulmonary dis- ous estimates and confirms that air pollution is now the eases. 36 Figure 18: Modeled PM 2.5 Air Pollution in Buenos Aires and Jujuy (µg/m3) Distributional impacts of air pollution are biased to- subjects >6578. For Chile, a study finds higher mortal- wards the poor segments of the population. While ity among those who did not complete primary school no analysis exists for Argentina, knowledge generated compared to university graduates79. The interaction in other Latin American countries lead unequivocally between being old and having no primary education to this conclusion. For Sao Paulo, for example the ef- exacerbates the effect. A multi-city study) for Mexico fect of PM10 are negatively correlated with the per- City, Sao Paulo, Santiago concluded that PM10 had centage of people with college education and high important short- and intermediate-term effects on family income i.e. the higher the level of education / mortality in the cities, but without a consistent edu- income, the lower the mortality risk due to air pollu- cational level effect modifier80. In contrast, another tion. The effect of PM10 exposure is positively corre- study using a multi-country analysis for Chile, Mexico, lated for people living in slums, indicating the higher Brazil finds that high ambient PM concentration in- vulnerability of slums dwellers to air pollution 77. An- creases mortality risk and risks are even higher for other study focusing on Sao Paulo finds larger effects low SES and for infants and young children (although of air pollution in areas of lower socio-economic sta- not consistently across all locations)81. A World Bank tus (SES) and a significant trend of increasing risk of report from 2006 states more generally that exposure death related to age, with effects most evident for to air pollutants is higher around congested areas 77 Martins et al., 2004. 81 Romieu et al., 2012. 78 Gouveia, 2000. 79 Cakmak et al., 2011. 80 O'Neill et al., 2008. 37 where informal and formal economic activities take collection services and urban cleaning services are place, and the most affected are the most vulnerable: lacking. The impact of this lack of cleanliness on the elderly, the poor, the children, and the sick82. neighborhood satisfaction and quality of life is well documented, particularly in Buenos Aires84. Solid Waste Solid waste management lags far behind other ur- ban services. Solid waste collection coverage in Ar- Increased solid waste accumulation is a common ex- gentina is at 90%, leaving an estimated 4 million in- ternality of economic growth and consumption, es- habitants without regular collection service85. Dis- pecially in urban areas. Waste disposal is the most posal service is even more deficient with over 20 mil- problematic stage of the waste management cycle lion inhabitants not covered 86 and nearly 90% of the and open dumps remain the most common mode of municipalities disposing their waste in open or semi- disposal in Argentina, particularly in poorer commu- controlled dumps without adequate sanitary con- nities and neighborhoods. Increasing amounts of or- trols87. This coverage deficiency is much larger than ganic waste is a major source of vectors and green- other basic services such as water supply, sanitation house gas emissions. Recycling is still very limited and and electricity which have a combined underserved the national law on household waste management population of 3,067,00088. Between 2001 and 2010 does not set targets nor provides incentives to imple- the growth in collection service coverage only man- ment the waste hierarchy83. Hazardous waste is also aged to match population growth, which means rela- on the rise (e.g. medical waste generated by in- tive coverage did not increase89. The lack of coverage creased health care service provision, and unregu- is most pronounced among households located in lated e-waste). The lack of public official statistics on slums, where 14.3 % of the households are not cov- agricultural waste, non-hazardous Industrial waste ered by the collection service and in Northern prov- and construction and demolition waste makes it very inces like Santiago del Estero and Formosa that have difficult to assess the full extent of the issue. coverage levels of 62.48 % and 64.04 % respectively 90. Inefficiencies in solid waste collection and disposal impact citizen’s quality of life and affect livability in cities. As the backdrop to most economic and resi- dential activities in the city, an uncleanly and disor- dered environment has a systemic impact on livabil- ity, health, property values, attractiveness for busi- nesses and tourism, and the population’s sense of se- curity. In Argentina, most cities have neighborhoods where open dumping areas are common and efficient 82 Maggiora and Lopez-Silva 2006 street and sidewalk cleaning was one of the poorer rated 83 The waste management hierarchy is an internationally ac- neighborhood characteristics and the degree of cleanliness cepted guide for prioritising waste management practices was a statistically important determinant of neighborhood with the objective of achieving optimal environmental out- satisfaction. comes. It sets out the preferred order of waste manage- 85 National Census 2010 ment practices, from most to least preferred: With avoid- 86 World Bank, 2015. Diagnosis on Solid waste management ance being the most favored (including action to reduce the in Argentina. Only 64,7% of the population is covered by an amount of waste generated by households, industry and all adequate waste disposal system. levels of government) followed by resource recovery (in- 87 Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development cluding re-use, recycling, reprocessing and energy recovery, (SAyDS), 2005. Estrategia Nacional para la Gestión Integral consistent with the most efficient use of the recovered re- de Residuos Sólidos Urbanos. sources) and disposal being the least preferred (including 88 Water supply: 829,000 people without access (2%), Sani- management of all disposal options in the most environ- tation: 1,658,000 people without access (4%), Electricity: mentally responsible manner). (EU 2010) 580,000 people without access (1%). World Bank Develop- 84 Cruces, Ham and Tetaz (IDB, 2010) evaluated 5 neighbor- ment Indicators. hoods in Buenos Aires and found that that overall neighbor- 89 National Census 2001 and 2010 hood satisfaction was a determinant to happiness and that 90 EDSA 2013 and National Census 2010 neighborhood cleanliness played a role. The survey found 38 Figure 19: Solid urban waste by type of disposal Figure 21: Urban households not covered with waste collection by socioeconomic level (SE) Figure 20: Regional waste management characteristics Lack of basic waste collection and disposal services largest absolute number of underserved population. affects disproportionately the poor. There are signif- For people situated mainly in slums the probability of icant regional differences in service provision and not having regular collection service is 5 times higher only 29% of the population in the northern regions than for any other urban citizen92; and the probability has disposal service versus 50% nationally 91. With of having an open dumpsite 3 blocks away or less in- 633,682 people lacking solid waste collection cover- creases 4.5 times93. Even low income households out- age, Greater Buenos Aires is the agglomerate with the side of slums have better access to service (see Figure 91Prepared by the World Bank on the basis of the 2010 Cen- 93 The percentage of households located near open dumps sus, EPH EVAL 2014 and 2010 Nationals. is 8.8% on average for the 31 main urban agglomerates but 92 EDSA, 2010 when taking into consideration only households located in slums the percentage increases to 39.5% (EPH, 2014) 39 21), which highlights the particular challenges of in- of people with a very low socio-economic status live formality and urban layout faced by slums. About 35% close to a dumpsite. Figure 22: Percentage of households with regular waste collection in main Argentine agglomerations Figure 23: Urban households located close to a dumpsite in % according to household characteristics (left) and waste generation by type of waste (right) 40 High amounts of organic waste increase the risk of impact, as source separation is at its incipient phase vectors and are a significant cause of greenhouse gas in most areas and most treatment plants are not run- emissions from landfills. Increased waste production ning at design capacity. and the introduction of new landfills were responsible for about 677 Gg of methane emissions in 2012, a Urban flooding three-fold increase since 1990. About 50% of total waste produced was organic. Food waste is the major Rapid urbanization and inadequate urban develop- source of vectors, odors and greenhouse gas emis- ment are at the root of increasing urban flooding. In sions in the solid waste system. Preliminary estimates contrast to riverine flooding, urban flooding is in most indicate that the amount of food wasted by the aver- cases the result of heavy rainfalls concentrated in age Argentine is 38 kg per year (vs. 25 kg for Latin time and location. For example, in February of 2015 America) and the amount wasted in cities (57-97 kg) Córdoba experienced 320mm (La Nación Newspaper, is getting closer to that of North America and Europe 2015) of rain per m2 within twelve hours, which is (115 kg). In addition, 14.5 million tons of food are lost about three times the average rainfall in February for in the agriculture processing and distribution each the city. With urbanization and the associated paving year. This amounts to 362 kg per person per year and construction of buildings, land areas are trans- which is higher than any region in the World94. formed into impermeable areas where the possibili- There are opportunities to reduce the negative im- ties of drainage are diminished and the water pacts of inefficient waste management through re- amounts in the draining systems and on the street in- cycling and methane capture. Facilities that collect crease95. In addition, when vegetation is replaced by and combust methane from landfills exist in several urban infrastructure the capacity of evapotranspira- landfills in the country and have reduced emissions by tion decreases96. Moreover, artificial barriers that are 5.4% (UNCPB, 2015). Additional reductions in green- intended to protect communities in one location, of- house gas emissions are possible through recycling ten increase the volumes of runoff water for other and composting programs that exist in many parts of communities downstream. the country. There are, however, limitations in their Figure 24: Urbanization and the effects for runoff water Source: EPA 94 Ejercicio de Estimación de Pérdidas y Desperdicios en Ar- time of the runoff decreases to 10 % of its initial value and gentina, Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca, 2016; the volumes increase by 1000 % UNESCO 1987). Inventory of Food Waste Sources- Mar del Plata; Salta and 96 Due to impervious surfaces like pavement and rooftops, Rosario, World Bank, 2016. a typical city block generates more than 5 times more run- 95 If the population density increases from 0.4 habitants per off than a woodland area of the same size (US EPA) hectare to 50 habitants per ha (Buenos Aires average) the 41 Because of their location, large cities like Buenos green and resilient infrastructure; (e) a hydro-mete- Aires or La Plata are particularly vulnerable to flood- orological system for forecast and warning; (f) emer- ing. The two cities are located in the flood-prone, de- gency plans; and (g) infrastructure investments, such pressed Pampa region, which historically has been as primary and secondary drainage systems, pumping filled with small rivers and streams draining into the stations, and retention areas. The ongoing imple- La Plata River basin. Over time, many natural runoff mentation of the HMP has already resulted in signifi- systems have been covered up or "tubed" and are cant improvements in drainage capacity, as well as now blocked, increasing the risk of flooding97. The providing experience for knowledge transfer to other combination of urban flooding and riverine flooding provinces and cities in Argentina. increases the risk manifold. In recent years more than 200 housing developments have been built in the Climate Change99 floodplains of the Parana Delta near Buenos Aires98. These constructions prevent the natural runoff of wa- Climate Vulnerability ter that would cushion the impact of floods, increas- ing the risk of urban flooding in the metropolitan Increasing frequency of extreme climatic events is area. Moreover, these constructions are themselves magnifying environmental challenges and increasing vulnerable to flooding since about 90 percent of the the vulnerability of urban population. Heavier, er- houses were built in floodplains subject to overflow ratic rainfalls increase the probability of urban flood- from rivers and streams (IPS, 2013). ing events particularly where adequate drainage sys- tems and urban planning are lacking or existing sys- Drainage, water storage systems and non-structural tems lack proper maintenance/implementation measures are less expensive ways to manage urban (World Bank 2015). Increasing temperatures are ex- flooding. Measures that are able to increase the per- pected to put more pressure on water supplies in the meability of the surface have proven to be very effec- more water-stressed parts of the country. Coupled tive in preventing urban flooding. Green areas, per- with higher probability of heat wave events, increas- meable pavements or drainage systems can achieve ing temperatures have adverse effects on human such permeability and are ideally able to create an en- health and infrastructure (especially transport and vironment that is equally absorbent as before urban- power), and trigger higher demands for electricity for ization. Artificial barriers on the other hand have the cooling (with a disproportionate negative impact on disadvantage of giving the population a false sense of the poor). This implies, inter alia, additional opera- security. Besides, the water is merely transferred to tional costs to critical public infrastructure like hospi- communities downstream and not absorbed. So tals and schools. Contingent on energy generation called non-structural measures encompass emer- technologies and transport behavior, air pollution gency planning and management, enforced land use may also increase as a secondary effect. planning to avoid settlements in flood prone areas, and increased preparedness via awareness cam- Figure 25: Annual precipitation in mm in Argen- paigns. tina 1955-2007 The Hydraulic Master Plan (Plan Director de Or- denamiento Hidráulico - HMP) prepared in 2004 by the government of Buenos Aires city is providing im- portant experience in comprehensive planning for flood protection. Based on best practices in flood risk management, the HMP takes a basin-wide approach and details a set of nonstructural and structural measures focused on: (a) interagency coordination; (b) urban planning; (c) green-space management; (d) Source: Gosling et al. 2010 97 Scientific American 2013. simply touches upon the main linkages between climate 98 IPS 2013. change, natural resources and environmental manage- 99 It is not in the scope of this CEA to evaluate and address ment. all the challenges related to climate change. This section 42 Annual precipitation and heavy rainfall events have Projections suggest that the country as a whole will increased over the last fifty years, amplifying the risk see an increase in average temperatures and the of flooding. Since 1960 the average annual rainfall in North and Central regions will experience an in- the country increased by 1.9 mm or 3.5% per decade. crease in both rainfalls and temperatures. Until More relevant for flooding, the share of rainfall occur- 2039, temperature will raise by 0.5-1°C, and by 2090, ring in heavy events increased by 1.7% per decade. temperatures in the north of Argentina are projected Sudden and heavy rainfalls are more likely to cause to increase by 4°C on average, while in the south only floods than steady rain with a low intensity. Average by 1.1 °C. Regarding the projected precipitation, it temperatures have not changed over the last several seems safe to assume no significant changes, as the decades although hot nights have become much projected changes are within the margin of error. more frequent. In most of Argentina the temperature Wider and deeper sectoral data and further analysis rose by about to half a degree Celsius between 1960 are required to improve modeling and understanding and 2010, while in Patagonia the temperature in- of different impact scenarios including effects on ag- crease reached 1° C in some areas (SAyDS, 2015b). riculture and landscape. Figure 26: Observed change in temperatures and precipitation between 1960-2010 43 Figure 27: Projected changes in temperature and precipitation for the period of 2015-2039 compared to 1980-2005 Note: Left, change in the average annual temperature comparing the period of 2015-2039 with 1980-2005 based on CIMP5 mod- els. Right, change in the average annual rainfall comparing the period of 2015-2039 with 1980-2005 based on CIMP5 models Source: SAyDS (2015b) Further land degradation might be the consequence sive (feedlots) systems (SAyDS 2015c). As soy cultiva- of climate change because the incentives to convert tion seems to provide even higher yields in the future, pasture and forest land into cropland are increasing land degradation and land conversion are worrisome as the productivity of soy and maize will be even environmental threats. greater in the future. Climate change is likely to alter productivity of agricultural production substantially Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Low Carbon until 2039: the productivity of wheat is projected to decrease by roughly 13%, while the productivity of Growth maize is predicted to increase by roughly 10% (SAyDS 2015c). Conversely, soybeans would benefit strongly Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions have been steadily from the predicted climate changes and the produc- increasing in Argentina and the energy sector has be- tivity would increase by 32.5% to 42.5%, mainly due come the main single contributor. Emissions from to higher water availability during the month of Feb- the energy sector represent 43% of the total GHG ruary100. The effect of climate change on the produc- emissions; the agricultural sector and land-use tion of meat is expected to be very negative for some change and forestry (LULUCF) make up almost half of areas in Corrientes, Formosa, and Chaco and very Argentina’s total emissions (CAIT, 2015). Energy pro- positive for dry areas in the South of Buenos Aires and duction in Argentina is dominated by thermal energy Córdoba, and the North of La Pampa. However, these (60 % of the total) followed by hydropower (35 %). climate change effects occur to a lesser extent in semi Transport, residential, and industrial sectors use each intensive grazing systems (pastoralism with supple- roughly 26 % of the total energy consumption.101 mentation) and practically tend to disappear in inten- 100February is the month with the highest water needs for 101 Ministry of Energy and Mining. soy crops and rainfalls will increases by 50%-70% during this period. 44 Recent high levels of subsidy on energy prices con- Institutions and Policy Framework tributed to high GHG emissions and environmental degradation. Low energy prices disincentivise private and public entities from adopting energy efficiency Institutional Framework102 measures and investing in cleaner sources of energy. They also influence consumers’ behavior as regards Environmental governance in Argentina is multi-lay- heating, cooking, lighting, transport with a combined ered and cuts across federal, provincial and munici- negative effect on the environment, particularly air pal levels. The current environmental governance pollution. structure is based on the distribution of powers be- Figure 28: GHG emissions in Argentina by source tween federal, provincial and municipal governments that was defined in the constitutional reform of 1994. The right of the Provinces to regulate natural re- source use and extraction dates back to 1853 and re- mains a key feature of Argentina’s environmental governance. To ensure a minimum threshold of envi- ronmental protection applicable nationally, the Con- stitutional reform empowered the national congress to enact “minimum standards” 103 while allowing Provinces to enact higher thresholds should they wish. The constitutional reform also included an ex- plicit right to a healthy environment and procedural remedies available to citizens and NGOs when de- fending collective rights. Most environmental regulatory powers are with the Provinces although capacity and budgetary con- A shift towards renewable energy and enhanced en- straints reduce their effectiveness. The 1994 reform vironmental and natural resource management codified Provincial ownership over natural resources could put Argentina on a path towards low carbon and provided the legal basis for most regulatory pow- growth. Future energy needs will have to be increas- ers dealing with natural resource use and environ- ingly met through the development of renewable en- mental protection, including the hydrocarbon depos- ergy (RE). RE generation often relies on the sustaina- its and fisheries within twelve miles of the coastline; ble provision of environmental goods and services – with some exceptions, such as nuclear and hydro- such as a steady flow of water, reliable provision of electric energy, for which regulation is centralized. biomass –as direct production factors. The develop- Devolution of power is common in a federal system ment of RE however can also have much larger im- and offers many benefits in terms of developing local- pacts on the natural environment than conventional ized and tailored solutions to local priorities. None- energy systems, for example in the context of hydro- theless, many provincial and municipal authorities electric developments and associated flooding and al- lack the technical capacity to set adequate thresholds teration of rivers and waterways; or geothermal en- of performance or the financial resources to monitor ergy development and access to forest areas. A low and enforce environmental standards. carbon strategy based on large-scale development of RE would need to fully integrate environmental and The recently established Ministry of Environment natural resources management considerations. and Sustainable Development has a stronger man- 102The institutional framework for environmental manage- 103The nine “minimum standards” in force are laws on: ment is likely to change over several months following the General Environment, Hazardous Materials, Integral Man- 2015 elections and a further institutional review with re- agement of Industrial Waste, Management and Elimina- gard to environment and natural resource management tion of PCBs, Management of Water, Free Access to Public may need to be conducted in the near- to medium-term fu- Environmental Information, Protection of Native Forests, ture. Control of Conflagration Activities, and the Protection of Glaciers. 45 date for policy development but also greater chal- - Prevention and attention to natural emer- lenges to address. Following the general election in gencies and climate-related catastrophes. October 2015, a new Ministry for Environment and Sustainable Development (MAyDS) was created, re- The creation of a ministry of environment and sus- placing the Secretariat of Environment and Sustaina- tainable development signals the increasing atten- ble Development (SAyDS) that was previously under tion that Argentinian policy and decision makers are the jurisdiction of the Chief of the Cabinet of Minis- expected to give to environmental policies. It also ters of the national government. Primary functions of recognizes that sustainable development is about sys- MAyDS include environmental policy development temic transformation of production, consumption, and implementation and management of environ- and behavioral patterns that aim to preserve the mental affairs, including information dissemination, countries’ natural capital. The most immediate chal- relationships with environment-related non-govern- lenge is for the Ministry to define its priorities over mental organizations (NGOs), and national coordina- the full spectrum of environmental issues and align tion with regard to international conventions. While the organizational structure, human capacity and fi- specific priorities and detailed organizational features nancial resources accordingly. Additionally, the Min- of MAyDS are still being developed by the new admin- istry would need to play a stronger role in working istration, the broader competencies have been iden- with provinces and municipalities to address environ- tified and include104: mental management weaknesses at sub-national level. It would also need to reach out to other sectors - Prioritization of environment and sustaina- of the economy and society that play a critical role for ble development objectives, as well as de- long-term environmental sustainability, particularly sign and implementation of public policies to those sectors whose policies (e.g. agriculture, mining, address them; etc.) could be conflicting with the goals of the new - Institutional coordination on environmental ministry. matters; - Administration of environmental public in- Institutional coordination is weak and lacks formal- formation; ized collaboration mechanisms and dedicated re- - Inventory, conservation, restoration and sources. The Federal Environmental Council (CO- sustainable use of renewable and non-re- FEMA) is a mechanism for environmental policy coor- newable natural resources; dination between the Federal and Provincial govern- - Development of environmental land use ments. COFEMA comprises representatives from the planning and environmental quality legal MAyDS and representatives of agencies from the City frameworks; of Buenos Aires and 23 Provinces. Although politically - Promotion of sustainable use of water re- influential, COFEMA lacks formal regulatory powers sources, forests, wildlife and soil preserva- to ensure compliance with its resolutions. Secondly, tion; the absence of dedicated resources to fund CO- - Supervision of the National Parks Admin- FEMA’s mandate has historically inhibited its effec- istration, and regulation and administration tiveness. Thirdly, COFEMA’s mandate is limited by the of national forests, parks, reserves, pro- existence of separate Federal Councils for Mining, tected areas and natural monuments; Fisheries or Agriculture and the absence of an effec- - Promotion of sustainable development of tive coordination and collaboration mechanism that urban settlements; provides a holistic approach to tackle cross-cutting - Environmental control, enforcement and environment and natural resources policy issues such pollution prevention; as disaster risk management or water resource man- - Regulation of the development of biotech- agement. The coordination problem resulting from nology; overlapping mandates is compounded by insufficient - Promotion of new technologies and instru- dedicated resources at the national and subnational ments to protect the environment and ad- level, as well as technical capacity constraints. With dress climate change; the establishment of MAyDS there is the opportunity 104The decree that created the Ministry contains the full description of its competencies. http://www.ambi- ente.gob.ar/?idseccion=6 46 to address legacy governance and capacity gaps and cient use of the resource base and for reducing pollu- establish a robust and dedicated integrated environ- tion - affect the government ability to manage water- mental system sheds more effectively. Some overlaps in oversight of environmental mat- ters exist also in the legislative sphere. The lower Policy Framework Chamber of Deputies and the upper Chamber of the Senate have legislative functions on issues relating to Argentina’s Environmental Management Frame- environment and natural resources through various work is built on constitutional, legislative, and judi- committees, including the Committee on Natural Re- cial action and while institutionally complex, has sources and Conservation of the Human Environment been effective in a number of areas. Chief among (Deputies), and the Committee for Natural Resources them is the Protected Areas agenda, which has under- and Sustainable Development (Senate). Some degree pinned the sustainable development of the tourism of overlap exists with other sectoral and cross-sec- sector through a National Parks system. National pro- toral committees in both chambers including those grams related to climate change, desertification and related to Mining, Energy and Fuels, Economy, Re- urban solid waste management have been, in some gional Development, Agriculture and Livestock, Hous- ways, equally effective, as illustrated by their institu- ing, Land Use, and Tourism. tional continuity over the last two decades. The uni- fying factor for the effectiveness of these individual For the specific case of water resource governance, programs is the availability of dedicated external fi- improvements have been achieved in selected wa- nance from international conventions or multilateral tersheds, but broader institutional challenges per- financial institutions, which served to build up rele- sist. Water quality standards by type of use are clearly vant capacity at an early stage and ensure program- set in the national law on hazardous waste manage- matic continuity in the absence of national resources. ment (in its regulatory decree). However, the ap- proach is not based on the carrying capacity of each The predominant use of “command and control” waterbody and each jurisdiction sets forth the uses policy measures is increasingly accompanied by and limits within its own territory. A notable excep- more effective economic instruments. Argentina’s tion is the Matanza-Riachuelo watershed whose in- environmental governance framework is mostly ter-jurisdictional management authority ACUMAR is “command-and-control”, whereby active state regu- mandated to implement a comprehensive plan of pol- lation is favored over economic-based instruments. lution control and environmental recovery for the ba- While this may be beneficial when regulating a dis- sin. Other inter-jurisdictional basin commissions exist crete number of activities, “command-and-control” but have limited monitoring and enforcement capac- policies are subject to high transaction and enforce- ity. The Sali-Dulce Basin commission, for example, ment costs when applied over a larger scale105. Mar- monitors and reports water quality parameters but ket- or economic-based incentives are generally more the information has not been updated since July effective for environment and natural resources man- 2011. Similar weaknesses affect COMIREC, the Recon- agement and have been successfully used in several quista Basin Commission. Institutional and govern- cases in Argentina, both at national and sub-national ance issues - including an outdated water sector legal level. For example, for water use, many provinces and regulatory framework, limited capacity in water have applied or intend to apply fees and charges management at the central and provincial levels, out- based on consumption to incentivize a more efficient dated procedures for water resources planning, a de- use of the resource. Also, the Native Forest Protection ficient water resources monitoring network and lack Law (26,331) recognizes the concept of payment of of appropriate incentives for conservation and effi- ecosystem services and compensation to landowners to maintain native forests functionality and avoid conversion for agriculture or livestock production. 105The efficiency of individual instruments varies depend- easier to design and implement, especially when used to ing on the specific issue under regulation, although in gen- regulate a discrete number of identifiable and observable eral economic instruments and incentives are considered to sources of potential environmental degradation (for exam- be more efficient, especially when regulating issues at scale ple, outflow from metallurgical industrial operations). (for example, vehicular emissions). Direct government reg- ulation or “command-and-control” instruments are often 47 The hazardous waste charge introduced under the upstream at the design level, but also downstream, 1992 Hazard Waste Law (24,051) was designed as an when it comes to monitoring, evaluation, and en- incentive to reduce high level waste generation and forcement. increase levels of reuse. These approaches could be scaled up nationally or mainstreamed across all Prov- Improved environmental practices and procedures inces. would also enhance the effectiveness and sustaina- bility of policy decision-making. The primary law re- The practical implementation of environmental pol- lated to project Environmental Impact Assessment icies has been increasingly influenced by a series of (EIA) is the General Environmental Law (Ley General judicial actions and decisions, including by the Su- del Ambiente, No. 25675) and the associated Law on preme Court. The Judiciary has played an increasingly Access to Environmental Public Information (Ley de important role in interpreting and mandating practi- Libre Acceso a la Información Pública Ambiental ). cal implementation of environmental legislation, in- There are also additional federal laws related to wa- cluding “minimum standard” legislation enacted pur- ter and waste management, and associated with spe- suant to the 1994 Constitutional Reform and the Gen- cific sectors (for example mining, electricity, oil and eral Environmental Law (No. 25.675), as well as gas, forestry) that include environmental assessment broader issues of institutional transparency in envi- provisions. While the federal environmental frame- ronmental governance. Examples of judiciary inter- work requires that the relevant authorities (provinces ventions include mandating environmental impact as- and sectors) conduct EIAs for projects with significant sessments for mining and forestry projects, and defin- impacts, there are no regulations at the federal level ing the need for restoration of degraded environ- that establish minimum standards for EIAs to guide ments; mandating the establishment of multi-juris- the basic requirements for the use of this instrument dictional watershed management authorities to re- across all provinces and sectors.106 Nevertheless, store, clean up and rehabilitate critical river basin there are instances of non-legally binding application such as the Matanza-Riachuelo river in Buenos Aires; of international good practice in the domestic con- mandating the establishment of performance indica- text: the oil industry, for example, has complied with tors and an information system accessible to all inter- EIA provisions elaborated by the Secretariat of En- ested parties to enhance transparency in environ- ergy107; the mining industry, subject to the Provincial mental management. laws in which they operate; and selected Provinces that have been more proactive than others in requir- However, lack of evidence-based priority setting, ing EIAs. EIA is also a criterion for external multi-lat- multi-year programming and an open stakeholder eral finance, in line with the donor’s operating poli- engagement process limits the effectiveness of envi- cies.108 ronmental policy design, implementation, monitor- ing and enforcement. Currently environmental pol- EIAs in Argentina have largely been used as proce- icy making is not supported by evidence-based prior- dural permitting tools to allow major projects to ity identification and there is no capacity to translate move forward, rather than as tools to guide project priorities into programmatic or multi-year work pro- design through impact assessment and stakeholder grams. This is partly an issue of analytical gaps, partic- buy-in. Compared to international best practice, a ularly data gaps on the extent of environmental deg- number of short-comings are apparent, including (i) a radation across natural resource sectors, which could lack of adequate screening to identify the projects support robust evidence-based policy design. It is also that should be subject to EIA, (ii) limited public partic- a factor of resource constraints in terms of human ipation, (iii) lack of standardized criteria to evaluate and financial capacity at the various levels of policy- the EIA, and (iv) weak monitoring to ensure that the making. It furthermore has to do with stakeholder in- mitigation measures proposed by the EIA are imple- clusion, whereby there are few or ineffective mecha- mented. Another example is the negligible use of nisms in place for groups most impacted by environ- cost-benefit analysis to evaluate proposed interven- mental degradation to engage in policy planning pro- tions and ensure that the social, environmental and cesses in an open and transparent way. These factors financial benefits outweigh the costs. Frequently, combine to impact the effectiveness of policy making 106Argentine Republic’s Environmental and Social Regula- 107 Nonna (2002) INECE Conference Paper tory Framework, World Bank, 2014 108 ibid 48 there is an uneven level of economic and practical jus- compliance. These weaknesses hamper policy effec- tification for the policies to be implemented, or as- tiveness and sustainability of the regulatory frame- sessment of the regulatory impacts for both the pub- work at both national and subnational levels. lic sector in terms of enforcement capabilities and for the private sector in terms of feasibility as regards 49 Public Perception of the Environment (13%) “Noise” and “Lead” (6% each). However, when asked about the main environmental problem that af- and Associated Challenges fects the surveyed people or their families directly, the respondents chose “Solid Waste” (25%), “Air Pol- A large majority of Argentines attributes great im- lution” (24%), “Water Pollution” (16%), “Noise” portance to environment and natural resource man- (14%), while about 10 % chose “Deforestation” 110. In agement for economic development, health and a highly urbanized society like Argentina’s, urban en- wellbeing but see a deterioration of the environ- vironmental problems are much more visible to citi- ment over time. Results from an automatized and zens; it is therefore remarkable that almost a quarter representative telephone survey conducted in No- of the people considers deforestation as the main en- vember, 2015 and a similar survey carried out in 2014 vironmental problem faced by the country and show show that almost 90% of the Argentine citizens be- such a high level of awareness about Argentina’s huge lieve that natural resources are important for the eco- loss of forest cover. The difference in the prioritiza- nomic development of the country, and 91% believe tion of the various issues shows how perception can that pollution and other environmental problems be influenced through communication and the avail- have significant impact on people’s health and well- ability of visual information. On the other hand, prob- being. Citizens have a more positive perception of lems as noise and lead exposure remain almost invis- their local environment than the global environment ible to society, irrespective of the high costs they have (for example their opinion of the status of the envi- on health. ronment in their own town is more positive and less negative than that of the country as a whole, and that There is significant lack of trust in the government of the world). However, when it comes to trends, the when it comes to addressing environmental issues. majority (63%) of the population believe the status of Only 20 % of the respondents trust the national gov- the environment in Argentina has worsened during ernment to solve environmental problems compared the latest years109. to 41% that trust civil society organizations. Noticea- ble also the role of the media (chosen by 13% of the Deforestation, waste management and water pollu- respondents) and the judiciary (8%). Additionally, tion are considered major concerns for the Argen- people seem to be unaware of what governments are tine society while solid waste and air pollution are actually doing to address environmental problems, or perceived to affect people the most. The three most believe what they do is not enough. More than 2/3 of often mentioned main environmental problems were the respondents believe that the national and local “Deforestation” (25%), “Solid Waste” (20%), and governments are doing nothing or little to address en- “Water Pollution” (19%), followed by “Air pollution” vironmental issues. In general, the better educated 109FVSA, 2014 itized in this survey among the main environmental prob- 110It is worth mentioning that the fact that some problems lems faced by Argentina and its citizens or their families, a have not been selected as “the main environmental prob- previous survey conducted the year before, adjudged it to lem”, does not mean that the people don’t care about be at the top of the ranking when it came to the environ- them. For example, although climate change was not prior- mental issues which Argentine citizens “follow more atten- tively” (FVSA, 2014). 50 the participants were, the less positive (and the more main problem, and 12% chose the “insufficient or to- negative) their perception was regarding the im- tal lack of waste collection systems”. portance the environmental issues get in the national government’s political agenda, and regarding how However, current views and opinions on the envi- much the national government is doing to solve the ronment may largely stem from anecdotal evidence environmental problems. Access to internet was also and “hearsay” rather than the analysis of data on the a factor regarding a less positive perception about the state of the environment. For air pollution, more importance given to environmental issues in the na- than 40% of the surveyed indicated that the “inten- tional government’s political agenda. sive use of agrochemicals” was the main issue while more than one third indicated that “pollution from People’s perception and understanding of the factories or industries” was the main problem. As this causes and impact of environmental degradation perception is consistent with the increase in the use may serve as guidance to policy makers on where of agro-chemicals and fertilizer and the increase in more action or better information is needed. Citizens media coverage of alleged cases of poisoning due to seem more aware of the causes and impacts of urban aerial spraying of pesticides close to urban areas, it is environmental issues and less of those affecting the not clear whether this answer is driven by the media rural space. On solid waste management, for exam- or vice-versa. As regards transport, the survey results ple, half of the respondents specified that “people’s indicate that people do not perceive increasing traffic behavior” was the main problem, while 26% indicated as a major environmental concern, although the data the “use of open pit dumps, the abandoned dumps or analysis demonstrated that the number of circulating the wrong management of urban solid waste” as the vehicles has almost doubled during the last decade with significant air pollution and health impacts. Table 3: Results for a public opinion survey on Argentina’s main environmental problems Argentina’s main en- Environmental problems that Who do you trust in How much is the national vironmental problems affect themselves or their solving these issues Gov’t doing to solve these families issues? (Nov 15) Answer In % Answer In % Answer In Answer In % % Deforestation 24.6 Waste management 25.4 NGOs 41 A lot 8 Waste man- 20.3 Air pollution 24.2 Federal Govern- 20 Something 10 agement ment Water pollu- 19.2 Water pollution 16.2 Media 13 Very little 40 tion Air pollution 12.6 Noise 13.6 Justice System 8 Nothing 37 Noise 5.7 Deforestation 9.9 Int’l Organizations 4 No answer 5 Lead pollution 5.7 Lead pollution 4.1 Citizens 4 Extinction of 0.7 Climate change 1.0 The municipality 2 species Climate change 1.2 Land degradation 0.8 Provincial Govern- 1 ment Land degrada- 0.7 Natural disasters 0.6 The opposition 1 tion Natural disas- 0.2 Extinction of species 0.1 ters Others 1.9 Others 1.1 Others 3 No answer 6.6 No answer 3.1 No answer 4 Source: Own survey On water pollution, no single issue stood out and peo- and sanitation systems” to “arsenic contamination”, ple’s opinions varied significantly (from “poor sewage “agrochemicals”, “municipal waste”, etc. Similarly, 51 for deforestation, opinions ranged from “overuse of Figure 29: National Government Spending on En- wood” to “cattle ranching”, “conversion of for- vironmental Management. Composition (2005- estlands to monocultures” to “infrastructu re that 2014) show that land use change (mainly due to the expan- sion of agriculture) is the main driver of deforestation in Argentina. Overall, public opinions provide valua- ble inputs for priority setting, inform the design and implementation of environmental communication strategies and monitor and evaluate on-the-ground results. Public Expenditures for Environment Environmental expenditures in Argentina appear low but show an upward trend. National government spending for Environmental Management accounts for about 1.7% of the total public spending, and about 0.4% of GDP. By way of comparison a conservative More revealing is the trend in environmental spend- estimate puts the cost of environmental degradation ing which increased steadily throughout the last ten at 8.11% of GDP. The level of environmental expendi- years and reached its peak in 2014. The steepest in- ture in Argentina is slightly below the level in other crease occurred in expenditures for environmental Latin American countries with strong environmental management, and water and sanitation in particular management (such as Costa Rica, Mexico and Chile) which account for 0.3% of GDP and are mainly capital and clearly below that of OECD countries. It should be expenses (73%) while the increase in environmental noted that comparisons are difficult to make because protection expenditures was more uneven, contained Argentina lacks disaggregated data. As a conse- and mostly for current expenses. Domestic funding is quence, spending from provinces and municipalities prevalent in both environmental protection (94%) and water and sanitation (83%). have not been included to avoid double counting the transfers from national to local government111; ex- Almost one third of national government environ- penditures made by non-environmental agencies but mental expenditures are for the clean-up of the Ma- related to environment (environmental health, re- tanza-Riachuelo Basin, one third for water supply search and development, marine resource protec- and sanitation and flood control infrastructure, and tion, etc.) are also excluded, providing a somehow only 4% for protection of the ecosystems112. The In- conservative estimates of the expenditure levels. tegrated Cleanup Plan for the Matanza-Riachuelo Ba- sin (PISA)113, established the need to clean the river banks, eradicate and repair the environmental effects 111 Provincial expenditures for water and sanitation and disasters (floods) management amounted to 0.08% of GDP, other urban services was estimated at 0.33% of GDP in and spending connected with environmental health stood 2013. Municipalities spend between 5% and 25% of total at 0.18% of GDP. municipal expenditures on Solid Waste Management 113 The PISA was prepared by a tripartite basin authority (SWM) service. Unfortunately, it is not possible to estimate (ACUMAR) based on a mandate set forth in a Supreme how much of this spending should be included in the cate- Court ruling. Around five million people live in the area of gory of “Environmental Protection Expenditure”. the Matanza-Riachuelo basin which includes three jurisdic- 112 Due to the little information available at the required tions (National Government, Buenos Aires city - CABA - and level of disaggregation the review of public expenditures Buenos Aires Province). High levels of lead in blood were was limited to four areas: deforestation, lead exposure, lack detected in the basin’s area, particularly among children. of water and sanitation, natural disasters. These four areas This is because there are many garbage dumps and areas in accounted for more than 66% of the national total spending which machinery and vehicles have been abandoned and for Environmental Management and 0.26% of GDP in 2013. disassembled, which has led to a high concentration of lead Arranged differently, spending on natural resources and and other heavy metals in the ground. 53 of landfills and abandoned plots of land; relocate fam- only a minor proportion of the amount provided for ilies and provide drinking water and sanitation. In in the law and an indication of chronic underfund- 2013, 29% of the national government budget for en- ing115. vironment was allocated to clean up the pollution leg- acy in this basin, out of which 57% was to upgrade The lack of clearly-defined policy goals and disaggre- slums and expand the drinking water and sanitation gated expenditure data makes it very difficult to infrastructure. About 17% of environmental expendi- evaluate the alignment of environmental expendi- tures targeted water supply and sanitation, mainly tures with environmental priorities. Argentina has through subsidies for the supply of drinking water and not outlined a strategic plan for sustainable develop- sewerage services. Flood control investments ac- ment and has not defined environmental policy goals. counted for 17% of the total environmental expendi- The only “Report on the Status of the Environment” tures at the national level, of which 42% was ear- produced by the National Government in 2012 marked for transfers to the provinces and municipali- (SAyDS, 2012) was published in fulfillment of the an- ties, and 37% for work. nual reporting requirement established by the Gen- Finally, activities addressing deforestation and pro- eral Law on the Environment (Law 25,675). It offers a tection of the ecosystems, and particularly native for- broad range of environmental statistics and indica- ests, accounted for 4% of the national government tors but does not identify the main problems nor does expenditures for environment. These funds were it state the objectives for improvement in the future. mainly targeted to: a) implementation of the Forest It also presents the environmental legal framework Law114 (42%); conservation and management of na- for Argentina but does not offer an assessment of its tional protected areas (41%); and fire management enforcement effectiveness and does not forecast the Figure 30: Public Environmental Expenditure in four areas of interest (17%). It is worth noting that the amount allocated for impact of the surveyed initiatives on the future evo- the implementation of the Forest Law represented lution of environmental issues. Partial information on 114 Law 26,331 – Minimum Standards for the Environmental law; 2014 was allocated $ 230,000,000.00, representing Protection of Native Forests. 5.96% of the total amount stipulated in the law. " 115 According to Resolution No.: 281/2014 from the Federal According to the status of implementation report of Law Environment Council, "the relevant budget national laws 26.331 to July 2014 (SAyDS, 2014), the amounts allocated established funds from: The year 2010 was allocated $ to FNECBN of items assigned by the National Budget to the 94,000,000.00 representing 9.86% of the total amount stip- National Fund for the Enrichment and Natives Forests Con- ulated in the law; The year 2011 was allocated $ servation were: 2010, $ 94,563,095; 2011, $ 230,000,000; 230,000,000.00, representing 6.93% of the total amount 2012, $ 245,467,244; 2013, $ 218,735,000; and 2014, $ stipulated in the law; The year 2012 was allocated $ 222,000,000. 271,331,524.00, representing 6.62% of the total amount stipulated in the law; 2013 was allocated $ 230,000,000.00, representing 5.98% of the total amount stipulated in the 54 environmental priorities can only be acquired from sector was estimated in the order of AR$ 27.5 billion other sources, such as the national budget and stud- pesos in 2013, an amount which doubled the national ies carried out outside government. When national government’s spending under the category of envi- plans and law provisions exist, there is no information ronmental management. Fuel and water supply sub- available on the amounts of resources allocated to sidies118 promoted the use of electricity, fuel and wa- implement them116. ter, and the measures taken to respond to the in- creasing demand fostered the use of more polluting Partial delivery of allocated funds limits environ- sources of energy119. Restructuring electricity and mental expenditure effectiveness and efficiency. At water rates to better reflect costs not only allows a aggregate level, actual environmental expenditures more rational use of the resources, it also releases and programs delivery have been around 70-80%, and funds that can be channeled towards investments the delivery of the integrated clean-up of the Ma- aligned with environmental policy goals, including the tanza-Riachuelo basin has been estimated at only 50- promotion of renewable sources of energy. A neutral 70%117. The overall level of fulfillment of program reform of fiscal revenue that increases electricity goals is monitored as part of the government budget rates to reduce GHG emissions while simultaneously evaluation process and is in line with the rate of de- reducing payroll or labor income taxes has been im- livery at aggregate level; however, at disaggregate plemented in several countries in the last decade and level many programs have difficulty achieving their a half (mainly in Europe), with the aim of improving goals especially if they have established multiple tar- environmental performance and contributing to soci- gets. Partial effectiveness and efficiency would sug- oeconomic development (by reducing distortions gest that oversight and management of expenditures that penalize employment)120. is weak and needs greater efforts to monitor and measure outcomes. Limited efficiency and effective- Identification of Priorities and Budget Al- ness are also the result of dispersion of funds among location different institutions that do not follow any clearly es- tablished strategic priorities in allocating and using With the many prevailing and emerging environ- them. mental management challenges, it will be neces- In addition, the increase in environmental manage- sary for the Government of Argentina to systemize ment expenditures after 2001 due to energy and wa- the approach to assessing their relative importance. ter supply subsidies promoted overuse of scarce re- A systematic, transparent prioritization is an im- sources and increased pollution. Public expenditure portant starting point to inform and accelerate this related to energy subsidies or transfers to the private 116 For example, there is no information available on the oversight of nuclear activities (linked to prevention of tech- amount allocated to implementing the “National Plan of Ac- nological risks); no information about the money allocated tion to Combat Desertification”, and to other actions to to coordination of land use planning and zoning policies, alt- curb soil erosion and degradation; no disaggregated figures hough it is one of the basic instruments of the environmen- allowing an assessment of how much is allocated to the tal policy for preventing other risks. conversion programs for those industries that pollute the 117 Study on Environmental Expenditure in Argentina. Sep- environment and for other sources such as transport, par- tember, 2015. Prepared at the request of the World Bank ticularly as regards air polluting emissions; no information for Oscar Cetrángolo, Martina Chidiak, Javier Curcio and Ve- on public spending for hazardous or household waste man- ronica Gutman. agement (which is mainly managed at the municipal level) 118 Distortions in the rates paid by users of the drinking wa- since there are no consolidated statistics on municipal ex- ter and sewer, electricity, and fuel for public transport ser- penditure; no information about the amount specifically vices, especially in Buenos Aires City and 24 districts in Bue- targeted to protecting fish stocks, and the implementation nos Aires Province (located in the areas surrounding the city of the “National Action Plan to prevent, discourage and and lodging 1/3 of the country’s inhabitants). eliminate illegal fishing”; no information on the amount as- 119 Argentina has started to import fuel with high Sulphur signed to enforcing the “Law on Glaciers”116 which calls for contents, thus introducing the problem of acid rain which an inventory of glaciers in all provinces along the Andes did not exist before, particularly in the areas surrounding mountain range; no amount assigned to follow-up, evaluate electric power plants near the downtown district of Buenos and control the environmental impact of extractive indus- Aires city. tries, such as hydrocarbons or mining, and large infrastruc- 120 OECD, 2001 ture works; no information on spending for regulation and 55 process, especially providing a basis for discussion the cases of deforestation and air pollution, this pub- and exchange among political and interest groups. lic perception of concern coincides with estimates of Using a simple “traffic-light” approach where three significant costs to society, whereas for waste man- different color codes (green, yellow, red) represent agement and water pollution these costs have either different levels of importance of different parame- not been estimated, or are relatively smaller. 121 ters of environmental challenges, table 4 exemplifies Prioritization is necessary to align management chal- such a simple though effective prioritization ap- lenges with budget allocations and institutional ca- proach. It should be noted that given the analytical pacities.122 In this regard, the analysis indicates that boundaries of the CEA as regards sectoral considera- public expenditures do not always align with the key tion, not all possibly relevant sectors are included in environmental issues identified on the basis of citi- this exemplified prioritization exercise. zens’ perception of important areas of intervention and costs to society. While significant resources are With a changing economic, social, and environmen- allocated to address water pollution, which is an issue tal context, the relative importance of environmen- of significant concern, relatively smaller amounts are tal management challenges are expected to alter allocated to tackle deforestation and waste manage- correspondingly. To a large extend, the prioritization ment, and air pollution in particular suffers from a is a political process, where different groups and dearth of funding. At the same time, it should be stakeholders are likely to place different weights on noted however that budget alignments and policies in different environmental issues. However, a system- other sectors may have a strong impact on the envi- ized approach and presentation of the arguments ronment; in particular, policies in the transport sector that lead to the prioritization results will enhance the may have strong impact on urban air pollution. Based substance on which a political discourse can be built on this analysis, deforestation, air pollution and waste on. With this in mind, the exemplified prioritization as management are identified as key areas for action, to- presented in Table 3 first ranks those issues identified gether with a concerted effort for data collection to in the citizens’ survey described above as being of improve targeting of resources for environmental highest national or personal concern, and then ranks management. those estimated to impose higher costs on society. In 121The cost of land degradation measures the loss of value 122 The cost of river flooding represents 49% of the cost To- due to deforestation as a major factor, along with the con- tal annual natural disasters (0.7% of GDP), while the cost version the scrubland, grassland, farmland, moors and for- urban flooding means 46%. ests biome in less valuable (Bouza et al., 2016). 56 Table 4: An Approach to Prioritization of Environment and Natural Resource Management Issues Environmental Public Perception Costs to Society123 Public Expenditure Current situation Future issue Major issue for Argen- Annual costs 4 % of federal environ- High deforestation Enforcement of for- Deforestation 0.74% of GDP tina ment budget rate vs. forest law est law is crucial Major issue for Argen- Annual costs No federal funds allo- Very high levels in Urbanization and Air Pollution tina and people 1.84% of GDP cated or no infor- large cities vs. low higher income mation available levels in small towns Major issue for Argen- Not surveyed 5-25% of total munici- Millions remain un- Amounts of waste Waste Manage- tina and people pal expenditure served vs. better are increasing vs. ment than LAC average coverage is easier in urban areas Major issue for Argen- Annual costs 0.4% 46 % of federal envi- Improvement in Available data does Water Pollution tina and people of GDP ronment budget Riachuelo vs. still pol- not allow prediction luted Land degrada- Not regarded as major Annual costs No federal funds allo- Conversion of forests Policies favoring agri- tion environmental issue for 3.56% of GDP cated or no infor- and grazing land into cultural expansion as Argentina and its people mation available cropland threat Not regarded as major Annual costs No federal funds allo- Poverty increases ex- Available data does Lead Pollution environmental issue for 0.91% of GDP cated or no infor- posure to lead not allow prediction Argentina and its people mation available Arsenic Pollu- Regarded as substantial Severe health im- No federal funds allo- High levels only in Cleaner surface wa- tion factor for water pollu- pacts (skin lesions cated or no infor- some regions ter could replace ar- tion and cancer) mation available senic groundwater Regarded as substantial Severe health im- No federal funds allo- widely used (e.g. Trend is so far de- Agro-Chemicals factor for AIR pollution pacts and water cated or no infor- glyphosate) vs. still creasing pollution mation available below world average Not regarded as major Annual costs 17 % of federal envi- Increasing occur- Urbanization and Urban Flooding environmental issue for 0.32% of GDP ronment budget rence with large constant high precip- Argentina and its people damages itation Riverine Flood- Not regarded as major Annual costs 17 % of federal envi- Increasing occur- Constant high precip- ing environmental issue for 0.34% of GDP ronment budget rence itation Argentina and its people Note: Each environmental problem was evaluated by deciding on what seemed to be seriously problematic (red), somewhat problematic (orange), not too problematic (green), and no statement possible (no color). The ordering of the table does not reflect a set order of priorities. 123Data prepared by the World Bank as part of "An Economic Assessment of Environmental Degradation in Argentina ": Bjorn Larsen, John Magne Strukova Skjelvik and Elena Golub, 2015 (unpublished). For more details see also Annex C. 57 The time is ripe for the environment and natural re- financial and human resources available to the minis- sources sector in Argentina to turn over a new leaf. try. Second, as demonstrated in this CEA, the power The newly elected government has already taken sev- of the new institutional set-up will need to extend be- eral steps to strengthen its environmental agenda yond the federal level as there are many aspects of and elevate environment and natural resource man- environment and natural resource management that agement integration into political and economic deci- need to be addressed and managed at sub-national sion making. The government has also taken con- levels including municipalities (e.g. solid waste man- crete actions towards policy changes that are imme- agement). Backed by its elevated mandate, the min- diately impacting environmental management and istry will need to play a convening role and embrace degradation in various forms. This proactivity and various levels of the public administration as well as openness to change will create opportunities for im- other ministries and sectors. Civil society groups and proving the current status of environmental manage- business and industrial organizations will also need to ment in the country – but also new challenges. The be included in the new dialogue. findings of this CEA can inform the change process by providing a consolidated (although partial, due to A core challenge to the new ministry will be the in- public information constraints) analysis of the state of terpretation of its role in an environment of eco- the environment in Argentina and its associated gov- nomic transition and restructuring. If, for example, ernance system. By enhancing the knowledge about Argentina continues to build on the exploitation of its environmental issues and natural resource manage- natural resources for economic growth and develop- ment challenges, the CEA intends to inform the policy ment the government would need to provide an ef- dialogue, prioritize actions, and facilitate decision fective and efficient regulatory framework that safe- making. guards environmental concerns while facilitating the achievement of its broader societal development ob- A New Political Mandate jectives. The ministry of environment has to become a trusted partner that other sectors within and out- side government can turn to for the joint develop- One of the first actions of the new government was ment and implementation of solutions that will make to raise the political and institutional profile of the Argentina a clean, green, and resilient country for all. environmental agenda by establishing a Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development . This Accession to the OECD is on Argentina’s political important step was one of the key recommendations agenda and could serve as an outstanding oppor- emerging from the CEA institutional analysis. The very tunity for the ministry to scale up its work. As expe- challenge of this new institutional set-up will now be rience from other countries shows, one of the core to match it with effective and efficient organizational though most challenging elements of the OECD acces- reforms that respond to the issues and priorities set sion process will be to elevate environment and nat- forth in this CEA, among others. It will be important ural resource management standards to OECD levels. to translate the de jure reinforcement of the environ- This process often requires significant reforms of the mental mandate into de facto implementation, re- environmental governance framework and may im- sults, and impact. First and foremost this will be con- tingent on the allocation and proper administration of 57 pact many other sectors that are politically and eco- and behavioral patterns. These environmental poli- nomically very important for spurring growth and de- cies can have a transformational effect if they focus velopment. Many reforms may be met with opposi- on environmental quality, reducing negative environ- tion, making the accession process lengthy, costly, mental health impacts, strengthening natural re- and demanding. sources capital, and promoting innovation. The con- clusions summarized in this chapter are based on the The new mandate will also come with extended re- best evidence that could be mobilized to describe the sponsibilities. Part and parcel of the ministry’s man- country’s underlying environmental concerns, the date is the responsibility to comprehensively em- cost of environmental-health damage, and its impact brace all environmental issues. The brown environ- on economic growth and citizens’ perception. ment agenda – extractives, pollution, and waste man- agement – in particular is very challenging and should The new ministry will have to demonstrate a clearer be of highest priority. Further, a ministry needs to commitment to environmental stewardship, respon- proactively use its new mandate to develop new ar- sible natural resource management and sustainable eas of engagement. For example, serving as a facili- development. Environmental challenges and associ- tator of renewable energy development and invest- ated externalities are likely to undermine the basis of ments by offering water(shed), biomass, land man- economic growth and sectors, such as agriculture and agement and impact management solutions. This forestry, which support vital economic and environ- would, in fact, also align with the ministry’s mandate mental functions. The central finding of this CEA is to lead the dialogue on Climate Change, both nation- that deforestation, air pollution, and poor ally and internationally. wastewater management are threat to agricultural productivity, human health, flood prevention and The Opportunity of Institutional Reforms control and biodiversity. They are key areas that should be addressed in the near future. The implementation of environmental policies in an The impacts of environmental degradation affect advanced economy such as Argentina may require human health and decrease economic opportunities further institutional reforms beyond the establish- of the poor. Unlike other structural changes, environ- ment of a Ministry of Environment, in particular to mental policy reforms would need to be tailored to reinforce licensing and enforcement functions. address challenges that cut across various sectors and Given the increasing complexity of environmental have broader socioeconomic effects. For example, in- challenges across an increasing amount of sectors dustrial scale agriculture – while providing important and themes, a division of roles and mandates regards income opportunities for Argentina at large, lead to regulatory (policy design and evaluation) and execu- deforestation, flooding, and soil erosion and degrada- tive/enforcement powers within a governance struc- tion. The related extensive and possibly improper ture might become necessary. The implementation use of agro-chemicals cause environmental health of modern environmental policies often requires the hazards along its entire use chain: transport, applica- establishment of an executive arm within national en- tion, storage, and disposal. vironmental governance. In that regard, and in sup- port of their aims, environmental agencies commonly Increasingly important for the environmental degra- act as an operating authority, and a licensing author- dation agenda in Argentina are urban environmental ity. They commonly bundle agencies that had been issues. The loss of value due to poor air quality, un- created prior to address specific, individual environ- treated waste, urban floods, and associated disease mental management issues, for example regulatory and mortality are not (yet) calculated in the standard functions within a specific watershed. definition of the GDP. The economic impacts of envi- ronmental degradation go beyond annual GDP loss. As the public opinion survey of this CEA demon- Environmental health-related illnesses are now the strated, and in line with OECD accession require- top 4 ranked illnesses in Argentina measured in YLL ments, environmental issues need to receive in- due to premature death. Other impacts of pollution creasing attention from Argentine policy and deci- related environmental degradation are lower produc- sion makers, recognizing that sustainable develop- tivity, higher health service expenses crowding out ment is about a profound change of policies that drive other household investments, and decreased cogni- systemic transformation of production, consumption, 58 tive and learning abilities among children with life- growth and result in physical depletion of capital long effects for the individual and the economy as a stock and natural assets. Investing in preventing nat- whole. Limited by poor data quality and availability, ural disasters that are linked to environmental degra- a COED analysis for air pollution estimates costs com- dation, and reducing the vulnerability of poor popula- parable to about 3% of GDP in 2012. tions would take Argentina on a path to economic The benefits of deregulation in the agricultural and growth that is socially and environmentally sustaina- extractives sectors should be adequately weighed ble. Various measures could increase the adaptation against the repercussions on the environment and capacity to natural disasters, such as reducing forest public health. There is a risk that the cost of environ- loss, combating soil erosion, better planning of hu- mental degradation could fall disproportionately on man settlements and land use, and introducing post- certain populations, low-income groups, and house- disaster coping mechanisms for poor people. The im- holds and localities that depend on local natural re- mediate focus would be to improve coordination at sources. In addition to the toll on children’s health the institutional level, improve weather hazard early and developmental abilities, many studies found that warning systems and response to drought-affected the vulnerability to air pollution is higher for poor farmers. people. In Argentina, slum populations are more ex- posed to waste pollution as they reside often close to Argentina needs policy changes to foster the social open dumpsites. To address the health risks of high- monitoring and better governance of environmental risk groups, policy interventions such as those aiming assets in time and place (such as land resources, for- to decrease air pollution, enforce quality waste man- est stock, mineral resources, and biodiversity), and agement, control water pollution, and bolster educa- reduce direct pollution impacts that may influence tion and awareness are more than necessary. Yet, human health and environmental quality (e.g., air such policies might not suffice as policies in other sec- quality and access to basic environmental services). tors also influence environmental outcomes. For ex- Such policies would guide a transition to a more resil- ample, policies in the transport sector could have ient and cleaner economy and present economic op- strong impacts on urban air pollution. Likewise, agri- portunities that contribute to sustainable growth. cultural expansion could create higher deforestation Many implementation mechanisms and resources for or more waste in rural areas. reconciling environmental sustainability with eco- nomic growth and social improvements are yet to be Linking Environmental Stewardship with put in place. Growth and Economic Development Current policies need strengthening and realign- ment across economic sectors to take account of the Poor groups, who lack access to decision-making loss of natural capital and the human health cost. Fo- processes, are most vulnerable to the effects of nat- cusing on selected policy measures can help reduce ural disasters, as they have limited adaptive capac- forest depletion, land degradation, and air pollution ity. Particular attention to increasing the adaptive and simultaneously influence behavioral change; a capacity of the bottom 40% would help to reduce win-win approach. Raising the importance of environ- the shock effects on the economy. Natural disasters mental protection by linking it to economic develop- affect the population all along the income distribu- ment and well-being would create more opportuni- tion, but mostly poor populations in the lowest quin- ties for the integration of environmental manage- tiles of income and consumption since they often re- ment and climate change mitigation and adaptation side in flood prone areas that are cheaper or not oc- measures in the country’s development agenda. cupied. Enforced land-use planning and management could prevent such unnecessary high exposure to Strengthening the effectiveness of environmental flood risks by regulating the informal settlements and policy would require resources to help neutralize the providing secure alternatives, but also by supporting negative ecological consequences of economic activ- the management of water run-off and infiltration ities that undermine the natural resource base. Total from the upper parts of the catchments. national (federal) spending for environment amounts to an average of 1.7% of federal government spend- In the absence of interventions to improve environ- ing. Expressed as a percentage of GDP, the national mental quality or mitigate natural disasters, there (federal) public environmental expenditure amounts are significant risks that could undermine economic to 0.4% of GDP. Given the amount of environmental 59 problems that Argentina has to solve, budget re- challenges and needs, based on an explicit prior- sources fall short of what is needed to combat envi- itization. ronmental degradation. Aligning environmental ex-  Policy reforms need to go hand in hand with the penditures with policy priorities and areas of major institutional reforms and should also include a concern such as air quality, deforestation, solid waste wider environmental agenda than before, espe- management is a key for achieving sustainable out- cially addressing urban and industrial environ- comes. Steps to align environmental policy and prac- mental degradation. tice with international norms and standards as well as  OECD accession would require these reforms as combine environmental and economic levers to influ- a prerequisite to meet OECD standards and ence polluters’ behavior should be among the priori- should serve as a catalyst for such a reform pro- ties. cess.  The momentum of the ongoing institutional re- The Way Forward form process may be used to reinforce licensing and enforcement functions, for example through Based on the results of the CEA, an indicative list of establishment of an executive arm within na- recommendations has been developed for govern- tional environmental governance. ment action. This list could serve as a blue print for  Initiate capacity building for environmental sta- addressing the issues studied in the CEA and could tistics to ensure accuracy of data collection of en- further benefit from a cost-benefit and distributional vironmental monitoring, including for reporting analysis of the actions, as a follow-up to the CEA in to meet regional and international conven- order to prioritize, determine their sequence and al- tions—national statistics offices can be trained to locate sufficient resources. These actions, if imple- improve measurement and provide information mented consistently, could reinforce the sustainabil- on the potential for using the U.N. System of En- ity profile of Argentina in a positive way. vironmental-Economic Accounting.  Strengthen the basis for policy development by adopting the methods and definitions used to Improve the Collection, Management, and Ac- generate green accounts, in which monetary val- cessibility of Data on the Environmental and Nat- ues are attributed to natural capital and biologi- ural Resources cal resources.  Establish comprehensive environmental data col- Improve air quality management lection and monitoring systems, for example real time collection of air quality data in urban areas,  Strengthen the current system of air quality mon- water quality monitoring, or data on deforesta- itoring by expanding air quality monitoring pa- tion and land degradation. rameters/pollutants where the highest health  Improve associated data management system to impacts are observed; for example, break down ensure a comprehensive and integrated manage- TSP emission monitoring into PM2.5 and PM10; ment and analysis of environmental data. introduce continuous monitoring for lead rather  Ensure transparency of environmental data, for than monthly averages of discrete 20-minute example through its publication on (government) measurements; monitor ground-level ozone at websites and online databases. more stations in cities.  Facilitate the usability of environmental data, for  Reestablish a fiscally neutral (from a public fi- example through websites and mobile apps re- nance point of view) annual vehicle technical in- porting real time air quality, possibly integrated spection system (emissions characteristic) with with hydro-met data reporting (weather reports) the necessary diagnostic equipment and tech- nical staff; reintroduce vehicle registration and li- Adapt Institutional Capacity and Scale-up Man- censes to encourage adherence to emission date standards and improvement of air quality.  Reform the current system of pollution charges  The new ministry needs to implement an organi- for air, water, and generation of waste by intro- zational structure embracing a wider range of en- ducing meaningful economic incentives. vironment and natural resource management 60  Assess options to combine air quality policy with to avoid further deforestation or forest degrada- carbon emission reduction policy, e.g. through tion. innovative licensing and carbon pricing mecha-  Set national standards for Forest Law-related nisms. public information.  Promote the implementation of existing instru- Improve solid waste management ments, designed to benefit the poorest forest- dependent communities.  Better define and quantify waste management Increase Resilience to Climate Change and Natu- issues and proposed solutions: Updating the Na- ral Hazards tional Plan for Solid Waste Management. Com- pleting the Provincial Plans for all provinces in the  Improving environmental management is one of country. the best adaptation strategies to manage climate  Improve financial sustainability: Improving tariff risks, and efficient measures to achieve Argen- setting through provincial guides and norms to tina’s Nationally Determined Contributions cover additional services. Undertaking a Value (NDCs) through the sustainable management of Chain Study for Recycling. natural resources are key to facilitating the tran-  Bolster the institutional framework: Developing sition to a low-carbon economy. implementing rules and regulations for the “Ley  Address urban flooding through and integrated de Presupuestos Mínimos” for Solid Waste (Ley urban-watershed management approach. 25.916). Developing solid waste laws for all  Provide tools – or the enabling environment for provinces. private sector provision – for mitigating adverse  Strengthen vertical coordination: Strengthen the effects on production, such as agricultural pro- technical assistance programs for provinces and duction risk insurance, but also enhance hydro- municipalities. met data availability to enhance adaptive capac-  Mainstream land-use planning in the design of ities of agricultural production vis-à-vis climate developing policies: Incorporating solid waste variability. landfill locations as part of the planning process.  Likewise, expand the index-based disaster insur-  Initiate a systematic consultation process at the ance system for flood/flash flood and mudflows regional and municipal level with public authori- to protect the most vulnerable parts of the pop- ties and civil society: Updating the National Plan ulation. for Solid Waste Management.  Develop innovative polices and implement ena- bling frameworks for financing mechanisms that Address deforestation target GHG emissions across sectors.  Enhance the monitoring of GHG emissions  While the Forest Law provides a good regulatory through the establishment of inventories. framework for addressing natural forest manage- ment, specifically deforestation, there is a need Which policies and actions are the most effective, to better enforce compliance with its require- economically efficient, administratively feasible, ments and to provide additional financial sup- and politically acceptable to resolve Argentina’s cur- port, and monitor the achieved impacts. rent environmental degradation problems? Coun-  Establish a broader dialogue on the costs and tries that have addressed similar problems and im- benefits of agricultural expansion to clarify the proved environmental management systems have trade-offs in land-use decision-making, as well as created an enabling governance framework through the other negative externalities of industrial agri- coordination and cooperation among various stake- culture, especially in the light of the need to pro- holders and through clear regulatory mandates. In- vide economic opportunities for the 90% of the centives for behavioral changes need to be supported population living in urban areas. by strong implementation mechanisms and regular  Gradually expand and consolidate the effective evaluation. Successful strategies to mitigate environ- management of the zones dedicated to conser- mental degradation have to incorporate quantitative vation and sustainable use under the forest law, targets in the national laws and programs across sec- tors. Argentina should take advantage of the interna- tional cooperation and financing that can be a major 61 source for transfer of new environmental manage- knowledge of clean development. The OECD acces- ment “know-how,” efficiency improvements, and sion agenda should provide new and catalytic mo- ment to such a process. 62 Annex A: Exploring Forest-Poverty Linkages in northern Argentina – A preliminary econometric analysis Between 2001 and 2014 Argentina lost ca. a favorable exchange rate. The literature mentions 50,000km² of forest areas, which is about the size the introduction of transgenic soy in 1997 (Roundup of the Province Jujuy or Costa Rica. In Northern Ar- Ready soybean) as a major reason for soy expansion gentina 45,000km² were lost over the same period. in Argentina. It came up as a solution for weed con- The question is what caused such high levels of de- trol - one of the biggest challenges in farm manage- forestation? ment (Pengue 2005). Production costs prior to 1997 were approximately US$ 245 ha, but in 1997 they Researchers find that deforestation in northern Ar- dropped to US$ 220 ha with the introduction of gentina is in large part driven by expansion of soy glyphosate-resistant transgenic cultivars (Grau et al. and cattle production (Piquer-Rodríguez et al. 2005). Since roundup ready has not been patented 2015; Grau et al. 2005; Zak et al. 2008). Forest areas in Argentina, prices are lower than in other coun- are transformed into crop or pastureland. Defor- tries, which gives Argentina an additional compara- estation rates in 2000–2010 were up to three times tive advantage on the input costs (Tomei and higher than in the 1980s according to Piquer- Upham 2009). Another reason for the soy expansion Rodríguez et al. (2015). Argentina’s soy production were certainly the increased world market prices for increased by more than 400 % between 1990 and soy due to higher demand for soy as livestock feed 2014. The area dedicated to soy production in- and biofuel (McAlpine et al. 2009). During the creased almost threefold over the same period. 1980’s and 1990’s the world market price for soy These developments in the soy sector are displayed has been rather constant (see Figure 32). Locally, in Figure 31. Some authors say that Argentina “en- the demand for biofuel has been further spurred by gineered a soy revolution over the past 15 years” actions of the Argentine government in 2007, when (Mathews and Goldsztein 2009) ley 26 093 to promote biofuels was approved. The Figure 31: Development of world market soy Biofuels Law provides a mix of tax breaks and blend- prices ing quotas, or mandates, to act as stimulus for the biofuels industry124. (Mathews and Goldsztein 2009). The introduction of zero-tillage in Argentina opened areas previously closed to annual crops be- cause of water restrictions. Soils under zero-tillage have a higher infiltration rate and water storage ca- pacity and lower runoff losses than tilled soils (Zak et al. 2008). Between 1991 and 2008 the area under zero-tillage increased from 300,000ha to 22 million ha (Trigo et al. 2009). Such advancements con- verted previously pristine land into potentially pro- ductive land and it is likely that farms expanded to- wards areas where land was less expensive125. Among the factors enabling the expansion of soy are the introduction of transgenic soy, the applica- tion of zero-tillage, higher world market prices and 124The law calls for mandatory blends of 5 percent bio- jects associated with biofuels; income tax on biofuels pro- diesel and 5 percent bioethanol by 2010. In terms of tax duction activities; and fuels excise. There are also direct breaks, the new law provides exemption from several subsidies paid to spur investment. taxes, including Value-Added Tax on capital goods pro- 125 For example one ha in northern Cordoba cost US $270 compared to US $2058 per ha in the Pampas region in 1990 (Zak et al. 2008). 63 Figure 32: Distribution of soy cultivation areas and total tree cover loss in Argentina (2002-2014) Finally, Argentina improved its competitiveness The role of cattle ranching with the departure from a 1:1 peg to the US-Dollar in 2001 (convertibilidad) and the subsequent pro- Argentina was and still is known for its beef pro- nounced devaluations of the Argentine Peso. duction and consumption. However, over the last These exchange rate changes made Argentine ex- years the importance of cattle ranching has de- ports much cheaper and increased the incentives creased, especially internationally. Within the beef for farmers to produce to export goods like soy in- exporting countries Argentina is only ranked on po- stead of other locally consumed primary products sition 12 behind Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay (e.g beef). The increasing importance of soy produc- (United States Department of Agriculture, 2016). tion in Argentina is also reflected in Argentinian ex- Not long ago Argentina was the third largest ex- ports. Today soy products constitute the largest porter of beef worldwide. share of Argentinian exports and represent ca. 28% The reason behind the decline in production and of all exports and Argentina is the third largest ex- exportation are very likely export restrictions. In porter of soy after the US and Brazil (FAOSTAT 2015) 2006 the Argentine government implemented ex- Figure 33 shows that tree cover loss is most pro- port restriction on beef in order to keep the local nounced in regions where soy cultivation is also prices low. The restrictions included a 180 days ex- concentrated – mainly Santiago del Estero, Salta, port ban on beef and an increased export tax of 15% and Chaco. Between 2002 and 2014 the highest rel- (from 5%). As a consequence cattle ranching be- ative increase in soy cultivation area were reported came less attractive and ranches have apparently in the provinces of Corrientes and Jujuy (and La reduced its production. Pampa)126. Again these regions have a large record In general, agricultural production seems to be of deforestation, too. shifting away from beef production towards soy production. Figure 33 contrasts the tendencies in the soy production and cattle production. (The in- tersection of the two lines is arbitrary and allows no 126The increase was measured as („soy cultivation area in 2014“-„soy cultivation area in 2002“)/“soy cultivation area in 2002“. 64 causal interpretation because it depends on the hypothesis, we run an ordinary least square (OLS) scale of both variables.) This tendency is not only of and a fixed-effects regression of the tree cover loss concern for cattle ranchers or because soy expan- in northern Argentine on the harvested area in the sion drives deforestation. From an environmentally region. All of the following analysis should be con- point of view monoculture cultivation (e.g. soy) is sidered with caution as small sample sizes and the more harmful for the environment and the biodiver- lack of adequate control variables might bias the re- sity than pasturing. sults. Figure 33: Opposing trends – soy and beef pro- If the hypothesis is correct the effect of harvested duction in Argentina between 2000 and 2014 area should be positive and significant because de- forestation enabled production. Harvested area is modeled with four different time lags to account for the fact that deforestation and soy harvest might not take place in the same year as the conversion from a deforested area into cropland is not immedi- ate. We also control for maize, wheat and sun- flower, which are other important crops in Argen- tina. In a next step we analyze whether changing crop prices induce tree cover loss. Results are shown in Table 6. For all analyzed crops we find that current prices have a positive and significant effect on current deforestation. In contrast to crop In light of the presented data it appears necessary prices, beef prices are never statistical significant to verify if trees in northern Argentine were re- and seem not to be the driver of deforestation. moved to cultivate soy or not. In order to verify this shows that, as expected, deforestation is signifi- cantly and positively associated with an increase in soy cultivation throughout all examined time lags, yet, the most pronounced effects occur two years after the deforestation. The effect for other crops is fundamentally different: In some cases the effect is negative and about twenty times larger (e.g. sun- flower) or mixed and about the same size (e.g. maize). Only for soy we can derive a clear and con- sistent relation throughout all periods. This is an in- dication that farmers switched from other crops to soy and also that deforestation was foremost driven by soybean cultivation and not by other crops. In a next step we analyze whether changing crop prices induce tree cover loss. Results are shown in Table 6127. For all analyzed crops we find that cur- rent prices have a positive and significant effect on current deforestation. In contrast to crop prices, beef prices are never statistical significant and seem not to be the driver of deforestation . 127The small sample size is a serious threat to validity. conclusions at provincial level. Better data could help to Since prices are world market prices we can only analyze improve the robustness of these results and remain a task the effect on aggregate for Argentina and not derive any for future research. 65 Table 5: The effect of agricultural cultivation on tree cover loss in northern Argentina (1) (2) (3) (4) Tree Cover Loss in Northern ARG t t-1 t-2 t-3 Harvested Soy area 0.137*** 0.152 *** 0.187*** 0.124*** (0.016) (0.023) (0.025) (0.030) Harvested Sunflower area -0.091 -2.057*** -2.499*** -2.431*** (0.395) (0.537) (0.597) (0.602) Harvested Wheat area 0.179*** 0.118 -0.094 0.017 (0.056) (0.076) (0.077) (0.073) Harvested Maiz area -0.079* 0.043 0.106* 0.221*** (0.040) (0.057) (0.062) (0.071) Constant -1249.708 753.078 -636.549 -3498.912 (5142.046) (7061.349) (7147.485) (6654.048) Observations 76 74 73 72 2 Adjusted R 0.915 0.845 0.833 0.840 Northern ARG include: Salta, Jujuy, Formosa, Chaco, Tucuman, Santiago del Estero, Corrientes, Misiones & Catamarca Standard errors in parentheses * p < 0.10, ** p < 0.05, *** p < 0.01 Ex-ante we would have expected to find an even cover loss and control for a one year lag in crop stronger relation for lagged prices on current defor- cultivation129. We would expect harvested soy area estation, because it seems unlikely that farmers are and/or the soy price to have a positive and signifi- able to react immediately to price changes. Surpris- cant impact on the tree cover loss. In fact, we see ingly, lagged effects are not statistically significant, in column 1 that these two variables have the ex- yet still positive. A possible explanation for the price pected signs and the harvested soy area variable is responses is that prices and tree cover losses are the only significant variable alongside with har- annual averages and farmers might respond with a vested wheat area. In column 2 we use the “fu- delay of only a couple of months, which appears in ture” harvested crop area (forward lag) instead of the data as an immediate response. Beef prices the current crop area to model that it needs time might not be relevant for deforestation because to transform a recently deforested area into most of Argentine beef is consumed in Argentina cropland. In this regression the harvested crop and not exported and we only use international area variables are all insignificant130. Yet, soy beef prices. price is the only significant predictor in this set- ting, which once again suggests that soy cultiva- For further verification of our hypothesis that soy tion drives deforestation. cultivation was a driver of deforestation in Argen- tina, we run two panel data regressions, using As a robust test in column 3 we run the regression provincial fixed-effects128. In the first two columns in the “opposite direction”. We want to know if tree of we regress several explanatory variables on tree cover loss, crop prices or general agricultural suita- bility (measured through harvested area of 128 Fixed-effects allow to control for unobservable varia- 129 Ideally, we would have wanted to include the number bles like cultural factors or difference in business prac- of cows per provinces as well, but these numbers were tices across companies; or variables that change over only available for some years at provincial level. Better time but not across entities (i.e. national policies, federal data could help to improve the robustness of these re- regulations etc.). It accounts for individual heterogeneity sults and remain a task for future research. and thereby circumvents one source of bias in OLS-re- 130 Soy area is now negative, yet, given its very low value gressions. and insignificance this variable can be disregarded 66 Table 6: Fixed-effects regression to explain tree cover loss in Argentina (1) (2) (3) Tree cover loss Tree cover loss Soy area Harvested soy area 0.010* (0.006) Harvested maize area -0.024 1.096*** (0.016) (0.177) Harvested wheat area 0.029** -1.532*** (0.012) (0.094) Tree cover loss 1.530* (0.895) Beef price -3739.400 10923.876 -5.25e+04 (5121.732) (8784.059) (62466.005) Soybean price 86.156 123.705** 219.276 (53.677) (55.615) (659.364) Wheat price (US_HRW) 14.007 110.230 640.944 (69.286) (81.772) (844.193) Maize price 11.236 -197.701 -117.974 (76.033) (123.569) (927.777) Exchange rate -2578.519 -6919.059 -2.34e+05* (10878.778) (10834.065) (1.32e+05) Harvested soy area (t+1) -0.001 (0.007) Harvested maize area (t+1) -0.010 (0.016) Harvested wheat area (t+1) 0.014 (0.013) Year FE Yes Yes Yes Observations 207 193 207 Adjusted R2 0.044 0.038 0.704 * Standard errors in parentheses p < 0.10, ** p < 0.05, *** p < 0.01 other crops) can explain the expansion of soy area. fect over proportionally the poorest and most vul- The estimator for tree cover loss is positive and sig- nerable populations. Poverty data from the 2010 nificant. This suggest that tree cover loss is a good census131 suggests that poverty levels are very high predictor for expansion of soy area. Interestingly in regions were deforestation is high as well. From soy seems to replace wheat or vice-versa because Figure 34 we can see that deforestation took place the estimator for wheat is negative and highly sig- mainly in regions with high poverty incidence. This nificant. Maize seems to expand alongside with soy is confirmed by the graph in Figure 35 which con- as the estimator is close to one and highly signifi- trasts rural and urban poverty with tree cover loss. cant, too. The four provinces with the highest share of rural poverty experienced also the highest deforestation. Poverty Dimension Despite this seemingly clear evidence, it is hard, if Deforestation has not only impacts on the envi- not impossible, to isolate a single causal channel. ronment, wildlife and biodiversity. It is likely to af- Large scale farms might clear forests and push rural farmers out of the regions and into poverty. Poor 131 The 2010 censusmeasured poverty through an unmet the housing situation, sanitation, water access, child ed- basic needs indicator. Basic needs include for example ucation and risk of loss of income. 67 Figure 34: Geographical distribution and intensity of the unmet basic needs and total tree cover loss 2002-2014 Figure 35: Absolute tree cover loss and poverty in urban and rural areas measured as unmet basic needs in percentage populations could also have less scope for lobbying possibilities of income generation from agriculture against deforestation or they lack knowledge about for the population. the consequences of deforestation and thus do not The ex SAyDS noted that extraction of phosphorus oppose. As a consequence, it could just be easier to is alarmingly high in the Chaco eco-region 132 and clear forests in areas with less “resistant” popula- that people have been displaced as a consequence tions. It could also be the case that the region is so of the shifting agricultural frontier. The report poor because it had large forest areas, which could states that traditional farmers abandoned their not be used for farming and thereby limited the 132Las mayores extracciones de fósforo se registran hoy queña, área de gran expansión de la soja, los altos nive- en el noroeste de Córdoba, el sur de Santiago del Estero, les de fósforo de los suelos están bajando abruptamente sur de Santa Fe y todo el norte bonaerense, con valores porque nadie fertiliza (SAyDS). superiores a los 14 kilos por hectárea. "En la región cha- 68 land and moved into cities, where they tried to find When examining poverty reductions (in percent- employment and if not, likely ended up in poverty age point decreases) it is much more likely to be and marginalization. 133 able to find large decreases for regions with initial high levels of poverty like in Jujuy, Chaco, or Cor- The first two rows of show the correlation be- rientes (>20 % of the households had unmet basic tween poverty changes and tree cover loss. The needs) than for initially rather rich provinces like coefficients are negative showing that tree cover La Pampa or Santa Cruz (< 10% of the households loss is associated with a poverty reduction be- had unmet basic needs). The last row of the table tween 2001 and 2010. Table 7 provides a graphical puts tree cover loss in relation to rural poverty. representation of the highlighted cells. The down- Here it becomes very obvious that the amount of ward sloping trend line indicates that the higher hectares of forest area lost is strongly correlated the tree cover loss the higher the poverty reduc- with rural poverty. Once again this does not imply tion. This, however, does not imply any causal pos- causation134. itive impact of deforestation on poverty reduction. Table 7: Correlation Matrix for tree cover loss and change in poverty Total tree cover loss Tree cover loss 2001-2011 2001-2010 in % of 2001 tree cover Change of poverty in % 0.02 -0.29 Change of poverty rate in %-points -0.47 -0.42 Rural poverty rate in 2010 0.63 0.20 Figure 36: Tree cover change and poverty change between 2001 and 2010 133La descontrolada “agriculturización” motivada por el centros poblados, mudando de actividad los que pudie- cultivo de soja, fue desplazando a los productores e hizo ron y los que no padecen el desempleo, la pobreza y la que abandonaran sus chacras, tambos, y pequeñas pro- marginalidad (SAyDS). ducciones regionales de alto interés social, que daban fi- 134 The correlation coefficient for the relative tree cover sonomía a un campo diversificado y con una sólida es- loss is smaller probably due to provinces like San Luis that tructura socio-cultural y que debieran refugiarse en los have a extremely small initial tree cover and therefore every hectare of tree cover loss weighs heavily. 69 Annex B: Summary of environmental issues in Argentina – status quo, guidelines, and trends Table 8: Summary of environmental issues in Argentina – status quo, guidelines, and trends Environmental Current situation Guideline values Stats Trend issue Air Pollution - High pollution levels in Buenos PM2.5 10 μg/m3 PM2.5 - Increased urbanization combined with higher wealth Aires and Córdoba PM10 20 μg/m3 levels 50-90 and lower oil are likely to increase air pollution BsAs 20-40 - Three of the top 4 leading causes of Years Life Lost (YLL) NO2 40 μg/m3 Córdoba 8-16 to premature death are directly related to ambient air SO2 20 μg/m3 Rosario pollution (Ischemic heart disease, lower respiratory in- 14-24 (All WHO) Mendoza 3-5 fections, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) Salta 3.5-6.5 - The incidence of people with lower respiratory infec- Jujuy 20-40 tions and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has in- Neuquen creased in absolute terms since 1990 Deforestation - Very high deforestation rates in Deforestation rates All data from Global Forest watch for 2001-2014 period - Deforestation has slowed down in the recent years, the last 15 years 2001-2014 - Argentina deforestation rate: 12.6% probably as a consequence of the Forest Law - Since 2001 ARG lost every minute - Global: 6.33% - Only 12 countries worldwide had a higher deforestation rate - Forest fund shrank and conservation incentives might be one soccer field of forest areas - South America: 6.24 % shrinking as a consequence than ARG (excluding countries with a forest coverage smaller (0.67ha) (Global Forest Watch) than 10 km2) - Tax policies favoring soy production is a potential threat - 8 % of all South American deforestation took place in ARG to forest conservation - 2% of the global deforestation took place in ARG - Globally, ARG is ranked #9 in terms of lost forest area (abso- lute terms) only Brazil cut down more trees in South America than Argentina Land degrada- - Land degradation is lower than in -460,000 hectares are estimated to be currently affected by sali- - Tax policies favoring soy production are likely to in- tion the LAC average nization o sodicity. crease land degradation by monoculture cultivation - Intensive soy cultivation con- verted grassland into cropland, which will accelerate land degra- dation even though zero tillage is applied. (intensive herbicide use is another negative side effect) Waste Man- - Solid waste collection coverage: Organic waste: World Bank Generation - Amounts of waste are increasing, hazardous waste agement 90%, - OECD=27 % - 50% of waste is organic quantities continuously increase, threefold increase of - Collection service coverage did waste production since 1990 - LAC & upper middle - 82% have regularly swept streets not improve since 2001 income=54% - only 50 % have their waste disposed adequately - Waste collection rate Collection rate - OECD ~98 % - 90% of the households have their waste collected - LAC ~78 % - Lack of coverage is most pronounced in slums (14.3%) and in - upper middle in- Northern provinces e.g. Santiago del Estero (37%) Formosa (36 come ~85 % %) - Among the covered households, 71,9% have their waste col- lected more than 5 times per week (LAC avg= 45,6%) 70 Disposal - 20 million inhabitants not covered with disposal service - Lack of coverage is most pronounced in slums (14.3%) and in Northern provinces e.g. Santiago del Estero (37%) Formosa (36 %) - 62% of slums and 27% of low income households are located close to an open dumpsite - The installed capacity of mechanized waste treatment plants can cover only 17,7% of the generated waste Urban Flooding - Floodings have become a major - Increased urbanization combined with higher rainfall in- problem in Argentina due to ur- tensity and deforestation is likely to increase the proba- banization and increased rainfalls bility of floodings - Rainfalls increased by about 20% since 1960. Riverine Flood- - Floodings occurred more often in - Increased rainfalls in the North and central regions due ing the North region in the last dec- to climate change are likely to increase the occurrence ade as opposed to the decade be- of riverine flooding events fore (1990s) Arsenic Pollu- - High levels of natural arsenic wa- limit of arsenic in - 87% of the Buenos Aires provincial territory has groundwater - Polluted surface water will maintain the demand to use tion ter pollution have been reported drinking-water: with arsenic > 50 μg/litre (Auge et al. 2013.) arsenic groundwater in different regions of Argentina 10 μg/litre (WHO) - In North Argentina the lowest values found range between 130- - Arsenic water pollution is at- 200 μg/litre (source: Conicet ) tributed to industrial production Arsenic concentra- (e.g. textiles, paper, wood pre- Location in Buenos Aires tion Source servatives). Escobar 11-90 μg/litre Heredia et al 2005 Mercedes 10-55 μg/litre Puntoriero et al 2015 Roque Perez 15-65 μg/litre Puntoriero et al 2015 Junin 10-140 μg/litre Puntoriero et al 2015 Bahia Blanca 7-170 μg/litre Paoloni et al 2009 Chasico 36-166 μg/litre Puntoriero et al 2015 71 Lead Pollution - It is estimated that you can find BLL of ≥ 5 µg/dL (CDC) Own study BLL of ≥ 2 µg/dL in: - 59% of children <5 year and 58% of adult females, and 78% of o 59% of children under adult males have a BLL of ≥ 2 µg/dL five La Plata: Geometric mean blood lead level: 4.26 µg/dL o 58% of adult females - 10.8% blood lead levels >10 µg/dL o 78% of adult males (Disalvo, Liliana, et al. 2009) Villa 20: Distribution of lead blood levels: - 68,9% <7µg/dL - 17,9 % 7-10 µg/dL - 13,8% >10µg/dL (farn.org.ar ) Córdoba - mean BLL levels of 2.58 ± 0.30 µg/dl (Martínez, S. A., et al. 2012) Matanza Riachuelo: - 25% of the children have BLL > 5 μg/dl (ACUMAR Evaluación Integral de Salud en Áreas de Riesgo) …in paint - Upper limit of 600 - 23 % percent of a the tested paints (sample of 30) had lead lev- ppm lead in paint in els greater than 600 ppm ARG - Average level was 17,000 ppm (2.83 times the legal limit) - (90 ppm in the US) - Only one out of 30 cans carried a label with information on the lead level in the paint Water pollu- - Generally accepted - Situation in the cuenca Matanza-Riachuelo has im- tion min DO >= 4 - 5 mg/l. proved substantially, yet it still is one of the most pol- (water-research.net ) luted river basins worldwide and more work is still needed - nitrate-nitrogen max. 10 mg/L - nitrite-nitrogen max. 1 mg/L (EPA) Agro-Chemicals - Agro chemicals are widely used - Americas and South - Pesticide use: 2.57 kg/ha - Pesticides and herbicides use increased between 1993 especially the herbicide glypho- Am pesticide use - Fertilizer Use: 0.044kg/ha and 2011 by more than 1000 % sate in soy plantations (2011): 3.67 kg/ha - Agro chemicals per harvested crop area increased by - Fertilizer use: 441 % from 0.457 kg/ha in 1993 to 2.475 kg/ha in 2011 1.92 kg/ha - the use of fertilizers increased by about 826.00% be- - (FAOSTAT) tween 1991 and 2013 - fertilizers in kg/ha cropland increased by 429.50%be- tween 1991 and 2013 72 Annex C: Summary of environmental issues in Argentina – cost of environmental degradation, public opinion, and public expenditure Table 9: Summary of environmental issues in Argentina – cost of environmental degradation, public opinion, and public expenditure Environmental is- Cost of environmental degradation Public Opinion Public expenditure sue Air Pollution - 1/8 of all deaths worldwide are the result of air pollution. All ambient air - 24.2 % (top 2 answer) of Argentines see air pol- pollution lution as the environmental problem that affects - Cost of air pollution impacts on society is estimated at about 1.84% of GDP themselves the most; 19.2% see air pollution as Argentina’s main environmental problem Deforestation - Deforestation took mainly place in poor regions of the country - 25% of Argentines see deforestation as Argen- - 4 % of national government spending on environ- - Total mean annual deforestation cost is estimated at about US$ 3.6 billion tina’s main environmental problem, yet only mental expenditure or 0.75% of GDP. 9.9% think it affects their lives. Land degradation - Annual costs 3.56% of GDP - Land degradation is not perceived as a big envi- - Expenditure in agriculture R&D - Costs for loss of ecosystem services 2001-2009 USD 70 bn i.e. annual cost ronmental problem by the public of 3.25% GDP (IFPRI 2016) - 0.7% and 0.8% mentioned land degradation as - Wetland degradation cost US$3.8 billion = 1.5 % GDP. main environmental problem - Degradation of grazing land USD 0.586 bn or 11 % of the livestock GDP - Estimated rate of return for actions to prevent LUCC vs no action is 1:4 Waste Manage- - Solid waste generated 677 Gg of methane in 2012; - Highly important issue in the public opinion - 5-25% of total municipal expenditure on solid ment many open dumpsite are located closely to slums therefore the negative Waste is the most important challenge that af- waste management service (great variety) effects are likely to be more pronounced for the poorest parts of the pop- fects the lives of the population - USD31-USD76 per capita for waste management ulation - Combining both survey categories it is the most relevant environmental issue (faced by country 20.3%; and that affects the surveyed 25.4%) - 76% of the households are satisfied with waste management (Proyecto GIRSU-SAyDS, 2014). Urban Flooding - The computed expected annual cost of all floods is about US$3.4 billion or - Natural disasters are not perceived as a major - 17% of national government spending on envi- 0.7% of GDP in 2012 environmental issue (only 0.2 % mentioned it) ronmental expenditure - Urban flooding events carry the second highest economic damages (45%) of all natural disasters  annual costs 0.32% of GDP - Flooding is the greatest natural disaster threat in Argentina in terms of economic damages and affected population. From all natural disasters in Argentina 94% of all economic damages and 96% of the affected population are related to flooding events. - Riverine Flooding - See above - See above - See above - Riverine flooding events carry the highest economic damages (49%) of all natural disasters Annual costs 0.34% of GDP Arsenic Pollution - Long-term exposure to inorganic arsenic can lead to chronic arsenic poi- - Of those who think that water pollution is affect- soning, skin lesions and skin cancer. ing them the most, 17% did so because of the “natural contamination of underground water (e.g. due to the presence of arsenic)” as a main - A study for Argentina show that exposure to arsenic at high concentrations concern in drinking-water is associated with lung cancer (WHO 73 http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/arsenic.pdf ) Lead Pollution - Annual costs 0.91% of GDP - Total annual losses of IQ-points among children under five years of age in - Citizens show low concern about this Argentina are estimated at 381 – 858 thousand with a mid-point estimate topic loss is AR$ 7.1 – 20.0bn (i.e. 0.33–0.92% of Argentina’s GDP) - BLL of ≥ 2 µg/dL among adults is estimated to increase the risk of ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease (stroke), and other vascular dis- eases by 2-4% 082 individuals) and 6.5 – 12.9 million days of illness lead to annual estimated health cost of AR$ 6.2 - 7.1 billion (= 0.33% GDP Argentina) …in paint - lead pollution causes annual loses of 9.78 bn int. USD in Argentina ~ 1.36% Argentina GDP (NYU Medical School) Water pollution - It is estimated that 989 individuals died prematurely from inadequate - Water pollution is the top 3 answer in both cate- - In 2013, 29% of the National Government’s household water, sanitation and hygiene in 2012 gories: Argentina’s main environmental prob- Spending on Environmental Management was al- - It is estimated that 16-19 million cases of diarrheal disease occurred from lems (19.2 %) and problems that affect them- located to cleaning up the pollution legacy inadequate household water, sanitation and hygiene in 2012 selves (16.2%) Cuenca Matanza Riachuelo - Annual cost of these health effects is estimated at AR$ 8.3 – 8.9 billion in - In 2013, 17% of the National Government’s 2012 (0.40% of Argentina’s GDP in 2012). Spending on Environmental Management was targeted to specific investment projects related to drinking water and sanitation infrastructure Agro-Chemicals - Hazardous health effects and polluted watersheds are likely risks when - Of those who think that water pollution is affect- - people get in contact with glyphosate or if the herbicide is washed into the ing them the most, 14% indicated the problem is watersheds related to the “intensive use of agrochemicals”. 74 Annex D: Argentina CEA EDGAR Emission Summary for 7 Cities (Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Rosario, Mendoza, Salta, Neuquén, San Salvador de Jujuy) Figure 37: Modeled PM2.5 concentrations(mg/m3) Buenos Aires: Córdoba: Rosario: Mendoza: 75 Salta: Neuquén-Plottier-Cipolletti: San Salvador de Jujuy 76 Figure 38: PM10 Emissions (sum of emissions from all grids covering the urban airshed) Buenos Aires: Córdoba: Rosario: Mendoza: 77 Salta: Neuquén-Plottier-Cipolletti: San Salvador de Jujuy: 78 Figure 39: CO Emissions Buenos Aires: Córdoba: Rosario: Mendoza: 79 Salta: Neuquén-Plottier-Cipolletti: San Salvador de Jujuy: 80 Figure 40: NMVOC emissions (tons/year) Buenos Aires: Córdoba: Rosario: Mendoza: 81 Salta: Neuquén-Plottier-Cipolletti: San Salvador de Jujuy: 82 Figure 41: SO2 emissions (tons/year) Buenos Aires: Córdoba: Rosario: Mendoza: 83 Salta: Neuquén-Plottier-Cipolletti: San Salvador de Jujuy: 84 References AFAC (2014): Flota vehicular circulante en Argentina 2014, Asociación de Fábricas Argentinas de Componentes y Promotive S.A., Buenos Aires AGN (2011): Subsecretaría de Pesca y Acuicultura. Situación de la merluza y el calamar, Documento de Difusión, Auditoría General de la Nación, Buenos Aires AGN (2013) Informe Integral de las Actividades del Plan Integral de Saneamiento Ambiental (Pisa) Por el Ejercicio Cerrado al 31 de Diciembre de 2012 AGN (2014a) Informe Integral de las Actividades del Plan Integral de Saneamiento Ambiental (Pisa) Por el Ejercicio Cerrado al 31 de Diciembre de 2013 AGN (2014b): Baja aplicación de la Ley de Protección de Bosques Nativos”. Auditoría General de la Na- ción. AGN (2014c) Informe de Auditoría Independiente sobre los Estados Financieros del proyecto de Desa- rrollo Sustentable de la Cuenca Matanza-Riachuelo Convenio de Prestamo7706-AR BIRF. AGN (2015): Informe de Auditoría, Auditoría de la Subsecretaría de Pesca y Acuicultura respecto de la explotación de especies costeras, Auditoría General de la Nación, Buenos Aires Atlas ID (2016): Índice máximo de magnitud de inundaciones, Ministerio del Interior, Obras Públicas y Vivienda Auditor General de la CABA (2014): Contaminación por plomo en niños de las villas de la Ciudad Autó- noma de Buenos Aires, Informe del Auditor General de la CABA, Ing.F.del Gaiso, Buenos Aires, 5/6/2014 AYSA (2008): Resumen Ejecutivo. Estudio de Impacto Ambiental. Plan Director de Saneamiento - Obras básicas en la cuenca Matanza Riachuelo, AYSA, Buenos aires, 24/11/2008 Azqueta, D. (2007): Introducción a la Economía Ambiental, 2ª EDICION, Mc Graw Hill. Banco Mundial (2002): World Development Report 2003: Sustainable Development in a Dynamic World, The World Bank, Washington DC Banco Mundial (2003): World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People, The World Bank, Washington DC Banco Mundial (2006): Colombia - Mitigating environmental degradation to foster growth and reduce inequality, World Bank, Washington, DC. Banco Mundial (2012): Inclusive Green Growth: The Pathway to Sustainable Development, The World Bank, Washington D.C. Banco Mundial (2014a): Matanza-Riachuelo Basin (MRB) Sustainable Development Adaptable Lending Program (P105680). Implementation Status & Results Report, 16/06/2014 Banco Mundial (2014b): Matanza-Riachuelo Basin (MRB) Sustainable Development Adaptable Lending Program (P105680). Implementation Status & Results Report, 31/12/2014 Barros, V., J.Boninsegna, I.Camilloni, M.Chidiak, G.Magrin y M.Rusticucci (2015): "Climate change in Argentina: Trends, projections, impacts and adaptation", WIREs Climate Change,Wiley, vol.6 Issue 2 85 Cetrángolo, O.; M.Chidiak; J.Curcio y V. Gutman (2004): Política y Gestión Ambiental en Argentina: Gasto y Financiamiento. Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), Serie Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo no. 90, Santiago de Chile CIAFA (2015): Consumo de Fertilizantes en el Agro – 2014, Cámara de la Industria Argentina de Fertili- zantes y Agroquímicos Chidiak, M. y V. Gutman (2011): Desafíos e implicancias fiscales de la inversión en infraestructura baja en carbono. CEPAL, Serie Macroeconomia del Desarrollo N° 115, Santiago de Chile Defensor del Pueblo de la Nación (2014): Informe Especial del Cuerpo Colegiado, A seis años del fallo de la Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación por la Cuenca Matanza Riachuelo Defensor del Pueblo de la Nación (2015): Información Pública, Informe especial del Cuerpo Colegiado presentado en el Exp. C.MA-R 201/05. EDSA (2013) Encuesta del Barómetro de la Deuda Social Argentina de la Universidad Católica Argentina EM-DAT (2015): The international disasters database, Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Dis- asters EPA (2003): Protecting Water from Urban Runoff, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington DC EPH (2014) Encuesta Permanente de Hogares, National Institute of Statistics and Censuses Argentina EU 2010: Being wise with waste: the EU’s approach to waste management, European Commission, Lux- embourg: Publications Office of the European Union EVAL (2010): Evaluación Regional de Gestión de Residuos Sólidos Municipales en América-Latina y el Caribe, Inter-American Development Bank FAOSTAT (2016): FAOSTAT database, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, availa- ble at http://faostat.fao.org/. FAO (2015): Las Evaluaciones de recursos forestales mundiales - Informe Nacional Argentina, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome Forest Carbon Partnership (2015): REDD Readiness Progress Fact Sheet Argentina. Online verfügbar unter https://www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/argentina. García Collazo, M. A.; Panizza, A. y J. M. Paruelo (2013): Ordenamiento Territorial de Bosques Nativos: Resultados de la Zonificación realizada por provincias del Norte argentino. Ecología Austral 23:97- 107. Agosto 2013 Gasparri, I., et al. "Estimación de volumen, biomasa y contenido de carbono de las regiones forestales argentinas." Informe final, Unidad de Manejo del Sistema de Evaluación Forestal, Dirección de bos- ques, Global Forest Watch (2016): Global Forest Watch Country Dataset, available at http://www.global- forestwatch.org/country/ARG Gosling, Simon N., et al. "Climate: Observations, projections and impacts." Climate: Observations, pro- jections and impacts (2011). Grau, Ricardo; Gasparri, Ignacio; Aide, Mitchell (2005): Agriculture expansion and deforestation in sea- sonally dry forests of north-west Argentina. In: Envir. Conserv. 32 (02), S. 140 86 Grau, Ricardo; Gasparri, Ignacio; Aide, Mitchell (2008): Balancing food production and nature conser- vation in the Neotropical dry forests of northern Argentina. In: Global Change Biol 14 (5), S. 985– 997. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01554.x. Greenpeace (2013): Las Aguas Siguen Bajando Turbias. Análisis sobre la calidad ambiental de las aguas superficiales en la Cuenca Matanza Riachuelo. Campañas ACUMAR 2008-2012. Greenpeace (2014): Desmontes S.A. Parte 2. La responsabilidad empresaria y gubernamental en la vio- lación de la Ley de Bosques en Salta. Disponible en http://www.greenpeace.org/argentina/Glo- bal/argentina/report/2014/bosques/DesmontesSA2daparte.pdf INDEC (2012a): Censo Nacional de Población, Hogares y Viviendas 2010. Censo del Bicentenario. Resul- tados definitivos, Serie B Nº 2. Tomo 1, Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos, Buenos Aires. Disponible en www.censo2010.indec.gov.ar INDEC (2012b): Censo Nacional de Población, Hogares y Viviendas 2010. Censo del Bicentenario. Resul- tados definitivos, Serie B Nº 2. Tomo 2, Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos, Buenos Aires. Disponible en www.censo2010.indec.gov.ar INTA International Energy Agency: Total Carbon Dioxide Emissions from the Consumption of Energy (Million Metric Tons). Online verfügbar unter http://www.eia.gov/cfapps/ipdbproject/iedindex3.cfm?tid=90&pid=44&aid=8. IPS 2013: Luxury Homes Block Up Delta near Buenos Aires, Inter Press Service News Agency, available at : http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/04/luxury-homes-block-up-delta-near-buenos-aires/ Kennedy, John (2011): Why is Argentina So Efficient? Corn+Soy Digest. Online verfügbar unter http://cornandsoybeandigest.com/tillage/why-argentina-so-efficient, zuletzt aktualisiert am 01.01.2011. Kolstad, C. (2001): Economía Ambiental, Oxford UniversityPress, México. Larsen, B, J. Skjelvik y E. Golub (2014): An Economic Assessment of Environmental Degradation in Ar- gentina. Prepared for the World Bank. August 2014 Maggiora, C. D. and López-Silva, J. A. 2006: Vulnerability to Air Pollution in Latin America and the Carib- bean Region, Latin America and Caribbean Region Sustainable Development Working Paper 28, The World Bank Markandya, A.; K. Hamilton y E. Sanchez-Triana (2006): Getting the Most for the Money - How Public Environmental Expenditure Reviews Can Help. Environment Strategy Brief N° 16 September 2006 Mathews, J. A., & Goldsztein, H. (2009). Capturing latecomer advantages in the adoption of biofuels: the case of Argentina. Energy Policy, 37(1), 326-337 MECON (2013a): Ejecución Presupuestaria de la Administración Nacional Año 2012, Secretaria de Ha- cienda, Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas Públicas, Buenos Aires MECON (2013b): Resumen del Presupuesto 2014, Oficina Nacional del Presupuesto, Secretaría de Ha- cienda, Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas Públicas, Buenos Aires. Disponible en http://www.me- con.gov.ar/onp/html/presupresumen/resum14.pdf MECON (2014): Ejecución Presupuestaria de la Administración Nacional Año 2013, Secretaria de Ha- cienda, Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas Públicas, Buenos Aires 87 MinAgri (2014): “Suelos, producción agropecuaria y cambio climático. Avances en la Argentina”. Minis- terio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca de la Nación. Documento disponible en http://64.76.123.202/site/agricultura/_pdf/Suelos_Cambio_Climatico_Produccion_Agropecua- ria.pdf Navajas, F. (2015):" Subsidios a la energía, devaluación y precios", Documento de Trabajo No 122 , FIEL, Fundación de Investigaciones Económicas Latinoamericanas, Buenos Aires OECD (2001): Environmentally Related Taxes in OECD Countries. Issues and Strategies. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris OECD (2007), Pollution Abatement and Control Expenditure in OECD Countries, Organisation for Eco- nomic Co-operation and Development, Paris. Pengue, Walter A. (2005): Transgenic crops in Argentina: the ecological and social debt. In: Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society 25 (4), S. 314–322. Pereira, M.; De Miguel, C.; Taboulchanas, K. y M.P. Collinao (2014): “El gasto en protección ambiental en América Latina y el Caribe Bases conceptuales y experiencia regional”. Documento de Proyecto, Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), Santiago de Chile Piquer-Rodríguez, María; Torella, Sebastián; Gavier-Pizarro, Gregorio; Volante, José; Somma, Daniel; Ginzburg, Rubén; Kuemmerle, Tobias (2015): Effects of past and future land conversions on forest connectivity in the Argentine Chaco. In: Landscape Ecol 30 (5), S. 817–833. DOI: 10.1007/s10980- 014-0147-3. PNUD (2011): Informe sobre el Desarrollo Humano 2011: Sostenibilidad e equidad – Un mejor futuro para todos, Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo, New York PNUD/CNCPS (2012): Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio. Informe País Argentina 2012, Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo y Consejo Nacional de Coordinación de Políticas Sociales/Presi- dencia de la Nación, Buenos Aires PNUMA (2011): Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradi- cation, United Nations Environment Programme Portier, Christopher J., et al. "Differences in the carcinogenic evaluation of glyphosate between the In- ternational Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)." Journal of epidemiology and community health (2016): jech-2015. REDAF (2012): 3° Informe Conflictos sobre la Tenencia de la Tierra y Ambientales en la Región Cha- queña Argentina, redaf - La Red Agroforestal Chaco Argentina, Informes Conflictos, Informes Obser- vatorio SAyDS - MAGyP (2013): Cartilla para titulares de tierras con bosques nativos y para profesionales res- ponsables - Enriquecimiento. Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable - Ministerio de Agri- cultura, Ganadería y Pesca - Documento disponible en http://obio.ambiente.gob.ar/multimedia/fi- les/Cartilla%20para%20titulares%20de%20tierras%20con%20bosques%20nati- vos%20y%20para%20profesionales%20responsables%20de%20planes.pdf SAyDS (2012): Informe sobre el Estado del Ambiente, Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable, Buenos Aires SAyDS (2014): Monitoreo de la Superficie de Bosque Nativo de la República Argentina Período 2011 – 2013. Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable de la Nación. Documento disponible en 88 http://obio.ambiente.gob.ar/multimedia/files/Monitoreo%20de%20la%20Superficie%20de%20Bos- que%20Nativo%202011-2013.pdf SAyDS (2015a): Monitoreo de la Superficie de Bosque Nativo de Argentina Período 2013 – 2014. Secre- taría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable de la Nación SAyDS (2015b): Proyecto Tercera Comunicación Nacional Sobre Cambio Climático, Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera, Cambio climático en Argentina; tendencias y proyecciones SAyDS (2015c): Proyecto Tercera Comunicación Nacional Sobre Cambio Climático, Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera, Agricultura y Ganadería: Impacto y vulnerabilidad al cambio climático Scientific American 2013: Climate Change Combined with Poor Urban Planning Exacerbated Deadly Ar- gentine Flooding, By Ines Perez, ClimateWire on April 19, 2013, available at http://www.scientifi- camerican.com/article/climate-change-combined-with-poor-urban-planning-exacerbated-deadly- argentine-flooding/ Secretaría de ambiente y desarrollo sustentable (2004). SIB (2016): Listado de las Áreas protegidas nacionales, Sistema de Información sobre Biodiversidad SIIA (2015): Sistema Integrado de Información Agropecuaria Database, Ministerio de la Agroindustria Argentina Sistema de estadistica ambiental (2015): Database available at http://estadisticas.ambiente.gob.ar/ , Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable UN WUP 2014: World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, United Nations, Department of Eco- nomic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/352). Third National Communication to UNFCCC (2016): Argentina’s third National Communication (TNC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), available at: http://www.ambiente.gov.ar/?idseccion=356 Trigo, Eduardo J.; Cap, E.; Malach, V.; Villarreal F (2009): The case of zero-tillage technology in Argen- tina. In: IFPRI Discussion Paper (915). Online verfügbar unter http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/29503. WHO 2005: Air quality guidelines for particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide - Global update 2005, World Health Organization World Bank, 2014: Argentine Republic’s Environmental and Social Regulatory Framework World Bank 2015: Del problema a la oportunidad: Gestión Integrada del Riesgo de Inundaciones en Áreas Urbanas, Autor: María Catalina Ramírez Villegas World Bank, 2016: Leveraging the Potential of Argentine Cities: A Framework for Policy Action. Zak, Marcelo R.; Cabido, Marcelo; Cáceres, Daniel; Díaz, Sandra (2008): What drives accelerated land cover change in central Argentina? Synergistic consequences of climatic, socioeconomic, and tech- nological factors. In: Environmental Management 42 (2), S. 181–189. 89