Suspension of the authorizations for deforesting in the Province of Salta

On March 26, 2009 the Argentine Supreme Court of Justice (the “Court”) unanimously ratifiied the suspension of the authorizations given by the Province of Salta for deforesting native woods in San Martín, Orán, Rivadavia and Santa Victoria (the “Authorizations”).

This decision was rendered within the context of an interim measure passed in the amparo filed by several native communities against the Province of Salta, after a public hearing, where the province requested the Court to set aside this precautionary measure, took place.

The Court considered that, despite the environmental assessments performed prior to the granting of each deforesting authorization by the end of 2007, there was no evidence of having performed a joint environmental assessment of all the affected areas in order to estimate the total environmental impact that the deforestation activity would have. In this case, the Court understood that this general assessment was significant and necessary considering the extension of the affected lands, which is almost 1,000,000 hectares (approximately 2,471,000 acres).

Moreover, the Court highlighted that the Province of Salta enacted Law No 7543, pursuant to the foresights of the Federal Native Forests Protection Law No 26,331(to read about the Native Forests Protection Law, see Marval News # 67), and according to that law many of the areas in which deforestation activities were authorized, hereinafter may be considered as highly valuable conservation areas.

The above mentioned provincial law also sets forth the obligation to design zone maps in order to classify the forests according to the conservation categories legally established. The Court considered that the lack of the design of these maps grounded the suspension of the Authorizations.

Thus, the Court understood that the situation under analysis causes a severe damage that could modify the weather of the entire region, affecting both the actual inhabitants and the future generations, and that this situation could not be healed afterwards.

Invoking the “precautionary principle” foreseen in the General Environmental Law, by means of the suspension of the Authorizations, the Court attempted to balance both the economic growth and the environmental care. Likewise, the Court stated that this principle obliges public officials to exert an extended precaution.

The Court decided that this suspension shall not be revoked until the Province of Salta, along with the Federal Secretary of Environment and Sustained Development, performs an Environmental Assessment of all the affected areas within the lapse of 90 days.

Said assessment shall analyze the impact that the deforestation of the forests would cause on the weather, landscape, environment, and in the living conditions of the inhabitants. The assessment should also propose a balanced solution between the protection of the environmental resources and the economic growth of the region, according to the costs and benefits involved.

With this ruling, the Court ratified the assumption of a proactive and preventive attitude towards judiciary matters related to the protection of the environment in the terms of Section 41 of the Argentine Constitution. Besides, it must be noted that by means of this decision the Court has virtually suspended all the forest-cutting authorizations that may have been granted by the province of Salta before the sanction of the Native Forests Protection Law, described in Marval News # 67.