Environmental Activism of Judges and Water Policy in the Matanza-Riachuelo Basin, Argentina

Abstract

In the first decade of the 21st century in Argentina, there has been a notable increase in environmental conflicts, a large part of them centered around water. At the same time, there were important advances in the institutionalization of the environmental paradigm. In this article, we analyzed the level of effectiveness of these institutional advances in one of the metropolitan basins of Greater Buenos Aires: the Matanza-Riachuelo river, which has been the scene of an emblematic conflict at the international level. The intervention of the Supreme Court of National Justice in this conflict, whose objective is to repair the environmental damage, has contributed to the implementation of the integral management of water resources. However, eleven years after the court ruling, we maintain that the need for coordination between the various levels of justice administration, including international, is essential, as well as respect for the basic principles of law such as legality. The methodology used was the analysis of the content of national legislation and official publications of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academic articles, and international newspapers and magazines. Likewise, key witnesses and experts were interviewed.