The Argentine Senate will not debate the native forest protection bill until after the Oct. 28 elections, despite an effort by environmentalists that collected 1.2 million signatures demanding passage of the law, parliamentary sources told Tierramérica. The bill “is ready to be discussed in session,” but it will not be dealt with until after the elections, said an adviser to Senator Luz Sapag, president of the Senate Environment Committee. The draft law was already approved by the Chamber of Deputies.

In a march that ended at the Congress building Oct. 9, hundreds of activists, led by Greenpeace Argentina, brought the signatures to the Senate.

According to the groups that collected the signatures, Argentina loses 300,000 hectares of native forest each year.