The Forestal Andina company received an order from the justice department of the northern Argentine province of Corrientes to demolish immediately the 27-kilometer embankment it built in the Esteros del Iberá ecological preserve. The company must begin work before Aug. 27 in order to comply with the order that the Supreme Court of Justice had issued eight months ago.

“If the company does not comply, the responsibility falls to the controlling body, the Corrientes Institute of Water and Environment,” attorney Patricia McCormack, representing the local residents who have called for the demolition, told Tierramérica.

“So far we have not seen any willingness from the company and we don't know what the Institute's attitude will be, but the attorney general's office leaked that they will try to delay the demolition” of the embankment that crosses an area of protected wetlands, said McCormack.