Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: New Environmental Party

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BUENOS AIRES, May 25 2009 (IPS) - Political leaders and environmental activists in Argentina this month founded the Green Initiative Party, which will field its own candidates in June’s legislative elections. “In Argentina there was a Green party that was part of a broader alliance. But this is the first exclusively green electoral option,” Juan Manuel Velasco, former environment minister for the city of Buenos Aires, and the party’s first candidate for national lawmaker, told Tierramérica.

Green Initiative joined the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas and its platform is based on conservation and sustainable development. It includes leaders focused on environmental problems and members of environmental groups like Greenpeace and El Ceibo Cooperative.

“We are going to aim at all items on the agenda, but always from a perspective of sustainability,” said Velasco.