Environmental organizations in Argentina are protesting the delays in the application of the law to protect glaciers passed in late September 2010. María Eugenia Testa of Greenpeace Argentina told Tierramérica that regulations have yet to be established for the law, while the Attorney General’s Office is delaying in its response to three preventive measures adopted by the courts in the northwestern province of San Juan to suspend the implementation of the law, on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.

The law’s passage was opposed by mining companies and authorities in provinces where the mining industry is particularly active. Now there is “great pressure” being exerted to keep the law from being implemented, according to a coalition of environmental groups who are monitoring its enforcement.

The national government must “assume its responsibility” and establish regulations for the law, which will make it possible to allocate resources to the government institute tasked with conducting an inventory of glaciers and granting authorization for mining investments, said the activists.