Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: National Park Expropriated

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 9 2010 (IPS) - An Argentine environmental group is challenging a decision by the central province of San Luis, which in late July expropriated a protected area to turn it over to an indigenous community. The 150,000-hectare Sierra de las Quijadas National Park is an eco-region of plains and table mountains under the jurisdiction of the National Parks Administration, but has been ceded to the Huarpe community by the provincial government.

The Argentina Wildlife Foundation questions the measure because while it recognizes indigenous rights it also affects the constitutional rights of others to benefit from a healthy environment.

“One right cannot and should not undermine another right, and the Sierra de las Quijadas National Park, patrimony of all Argentines, should not be removed from jurisdiction,” the Foundation's director-general Diego Moreno told Tierramérica.