FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2018
This week the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR) released its recommendations for the State of Argentina and warned that the planned development of the Vaca Muerta shale formation in the country’s Neuquén Province may be violating or threatening to violate human rights. The Committee concluded that the planned natural gas development would 1) threaten the rights of individuals living in the region due to the use of unconventional gas production technology called hydraulic fracturing – commonly known as “fracking;” and 2) threaten to release enormous amounts of greenhouse gases, exacerbating climate destabilization and undermining Argentina’s commitments made under the Paris Agreement.
Steven Feit, Staff Attorney in CIEL’s Climate & Energy program, released the following statement:
“The recommendations from the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights clearly state that the government of Argentina’s plans to pursue natural gas development in the Vaca Muerta region threaten human rights. From the beginning, the indigenous Mapuche people living in Neuquén Province and impacted communities in the region have opposed the project and filed lawsuits for harms caused during initial stages of development. The Committee, in its recommendations, recognizes the profound gap between the gas development activities as planned and the necessary consultation and assurances that would avoid continuous violations of economic, social, and cultural rights for the communities living in the region. Should Argentina fail to heed these warnings or adhere to the Committee’s recommendations, harms to impacted communities could increase yet further.
The Committee’s recommendations recognize that the project threatens both local communities in the Vaca Muerta region and the global community, present and future. Vaca Muerta is the second-largest shale gas formation in the world; the level of atmospheric greenhouse gas accumulation that would result from its full development would consume a significant percentage of our remaining carbon budget. The Committee’s recommendations demonstrate a three-fold concern: first, that Argentina’s pursuit of development in Vaca Muerta would threaten the world’s ability to limit atmospheric warming to 1.5°C, the goal outlined in the Paris Agreement (to which Argentina is a State party). Second, the Committee draws attention to Argentina’s extraterritorial obligation to avoid harming citizens of other nations as development of the Vaca Muerta shale field would increase global temperatures, causing additional sea level rise, ocean acidification, and more intense storms, heat waves, and droughts, among other global climate destabilizing impacts. Finally, the Committee notes that Argentina’s intended production of gas from the Vaca Muerta region would negatively impact the rights of future generations, for whom the impact of climate change will be most severe.
This is a strong and unambiguous warning to the government of Argentina that it must reconsider its plans to pursue new gas development in the Vaca Muerta region. By relying on dangerous technologies and ignoring the climate impact of such development, the government of Argentina risks violating the economic, social, and cultural rights not only of its own citizens, but those of the global community and its future generations.”