Parliamentarians present a project on water and environmental emergency in MERCOSUR

This MERCOSUR Parliament release was published using machine translation.

PARLASUR Agency (05/19/2020). The Argentine Parliamentarians Cecilia Britto, Julia Perié and Nelson Nicoletti presented a project to urge the Legislative Powers of the States Parties to MERCOSUR to the urgent declaration of the "state of water and environmental emergency, throughout the course of the Paraná, Iguazú Rivers, Uruguay and Paraguay, as well as in the Amazon for a term of 1 year, extendable for the same period ”, with the aim of safeguarding the fundamental rights to a healthy and sustainable environment, access to water, and the preservation of ecosystems and biomes that generate the necessary balance for the life of all species.

According to the signatory Parliamentarians of the project, “as it is of public and well-known knowledge, the water situation in the Argentine Northeast (NEA, Litoral or Mesopotamia) is critical and the Iguazú, Paraná and Uruguay rivers register historical downspouts due to a drought in the southeast of Brazil, so our request made through a draft recommendation, seeks to provide a solution to mitigate to a certain extent the effects of the downspout of rivers. "

The Project also appeals to regional cooperation for the exchange of information and the definition of common risks among the states, as well as to guarantee regional security and the effective defense of human and ecological rights that are seriously affected today.

Parliamentarian Cecilia Britto said that "we want to go much further, we are talking about really taking dimension and that the international mechanisms and standards that are for the care of the environment are complied with."

He went on to emphasize that "when we are talking about the Inter-American Court, we are not talking about a trial of Brazil, we are talking about going for an advisory opinion and achieving a ruling similar to that achieved by Colombia and also Nicaragua."

Finally, the Project recommends the creation of the International Institute for the Environment, Water and Human Development, in order to draw up a strategic Plan for the water and environmental crisis for the entire region, in addition to promoting public policies, and the generation of necessary measures for the best use of water and the preservation of the environment in conditions of development of life in all its species.

Since its inception, MERCOSUR has promoted as fundamental pillars of integration, principles aimed at strengthening Human Rights and Economic Development, promoting integration with a human face. In line with these principles, he has been working specifically for access to water in different forums such as the so-called "Water as a human right", also ratifying sovereignty over the Guaraní Aquifer, among many others to highlight, which are of utmost importance for its inhabitants ”, concluded the signatory Parliamentarians.