Argentine climate change debate 'long overdue'

Argentina is facing the impact of climate change with inadequate infrastructure and an uncoordinated policy in water infrastructure, as provincial governments have little room to invest and the central government lacks funds for new projects, according to an expert.

“Argentina’s water infrastructure isn’t thought out for flood prevention or to take advantage of rain surpluses to improve water availability,” Esteban Thomasz, head of the climate change socio-economic vulnerability evaluation program at the University of Buenos Aires, told BNamericas.  

Argentina has suffered three severe droughts since 2008, while provinces in the central and northern areas of the country have been affected by extensive flooding.

Despite this, Thomasz says the mitigation debate didn't start until “one or two years ago,” and so far he doesn’t see any attempts to move towards a coordinated climate change policy, despite the approval of a related bill last year.

“The debate is overdue, long overdue,” he said. 

Although climate change adaptation was part of previous president Mauricio Macri's US$44bn waterworks plan, Thomasz says the issue did not feature as prominently as the plans for potable water and wastewater.

Meanwhile, provincial governments face funding shortages for building infrastructure.

“They can do very little, since on average only 14% of their budgets go towards public works, and they end up doing [just] maintenance works,” Thomasz said, adding that most of the time the federal government covers the cost or directs foreign financing towards projects. 

Now, even the federal government is in no position to finance large projects as it tries to jump start the economy. 

On that front, the governments of Córdoba and Santa Fe signed an agreement to build a US$460mn aqueduct in 2018, but the project has been stalled since November, according to news outlet La Voz.