On November 9th, a call for tenders for the "Exploration and Feasibility Study of Lithium Resources Project in the Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc basin in the Province of Jujuy" was announced. The call was issued by the province of Jujuy through the provincial company "Jujuy Energía y Minería Sociedad del Estado" (J.E.M.S.E.) and promoted by the firm Lithos Desarrollos Energéticos S.A.
The initiative reportedly contemplates investments for geological prospecting, exploration and feasibility of a lithium mining project in mining properties owned by J.E.M.S.E., which are divided into two main areas or basins located in Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc, in the province of Jujuy. In order to access the tender papers, which will be open for sale until November 28th, a cost of 55,000 US dollars must be paid. This requirement violates fundamental rights of access to information, as it prevents understanding and determining how the communities in the area and the environment will be affected, since the corresponding processes of early participation and free, prior and informed consultation have not been carried out.
Furthermore, this call for tenders constitutes a new action in a series of strategies launched by the government of the Province of Jujuy seeking to advance towards the exploitation of lithium at any cost. These events are justified on the one hand, in the need to extract and export to secure foreign currency to repay the foreign debt; and, on the other hand, in that lithium is necessary for the energy transition. Thus, the government is jeopardising a very fragile water ecosystem, with highly valuable biodiversity, which provides countless benefits to society in general and upon which the life and culture of the communities that live in the area depend. The advance of the activity without taking into account the environmental impacts in a comprehensive manner will make it impossible for those who have lived there for centuries to remain in the territory.
Economic excuses are used to ignore rights recognised in the National Constitution and treaties and agreements with a higher hierarchy than laws, such as the right to a healthy environment, the right to access information and public participation in environmental matters (Escazú Agreement). Moreover, in the case of indigenous communities, their right to self-determination, the right to the possession and ownership of the lands they traditionally occupy, the right to determine the priorities for their development, and to free, prior and informed consultation (ILO Convention 169 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples).
In addition, this fact becomes public just a few weeks after attempts were made to amend the provincial decree Nº 5772/2010, which regulates the environmental impact assessment for mining activity. The draft amendment reduces the instances of participation of communities, contrary to the legal mandate. Moreover, the violation of rights, in particular the right of access to public environmental information, was recently recognised by the Environmental Court of Jujuy, which condemned the provincial state to provide full and complete information related to existing mining projects in the Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc basin (on the side of Jujuy province).
The indigenous communities of Salinas Grandes and Lagunas de Guayatayoc have been fighting for their rights for more than 12 years, and have undertaken different strategies of organisation, mobilisation and resistance. These include, for instance, the initial prosecution of their claims before the highest court in the country in 2010, and the drafting of the Kachi Yupi, a community protocol on how to implement their right to free, prior and informed consultation in a manner that appropriate to their culture, as required by international law.
Recently, in 2019, some communities along with the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation filed an environmental protection petition before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, requesting the suspension of all administrative acts that promote and authorise the exploration and exploitation of lithium and borate in the Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc basin, until it is guaranteed that irreversible damage to the environment will not be caused. This action, although it has a favourable opinion from the Attorney General's Office regarding its original jurisdiction, is still waiting for the court´s ruling regarding its competence to intervene in the matter. The ground for the Supreme Court´s intervention lies on the fact that Salinas Grandes watershed is an inter-jurisdictional basin shared by the provinces of Salta and Jujuy.
In view of this, the communities of Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc, through the following manifesto, call for an immediate cease of the advance of initiatives and activities in their territory - initiatives justified under the so-called corporate energy transition paradigm that reproduces the logics of inequality and exclusion -, which once again violate fundamental rights, and invite you to join in solidarity and to make this subjugation visible, particularly in the global north where investors are being sought to advance in this bidding process.
You are invited to sign the following communiqué by adding your signature below.
