In 2015, the year Ortiz celebrated her 90th birthday, an NGO was set up in Argentina called Eco House, which initially focused on environmental education but later shifted into politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Four years later, just before the coronavirus pandemic, Eco House started to meet with legislators from across the political spectrum to discuss a problem: environmental education in Argentina simply \u201cwasn\u2019t happening\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were very clear that we had to do something,\u201d says Maria Aguilar, Eco House\u2019s director of education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At one meeting at Eco House\u2019s office with politician Camila Crescimbeni, a plan formed to require everyone in a public office to learn about key environmental issues. \u201cEverything happened in this conversation,\u201d says Aguilar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trying to get everyone on board with the idea was difficult. \u201cWe had lots, lots, lots of meetings with different politicians from different parties trying to activate this,\u201d says Aguilar. \u201cNo one was against it, but [there were] always political issues in the middle.\u201d Nonetheless, the idea gathered steam, with NGOs, universities and youth activists in support, and a media campaign behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unesco has been hot on environmental education, saying in 2021 that it should be a core component<\/a> of curricula around the world by 2025. Around the same time, Argentina developed a parallel law requiring environmental education in schools, universities and other public institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Aguilar says the new law developed with Crescimbeni was special. \u201cYou need to make sure that environmental education gets to every sector of society, not only to children. It\u2019s always thought about in that sense, but it\u2019s not enough because we can\u2019t wait for those kids to grow up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Julio D\u00edaz, secretary of the federal criminal court No.1 of La Plata in Buenos Aires province, says environmental training is of \u201cvital importance\u201d to the judiciary because it raises awareness of the complexity of environmental issues. He notes that it also helps people see themselves as part of the environment, and warns that there are common and differentiated responsibilities in the impacts that people have on nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two women senators from different parts of Argentina\u2019s political space started working together to get the law passed. Senator Mar\u00eda Eugenia Catalfamo, from the centre-left Frente de Todos coalition, put forward a bill, and a few days later a similar initiative was introduced in the Upper House by Gladys Gonz\u00e1lez from a centre-right coalition, Juntos por el Cambio. \u201cThat was amazing,\u201d recalls Aguilar. \u201cThey became sort of friends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bill went through the Argentinian parliament and was finally approved, nearly unanimously, in December 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The law requires<\/a> all public officials, whether in the executive, legislature or judiciary, to be trained in environmental and climate change issues. It was named \u201cLey Yolanda\u201d, or \u201cYolanda\u2019s Law\u201d, in honour of Ortiz, and those involved say it was the first of its kind in the world, as far as they are aware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An official guide to the law<\/a> describes it as a \u201cmilestone\u201d, saying: \u201cThe approval of this law not only crystallised a specific moment in our country and its actors, but also the entire extensive and powerful tradition of historical struggles and achievements of environmentalism in Argentina.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The guide, which includes an intimate foreword by a friend of Ortiz, says the law is strategic, seeking to tackle urgent issues and with a long-term political goal. \u201cIn short, it seeks to ensure that this perspective is taken into account when thinking, planning and implementing programmes and actions from state institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aguilar says the passing of Ley Yolanda was great, but only the start of the challenge. \u201cArgentina has lots of really, really good environmental laws that are very hard to implement. Most of them do not happen in real life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government held a consultation on how the law should be implemented. Aguilar notes that most of those that took part initially were from agricultural organisations and oil firms. \u201cIn Argentina, agriculture is the basis of our economy. They were very careful about what was going to be said and that there was nothing that\u2019s going to go against agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government approached Eco House asking for more environmental support to tackle this problem. \u201cThere were very committed people at that moment trying to move this implementation on the right way, luckily,\u201d says Aguilar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eventually, what was agreed was that participants must chalk up 16 hours over six compulsory and two optional modules covering subjects including biodiversity and ecosystems, climate change, the circular economy, and sustainable development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the guide, the \u201cinformation included must be clear, precise and scientifically based, and must be adjusted to the agency and the context in which it is provided\u201d. People who don\u2019t do the training can be fined, and even have their name published online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Eco House did not think the central government\u2019s training scheme, which consisted of videos and some required reading, was good enough. So it developed its own programme, with actual classes where participants could interact and ask questions, which the government validated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aguilar praises the teams working on the implementation of Yolanda and its sister environment education law. \u201cThey were not political; they were technical, and they were very keen on working with us, because they know that the parties can change, but civil society is permanent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Provinces had to individually adopt the law (all but one<\/a> have done so) and could design their own guidelines. Aguilar says Buenos Aires is usually one of the more progressive provinces, but its Yolanda Law only required three modules of 45 minutes each. \u201cThey asked us: \u2018What do you think about it?\u2019 And I was like: \u2018Are you kidding? This is shorter than the Titanic movie.\u2019\u201d In contrast, Chaco, which has some of the worst deforestation rates<\/a> in the world, tried to put in place an ambitious programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One key aspect of the law is that it applies to everyone \u2013 from junior civil servants to the country\u2019s highest office. When then president Alberto Fern\u00e1ndez undertook his training<\/a> in 2022, he put out a press release about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEverything was moving forward pretty fast for a law approved in 2020,\u201d says Aguilar. \u201cYolanda had its website, and you could see how many people had undertaken a course, both with us or with the government.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2023, Argentina elected Javier Milei, a climate change denier<\/a> who rejects deforestation policies and who is now considering following the US<\/a> in withdrawing from the Paris Agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although there is still a page about Yolanda\u2019s Law<\/a> on the Argentinian government\u2019s website, many details have disappeared. \u201cYou cannot download any documents regarding the law, the syllabus, nothing,\u201d says Aguilar. \u201cThey are not promoting anyone to undertake that. I\u2019ve been mailing since this new team started, and you never know who to write to, because no one is there. At first we said, \u2018Okay, let\u2019s give them some time.\u2019” But over a year has now passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nonetheless, training of the judiciary in particular has continued<\/a>, with a programme that lasted the whole of last year. It covers key scientific and legal principles about a swathe of local and global environmental issues. On climate, the course goes into detail about mitigation and adaptation, energy systems and how domestic and international laws play into these. One section explains the Escaz\u00fa Agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n D\u00edaz says the content of the course is truly innovative because most people working in the judiciary have not had any training in environmental matters, \u201cmuch less in sustainability in their undergraduate courses\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n More than 7,000 people have been trained under this programme, including judges, chamber members of Argentina\u2019s courts of appeal, secretaries, students and other personnel within the justice service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFrom the records and returns that I have had from colleagues in the judicial office, and many others in the jurisdiction where I work, I can say that the [training\u2019s] contribution is significant and of enormous relevance for the daily work in the management of a case that has an environmental conflict as its object,\u201d says D\u00edaz. \u201cWith this training, a set of management tools is being provided, both to arrange judicial proceedings within a file, as well as to carry out specific acts in the affected environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He adds that the training contributes to \u201cbetter management of judicialised environmental conflicts\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is happening even though no-one appears to be centrally enforcing or tracking Ley Yolanda, or publicly shaming those who haven\u2019t done what it requires. Queries to an official email address went unanswered, and there is no environment department to pursue.<\/p>\n\n\n\nArgentina has lots of really, really good environmental laws that are very hard to implement. Most of them do not happen in real life<\/blockquote>Maria Aguilar, Eco House\u2019s director of education<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Developing the law<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Gran](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Deforestacion-Chaco-Credito-Martin-Katz-Greenpeace-2-scaled.jpg\")
<\/div>Then everything changed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Javier](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Javier-Milei_toma-de-mando_Argentina_Alamy_2TC5449.jpg\")
<\/div>