Argentina is part of the Lithium Triangle, with the world’s third largest reserves of this critical transition mineral. The country is currently the fourth largest producer of lithium worldwide. There are two operational lithium extraction projects in the Jujuy and Catamarca Provinces and two others under construction - Cauchari-Olaroz and Centenario Ratones - in Jujuy and Salta. There are also 19 projects in different phases of assessment or advanced exploration.
Large-scale mining exploitation in Argentina is still proving to have significant social and environmental impacts, with resulting emergences of confrontation and conflicts. Although Argentina has a legal and institutional system that recognises human rights, including environmental protection, access to information and public participation, there are still significant gaps regarding enforcement and compliance. In conflicts related to future or current extractive projects, local and indigenous communities generally lack involvement in the decision-making process regarding licensing and monitoring.
This situation leads to conflicts with and within local communities, which hurts vulnerable populations and local economies, health, and the environment, thereby threatening sustainable development. Participatory Environmental Monitoring (PEM) approaches can help address these challenges by empowering communities to realise their rights to participation, information, and justice through the engagement of these communities in data collection and the provision of capacity-building for concerned stakeholders, duty bearers and rights holders to develop their roles in mining governance.
In 2021, the EGP in Argentina continued its broad partnership strategy with national and subnational governmental authorities of the mining, environment, indigenous communities, and science and technology areas, mining companies and communities to promote PEM. This was done through dialogue meetings, interviews, exchange, and training modules and workshops.
Three capacity development materials were developed by the EGP Argentina team in 2021, namely:
The EGP is implemented by UNDP Argentina in collaboration with national and subnational authorities. In 2021, the EGP worked with:
The EGP focal point in UNDP Argentina is Melisa Ciurciolo (melisa.noelia.ciurciolo@undp.org).
© 2026 Environmental Governance Programme (EGP)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)