Know that the “Atlanticazo” is the mobilization against the oil companies in the Argentine Sea

The “Atlanticazo” will be a mobilization carried out by a wide network of environmental organizations to demonstrate their disagreement and opposition to oil exploitation in the Argentine Sea. This mobilization will be carried out this Tuesday, January 4 (01.04.2022) in different districts of the Atlantic Coast and in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.

This demonstration occurs after the past December 30, 2021On the last business day of the year, resolution 436/2021 will be approved, signed by the Minister of Environment and Development of Argentina, Juan Cabandié, where the Norwegian company Equinor is authorized to carry out seismic explorations 160 miles off the southern coast of the province of Buenos Aires.

Credit: EcoHouse Argentina

Since 2020 Equinor requested permission to carry out these actionsand despite the fact that said activity does not have a social license, the permit was granted on the last business day of 2021, in addition, Equinor will have the support and participation of companies such as Shell and YPF.

Many environmental leaders have spoken out with notable concern Given this fact, in this sense, the director of the environmental organization Surfrider Argentina, Gustavo Huici, alleges that There is a lot of risk regarding the idea of ​​oil exploitation in the Argentine Sea.

  • What is seismic exploration? Different NGOs speak about it:

According to the Forum for the Conservation of the Patagonian Sea:

“Seismic prospecting generates intense underwater acoustic booms that can affect essential biological functions of marine mammals, turtles, fish, and birds: from serious injury to death, physical and/or physiological effects, hearing impairment, masking, and behavioral changes”.

It is also important to note that the seismic exploration, stands as the second largest contributor of underwater noisewhich generates an inevitable disruption in the marine environment, according to data provided by Greenpeace Argentina, it is practically impossible to mitigate a sound that has a range of 300,000 km2.

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Finally, the Whale Conservation Institute (ICB) highlights another highly relevant aspect: The biodiversity of the Argentine Sea. The areas where it is intended to carry out seismic prospecting are places of importance for right whales who arrive in spring to feed, likewise, these areas overlap with habitats harboring enormous biodiversity where they occur important ecological processessuch as the spawning of species of environmental and commercial importance, feeding of birds, marine mammals and turtles, many of these species also have vulnerable states of conservation.

In this sense, the ICB states that:

“Because of its value ecosystemicthese same areas were identified as potential Marine Protected Areas by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of the Nation, so this decision is completely contradicted”.

There is no doubt that in the midst of the current climate and ecological crisis, where the urgent need for reduce the consumption and production of fossil fuelsthis activity opens the year as a worrying one for Argentina and the world in general, with fires, droughts and the promise of a sea in danger, it is worth asking:

Where will we look this 2022?

Unequivocally, the answer to this question should focus on the health of our planet.

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