Foreword
vii
of marine protected areas, expanding horizons and strategically including the sea in
our preservation policies.
Many of these environmental and sustainable development policies demand
processes and times that exceed any administration’s term of office. Said policies
will remain as a firm basis to be carried out and continued in the future.
Consequently, a tension appears between medium- and long-term policies, and
short-term needs. Medium- and long-term policies demand vision. Short-term
policies, however, frequently require the fulfillment of needs that cannot always be
satisfied with structural reforms. Even more, medium- and long-term policies need
strategies and a vision that frequently have an impact in terms of short-term
electoral policies. Electoral policies are necessary in a democracy, but they are not
necessarily good in terms of generating long-term policies that exceed any
administration term of office. From this perspective, the support of the scientific
community and universities must be sustained in the long term.
Speaking of the environment office, our most challenging task is transversality.
We have to work across different ministries, jurisdictions, and disciplines. The
government of each province is responsible for their environmental issues because
they are autonomous and sovereign states. They may use and take possession of
natural resources and, at the same time, control them. They are autonomous in
terms of the anthropic activities they carry out within their territories. At the same
time, the National Government is responsible for social and environmental
minimum requirements that establish a minimum standard, but it is not entitled to
intervene. Should the government of a province not comply with said minimum
requirements, the National Government can only resort to starting legal action
against the province before a federal court. When citizens realize that the provinces
are not observing the minimum environmental requirements, they demand the
National Government enforces the law. This is a legitimate right of people, but it is
also one of the countercultural effects of change. Human beings, in general, and
Argentine people, in particular, always expect “someone else” to comply with the
law. They say: “I’ll do it, but not before someone else, or the government, does it. I
won’t be the first one.” However, even though the government makes decisions, a
cultural change must accompany these decisions. The “social responsibility
agenda” must be transversal. It requires not doing the same things a bit better, but
doing them differently. It requires a paradigm change, that is to say, a cultural shift
that takes longer than one administration’s term of office.
Concerning this environmental agenda, the Pope’s Laudato Si Encyclical
introduces a concept that is mandatory for all states, from an ethical, theological,
and also secular point of view. It appeals to all people without distinctions, to all
religions and to non-believers to take care of our common home. If there is
something that may unite all human beings under a shared cause, it is precisely
taking care of our common home. A discussion on national and jurisdictional
boundaries is no longer meaningful, as the impact of global warming and its effects
spread beyond borders. From a political and economic view, the most polluting
countries should contribute with more resources to mitigate and adapt to climate
change damages. It is not a matter of developed or underdeveloped countries, but of
vii
of marine protected areas, expanding horizons and strategically including the sea in
our preservation policies.
Many of these environmental and sustainable development policies demand
processes and times that exceed any administration’s term of office. Said policies
will remain as a firm basis to be carried out and continued in the future.
Consequently, a tension appears between medium- and long-term policies, and
short-term needs. Medium- and long-term policies demand vision. Short-term
policies, however, frequently require the fulfillment of needs that cannot always be
satisfied with structural reforms. Even more, medium- and long-term policies need
strategies and a vision that frequently have an impact in terms of short-term
electoral policies. Electoral policies are necessary in a democracy, but they are not
necessarily good in terms of generating long-term policies that exceed any
administration term of office. From this perspective, the support of the scientific
community and universities must be sustained in the long term.
Speaking of the environment office, our most challenging task is transversality.
We have to work across different ministries, jurisdictions, and disciplines. The
government of each province is responsible for their environmental issues because
they are autonomous and sovereign states. They may use and take possession of
natural resources and, at the same time, control them. They are autonomous in
terms of the anthropic activities they carry out within their territories. At the same
time, the National Government is responsible for social and environmental
minimum requirements that establish a minimum standard, but it is not entitled to
intervene. Should the government of a province not comply with said minimum
requirements, the National Government can only resort to starting legal action
against the province before a federal court. When citizens realize that the provinces
are not observing the minimum environmental requirements, they demand the
National Government enforces the law. This is a legitimate right of people, but it is
also one of the countercultural effects of change. Human beings, in general, and
Argentine people, in particular, always expect “someone else” to comply with the
law. They say: “I’ll do it, but not before someone else, or the government, does it. I
won’t be the first one.” However, even though the government makes decisions, a
cultural change must accompany these decisions. The “social responsibility
agenda” must be transversal. It requires not doing the same things a bit better, but
doing them differently. It requires a paradigm change, that is to say, a cultural shift
that takes longer than one administration’s term of office.
Concerning this environmental agenda, the Pope’s Laudato Si Encyclical
introduces a concept that is mandatory for all states, from an ethical, theological,
and also secular point of view. It appeals to all people without distinctions, to all
religions and to non-believers to take care of our common home. If there is
something that may unite all human beings under a shared cause, it is precisely
taking care of our common home. A discussion on national and jurisdictional
boundaries is no longer meaningful, as the impact of global warming and its effects
spread beyond borders. From a political and economic view, the most polluting
countries should contribute with more resources to mitigate and adapt to climate
change damages. It is not a matter of developed or underdeveloped countries, but of