Glacier protection laws: Potential conflicts in managing glacial hazards and adapting to climate change

Abstract

The environmental, socioeconomic and cultural significance of glaciers has motivated several countries to regulate activities on glaciers and glacierized surroundings. However, laws written to specifically protect mountain glaciers have only recently been considered within national political agendas. Glacier Protection Laws (GPLs) originate in countries where mining has damaged glaciers and have been adopted with the aim of protecting the cryosphere from harmful activities. Here, we analyze GPLs in Argentina (approved) and Chile (under discussion) to identify potential environmental conflicts arising from law restrictions and omissions. We conclude that GPLs overlook the dynamics of glaciers and could prevent or delay actions needed to mitigate glacial hazards (e.g. artificial drainage of glacial lakes) thus placing populations at risk. Furthermore, GPL restrictions could hinder strategies (e.g. use of glacial lakes as reservoirs) to mitigate adverse impacts of climate change. Arguably, more flexible GPLs are needed to protect us from the changing cryosphere.

High Mountain Areas

“…In some mountain regions, glacier retreat and related processes of change in the cryosphere have afforded greater accessibility for extractive industries and related activities to mine minerals and metals (medium confidence). Accelerated glacier shrinkage and retreat have been reported to facilitate mining activities in Chile, Argentina and Peru (Brenning, 2008;Brenning and Azócar, 2010;Anacona et al, 2018), and Kyrgyzstan (Kronenberg, 2013;Petrakov et al, 2016), which also interact with and have consequences for other social, cultural, economic, political and legal measures, where climate change impacts also play a role (Brenning and Azócar, 2010;Evans et al, 2016;Khadim, 2016;Anacona et al, 2018). However, negative impacts due to cryosphere changes may also occur.…”

“…These activities have reportedly generated slope instabilities (Brenning, 2008;Brenning and Azócar, 2010;Torgoev and Omorov, 2014), glacier mass loss due to enhanced surface melt from dust and debris deposition (Torgoev and Omorov, 2014;Arenson et al, 2015b;Petrakov et al, 2016), and even glacier advance by several kilometres (Jamieson et al, 2015), although their impact is considered less than that reported for changes in glaciers due to climatic change (limited evidence, medium agreement). Glacier Protection Laws and similar measures have been introduced in countries such as Chile and Argentina to address these impacts (Khadim, 2016;Anacona et al, 2018;Navarro et al, 2018). In addition, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a declaration in 2018 to "protect and restore water-related ecosystems" in mountain areas as elsewhere from contamination by mining (UNHRC, 2018); however, evidence on the effectiveness of these measures remains inconclusive.…”

Climate Change on Glaciers and the Current Approach of Protecting the Glaciers

“…As a result, its significance is widely recognized in the socioeconomic and the environment. For example, Glacier represents an economic asset that benefits agriculture and hydropower sectors [6]. Besides, glacierized environments attract tourists who bring about revenues to the host countries and across the globe [7].…”

“…Even though Glacier is known for its socioeconomic and environmental significance, destructive geomorphic and hydrologic processes have been experienced in the glaciated areas. For example, dangerous occurrences such as glacier lake blast inundations may be triggered by sudden or steady variations in glacier diminuendos [6]. The impact is therefore felt from the resultant damages in the downstream areas.…”

Ley de Protección de Glaciares: el devenir de un conflicto socioambiental

“…Otro elemento relevante para los científicos corresponde a la consideración de riesgos asociados a la dinámica de la criósfera y a su inestabilidad debido a procesos de cambio climático. En este sentido, como plantea Iribarren et al (2018), pasar por alto la dinámica de los glaciares, podría retrasar las acciones necesarias para mitigar los peligros de los glaciares, lo que pone poblaciones en riesgo, lo que sin duda podría generar nuevos conflictos socioambientales. Por ejemplo, en los Andes centrales argentinos y chilenos, el riesgo asociado a los glaciares ha sido mayormente por el avance glaciar episódico e impactos hidrológicos de bloqueo de arroyos de montaña, y colapso de lagos con represas de hielo (Iribarren at al., 2015).…”