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The principal activities of the Observatory are:
The development of studies and investigations about the transnational corporations and the conditions of their participation in the economy of the country, especially analyzing the impacts of their influence on the society, economy and environment
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The monitoring of the operations of
transnational corporations using the base of a system
of environmental, labor, income, gender, management, transparency,
and social responsibility indicators, among others, to
evaluate the business practices of the corporations in
relation to the United Nations Norms on the Responsibilities
of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises
with Regard to Human Rights, the OCDE Guidelines, and
the national and international norms designed to regulate
the activities of these corporations in order to ensure
the public good.
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The publishing of periodic reports that recount economic and financial information, labor information, and details about conflicts between the transnational corporations operating in different sectors of the economy.
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The development of training and advising activities for the social and union organizations to ensure the defense and protection of their rights in front of the power of the transnational corporations.
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Organization of diffusion and denouncement information campaigns at the local, national, and international levels in defense of human rights and vulnerable environments as a result of the activities of transnational corporations
MINING AREA
Mining production in Argentina has become an economic activity of special significance since the policies applied during the 1990’s in favor of the extraction activity. As a result of these conditions, mining activity is primarily taking place in large exploitative operations by transnational corporations.
The existence of a legal framework that practically inhibits the participation of the government in the regulation and control of the activities and conditions in which the transnational corporations realize their exploitation, constitutes permanent factors of conflict that put in question the practices of the corporations and how they contradict the interests of citizens and communities near these exploitations.
This framework labors against the protection and the care of the environment and calls into question the interests and objectives of the development of the country and the regions where these operations take place. Presently, Argentina is one of the most important mineral potencies in the world.
Beyond the economic, social, and labor aspects that characterize the activities of these corporations, an aspect that is especially important to consider is the environmental consequences of this exploitation. In this regard, experience demonstrates that the long term effects of this contamination must be considered, as well as the short term effects. The environmental impact of mining is felt in two specific instances: the first is in the construction of the infrastructure and the second is in the contamination that is caused by open sky mining (as is used in the region). This contamination can be observed during the lifespan of the mine, but does not end with the closing of the mine. Once the minerals have been exhausted and the company leaves, the contamination of the water, earth, plants and animals continues for many years.
Another aspect with special relevance in mining productions is the excessive use of resources of high strategic value, such as water. Mining requires immense quantities of water for the processing and transport of extracted material, in addition to large quantities of electrical energy. Mining production brings with it a voracious consumption of resources increasingly more difficult to obtain, especially in the northern hemisphere, where the availability of water is much less and energy has a much higher cost.
Within these conditions, it is inevitable to define the politic strategies about the position of the State of Argentina and about the conditions for future mineral development.
The observatory is working on the monitoring of the mineral exploitation plants. We work closely to the affected neighborhood and want their discomfort and claims about the negative influence of the plants to be heard by the competent authorities.
Basically, the Observatory is investigating about mineral activity and transnational business and calling the attention to the problems that exist. The goal is to create a law which regulates the exploitation and stops the exemption from punishment a lot of companies enjoy. The law should make clear the national interests and guarantee that the bordering communities can live in favorable conditions, that the environment is protected and that the national and regional development is not disturbed.
Furthermore, we help the factory workers, the local governments and communities to defend their claims about the negative consequences of the mineral exploitation to not let happen that the companies can ignore them because of their dealings.
Finally, we encourage discussions and exchanges between the mineral workers, the communities and organizations working for the worker’s rights, the local governments and as well the companies which are willing to support the interests of all of them.
OIL AREA
Hydrocarbons are the most important source of energy in the world, representing nearly 35 % of energy production worldwide. If natural gas is added, whose production is closely linked to oil, the figure becomes more than 55 %, demonstrating the crippling dependency of the world economy on the oil market.
Presently we estimate that our energetically needs will raise almost a 60% until 2030. That is turning out to be a very critical point in the whole production system. Because of this, the conflicts over control of the resource will increase simultaneously with the resistance to the substitution of sources of energy based in renewable resources and more environmentally sound for the consumption of oil. This resistance, not only clashes with technological and economic limitations, but also with economic interests affected by the possible substitution.
Central actors in these conflicts are the governments of countries that produce oil, and the transnational corporations that control the production and refining of oil at an international level.
In Argentina, the matrix of national consumption of primary energy sources consists of 90 % hydrocarbons, with 47 % being from oil, while natural gas and natural carbon make up 43 % and 0.2 % respectively. The remaining percentage is made up by hydro energy (5 %), nuclear fuels (2 %) and other sources (3 %). The dependence of the socioeconomic structure of the country (as well as the rest of the world) on the oil industry is very high. This makes it a strategic sector of the economy with strong and decisive implications on the organization and conditions of the economic system. Simultaneously, it is a sector dominated by transnational corporations led by YPF, a long standing government corporation currently in Spanish hands.
Given the strategic character of oil activity and the high productivity and business concentration, primarily by foreign corporations, the Observatory has begun a special program to monitor the activities of these companies in order to control their behavior with relation to employment, labor rights, the care of the environment, and their practices in relation to other corporations, to society, and to the political system.
AGROBUSINESS AREA
Throughout the history of Argentina, the agriculture sector has occupied a strategic position in the organization and function of the economy with decisive influence over the society and the evolution of the political system.
In actuality, the impact of the technological change caused by the incorporation of the transgenic soy seed, created by a transnational company, accompanied by agrochemicals and the method of direct sowing have substantially modified the forms and conditions of cultivation, with strong growth in levels of production and profitability not previously realized.
Among other effects, these changes have caused:
- A strong concentration of the agro business with a monopoly of the production and selling of the soybean. Practically, this means that small and medium producers have no other choice then follow the big companies and employ transgenic technology if they want to survive in the competitive market.
- The space the farmers need for the production is increasing. Besides the ecological damage, they often occupy grounds where used to live people who got pushed around illegally and in a repressive way.
- The contamination is extremely high: as the farmers often don’t rotate the ground, cultivate only one product (soybeans) and use agrochemicals that eliminate everything but the soybeans, the ground suffers abuse and the underground water gets contaminated. The consequence is a threat to human health, since we eat the products that come out of this contaminated and bad cared ground.
- The enlargement of the agronomy territories towards regions with eco systems more or less fragile is threatening the ecological balance locally and worldwide..
- The lack of a territorial organization of the agriculture activities leads to a waste and degradation of the recourses.
- Human health is seriously affected by the herbicides and agrotoxins used, affecting those who work on the harvests, those who live in rural areas, and those who consume these crops or their derivatives, containing these harmful substances.
As a result of this situation,
the Observatory has established among its priorities the monitoring
and social control of the corporations that cause and sustain
the structure of agrobusiness that characterizes and defines
the way the agricultural system functions. The Observatory’s
is to evaluate the effects of these corporations on the society,
the economy, and the alimentary security of the population,
as well as to alert social organizations and the political
system about the risks that this situation presents
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