Thousands of indigenous people from the northwestern Argentine province of Jujuy arrived in Buenos Aires on Tuesday after crossing the country to protest a provincial constitutional reform allowing greater lithium extraction from the land they reside on. The protesters said that increased extraction of lithium in the area would cause drought, soil contamination and environmental damage.

The indigenous groups called on the Argentine Supreme Court to strike down the reform after indigenous voices were largely left out of the debate that approved it. Argentina’s Justice Minister, Martín Soria, asked the court to declare the reform unconstitutional in June, citing indigenous rights concerns.

On June 15, lawmakers approved a constitutional reform that would increase mining in Jujuy after a mere three weeks of debate. Protesters claimed that the process of approving the constitutional reform took less time than planned and left little room for consultation and participation.

Article 14 of the international Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, of which Argentina is a signatory, states, “The rights of ownership and possession of the peoples concerned over the lands which they traditionally occupy shall be [recognized].” Article 15 of the convention also stipulates, “The rights of the peoples concerned to the natural resources pertaining to their lands shall be specially safeguarded. These rights include the right of these peoples to participate in the use, management and conservation of these resources.”

The UN Environment Program (UNEP) said in 2022 that governments should agree on mining principles that would safeguard the environment and facilitate a transition to green energy.