Since its inception in 2018, NLC Argentina has focused its work on the Gran Chaco region, a semi-arid area covering a quarter of the country’s territory and characterised by the highest levels of poverty in the country, as well as various social problems. However, it is currently expanding its activities to different regions of the country, such as Puna and Mesopotamia.

The high concentration of land ownership, the predominance of monocultures, the use of agrochemicals, and the expansion of mining megaprojects – with lithium mining being just one of many examples of the advance of extractive industries – are causing serious ecological impacts and threatening peasant and indigenous communities across the country.

Most Indigenous and rural communities lack land titles and occupy insufficient land for their human development, despite existing legislation. The neoliberal policies of the 1990s increased land concentration, displacing communities and consolidating a form of agriculture without farmers.

And whilst extractive activities are multiplying, the risk to land and environmental defenders is growing, as they lack effective legal protection against criminalisation and threats to their physical integrity.

The far-right national government set to take the helm of the country at the end of 2023 will undoubtedly usher in a period of enormous setbacks. With a narrative that denies the climate crisis and challenges the 2030 Agenda, the far-reaching reforms it is pushing through weaken and undermine the rights of those who live on and from the land in Argentina.

Since the creation of NLC Argentina in 2018, more than 36 organisations have joined the four member organisations of the International Land Coalition in the country — Fundapaz, Fundación Plurales, Redes Chaco and Federación Agraria — to promote ENI Argentina. This network brings together grassroots and peasant organisations, indigenous communities, networks, secondary-level collectives, NGOs, and public and private institutions.

Among the various achievements of the CNT Argentina, its contribution to the drafting and adoption of the regulations for the Family Farming Act, passed in 2023, stands out. Furthermore, thanks to its efforts, the agenda of land and territory defenders was included in the National Plan for the Implementation of the Escazú Agreement.

The CNT is recognised by the UN in Argentina as a key partner in generating information and recommendations on land and territorial rights for CEDAW, DESC, as well as for the Universal Periodic Review, with a focus on the situation of rural women in the Argentine Chaco.