Argentine Minister Ricardo Lorenzetti will be decorated in Mexico for his contributions to environmental law

Ricardo Lorenzetti, Minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (CSJN) of Argentina, will be declared a “Herald of Education and Environmental Justice” by the Tlaxcala State Congress in recognition of his contributions to environmental law.

The Argentine minister was nominated by Laura Alejandra Ramírez Ortiz, deputy of the Citizen Alliance Party (PAC) and president of the Committee on Education, Culture, Science and Technology; as well as by Marcela González Castillo, legislator of the ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena), who chairs the Media Commission Environment and Natural Resources.

The recognition will be delivered next Saturday, April 23, after the plenary session of the Tlaxcala Congress approved the proposal with 19 votes in favor and zero against, with the absence of six of the 25 deputies who are part of the legislature.

The reasons for the award to Minister Ricardo Lorenzetti, according to the legislators, are his contributions to “the realization of an effective environmental law”.

“We must recognize the theory of environmental law put forward by Dr. Ricardo Lorenzetti, which turns out to be a splendid work that has a special academic appeal, since it presents an analysis carried out by an Argentine jurist whose work has been published in Mexico, a country where the theory of environmental law is still is in the making,” said Deputy Laura Alejandra Ramírez Ortiz, explaining the reasons for the award before Congress.

The deputies pointed out that the Argentine minister's contributions to environmental law have no borders. “Of particular relevance are Ricardo Lorenzetti's contributions, which are not directed at a particular country or region, but rather contribute to the strengthening of a fundamental right of all people, such as preserving and protecting the environment,” said Congresswoman Marcela González Castillo.

In the same vein, Ramírez Ortiz mentioned: “Dr. Ricardo Lorenzetti's contributions have no borders, because it is a collective good that matters and concerns all people, as is the environment.”

The PAC deputy assured that “the eminent services” provided by Minister Lorenzetti are “for the benefit of the collective good that assists us Tlaxcaltecs”.

Ricardo Luis Lorenzetti was born in the city of Rafaela, in the province of Santa Fe, on September 19, 1955 and since 2004 he became minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation of Argentina, proposed by President Néstor Kirchner following the resignation of Adolfo Vázquez.

Lawyer and PhD in Legal and Social Sciences from the Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Lorenzetti was president of the Court from January 2007 to December 2015.

Since the beginning of 2020, he has been an advisor to the Inter-American Institute of Justice and Sustainability (IIJS), an organization that is based in Washington, United States. The official has dabbled in issues of environmentalism and ecological justice.

As Minister, Jurist and Academic, he has received three appointments as Doctor Honoris Causa and national and international distinctions, including the “Academic Merit” distinction by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in 2004 and the Prize of the National Academy of Law and Social Sciences of Buenos Aires; Venera “Ius Ambiens-Lumen Orbis”, awarded by the World League of Environmental Lawyers of Mexico.

Likewise, he is the author of more than 40 books on environmental and legal issues, including titles such as Theory of Environmental Law (a work that was published in Mexico), The Art of Doing Justice, Collective Justice, Fundamental Rules of Private Law, Consumer Defense, among others; he has also written more than 300 articles and has given more than a thousand lectures.

Among its outstanding actions in the Supreme Court are the adoption of the system of public hearings, the organization of the National Conference of Judges which brings together those who head the judiciary at the federal and provincial levels; the creation of the National Management Commission and the Commission on Access to Justice; the establishment of relations with the Mercosur, United States and Russian Courts.

One of his most important sentences was that of the “Beatriz Mendoza” case, which involved a historic ruling that forced the State to respond to the most serious socio-environmental situation in Argentina, which directly affected more than two million people settled around the Matanza Riachuelo basin, the most polluted in all of Argentina for industrial activity.

At the University of Buenos Aires he led the Specialization in Environmental Law, the specialty in Damage Law, and the Update Program in the Civil and Commercial Code.

His career will now be joined by the “Herald of Education and Environmental Justice” of the Tlaxcala Congress.

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