Hernán Giardini of Greenpeace
The 16th UN Biodiversity Conference, CBD COP16 is taking place in Cali, Colombia. This year’s biodiversity summit must achieve the successful implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted at CBD COP15, addressing the shared root causes of the biodiversity and climate crises, as well as the shared solution, which must centre on justice and solutions led by Indigenous Peoples.
The figure of Hernán Giardini is unavoidable when discussing the defense of natural heritage in the Southern Cone. As coordinator of Greenpeace’s Forest Campaign for 20 years, his role has consisted of transforming citizen indignation into concrete legal tools. His activism is not symbolic; it is technical, political, and based on direct confrontation against the impunity behind deforestation. Giardini embodies a method of struggle that combines media pressure with territorial coordination. He understands that to stop deforestation it is not enough to rely on public denunciation; it is necessary to build alliances with affected communities, including peasant movements and Indigenous peoples. This vision allowed him to promote the approval of provincial protection laws in key districts such as Salta, Santiago del Estero and Chaco, hotspots of agricultural expansion over native forests.
Legislative struggle milestones
Giardini’s passion for the environmental cause materialized in historic political achievements. He was one of the main architects of the approval of the National Forest Law in 2007. During that process, he deployed a massive visibility strategy that placed the issue at the top of the media agenda, generating 175 news pieces in just a month and a half to pressure Congress. His activism went beyond forests to also defend water. Giardini played an active role in the campaign for the Glacier Law (Law 26.639), mobilizing the collection of 1.5 million signatures. This milestone established minimum standards for the preservation of glaciers and prohibited extractive activities such as mining and hydrocarbons in these strategic reserves.
Fighting illegality and apathy
The current scenario Giardini faces is critical. Reports indicate that more than half of Argentina’s deforestation is illegal and that 95% of forest fires have human origin. His work focuses on exposing these crimes through annual investigations and satellite monitoring. Actions such as the 2019 complaint before the Supreme Court for the Chiguayante deforestation demonstrate his approach of taking environmental damage to court to end impunity. Far from giving up in a context he defines as one of “post-pandemic individualism” and lack of political will, Giardini raises the stakes. His daily challenge is to “refresh” the campaign and adapt the message to counter the weakening of environmental regulations, keeping firm the defense of the planet’s lungs against reactionary sectors.
Hernán Giardini built a profile that integrates two worlds: the rigor of journalism and the direct action of environmental activism. A graduate in Communication Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, his trajectory is not linear. Before assuming the coordination of Greenpeace’s Forest Campaign two decades ago, his experience was shaped through collaboration with social movements, recovered factories, and peasant organizations. This foundation allowed him to understand territorial articulation as a key tool beyond simple media outreach. His communicator side is extensive and diverse. Since 1997 he has worked in radio as producer and host, a role he continues today at Radio Piuke. He also ventured into documentary filmmaking by directing “Viaje a la tierra de los Sin Tierra” (2004) and has worked in digital media as writer and editor. This journalistic training is what he now applies to design strategies that break the information barrier surrounding environmental crimes.
By comparing satellite images, Greenpeace estimated that, between January and June 2022, deforestation in northern Argentina reached 41,332 hectares, which is equivalent to twice the area of the city of Buenos Aires. The forests, habitat of the Jaguar, are increasingly threatened by the advance of the agricultural frontier. Scientists estimate that, in Argentina, in the last two centuries, the territory of the Jaguar was reduced to only 5% of its original surface. By violating the Forest Law, the provincial governments of Salta, Santiago del Estero, Chaco and Formosa are responsible for the imminent extinction of this species in the Argentine Gran Chaco, where it is estimated that there are less than 20 individuals left.
Personal interests
Outside the sphere of public campaigns and legislative lobbying, Giardini maintains a life closely linked to his personal interests. He has lived in Bariloche for 12 years, an environment that supports his practice of trekking and his love for mountains and forests. His profile is complemented by an artistic dimension: music. Giardini dedicates time to percussion, a discipline in which he trained for ten years. He also defines himself as a traveler, a characteristic that aligns with his need to understand different territories.
The driving force of his fight
What drives Giardini in his professional role is the confrontation against environmental impunity throughout Argentina. His leadership was decisive in the approval of the Forest Law in 2007 and in the implementation of provincial laws in critical areas such as Santiago del Estero, Salta and Chaco. His current view is one of alert. Given the evidence that most deforestation is illegal and forest fires have human origin, Giardini argues for the need to constantly renew the message. His goal is to counter post-pandemic individualism and generate real collective pressure to stop the destruction of native ecosystems across the country.
Environmental defense is not an office job that ends at five in the afternoon; it is the axis that shapes his personal geography and his life decisions. For more than a decade, the coordinator of Greenpeace’s Forest Campaign has chosen to live in Bariloche, Río Negro, immersed in the ecosystem he seeks to protect. This physical closeness to nature defines his routine. Far from the urban noise of major capitals, Giardini finds balance in mountain trekking and outdoor life. His connection with the environment is complemented by an often unknown artistic side: music. With ten years of percussion training, rhythm is another of his forms of expression, along with his love for travel, which he uses to connect with different territorial realities.
Communication as a tool for transformation
What distinguishes Giardini in the world of activism is his ability to merge two passions that often run separately: rigorous journalism and environmental activism. A graduate in Communication Sciences, he understood early on that denunciation without strategy does not generate change. His path in radio is proof of this consistency. Since 1997 he has been behind the microphone and today continues his work at Radio Piuke, a station in Bariloche where he produces and hosts a news program. For him, communicating is also a form of activism. This integrated vision was shaped by his previous experiences with peasant movements and recovered factories, where he learned that real power lies in social articulation.
From protest to law
Giardini’s passion for environmental justice translated into one of the most pragmatic milestones in Argentina’s recent history: the Forest Law. His role went far beyond being a spokesperson; he was the architect of a social pressure strategy that involved Indigenous communities and media across the country. The figure of 175 news pieces in just a month and a half in 2007 illustrates the intensity with which he lives his campaigns. That same drive helped secure 1.5 million signatures for the Glacier Law, protecting freshwater reserves from mining. However, Giardini does not rest. His view of the current reality is stark but mobilizing: he observes a post-pandemic scenario marked by individualism and a growing flexibilization of environmental rules.
Faced with this, his response is constant reinvention. Whether denouncing illegal deforestation —which today represents more than half of forest loss— or producing documentaries such as Viaje a la tierra de los Sin Tierra, his goal remains unchanged. Hernán Giardini demonstrates that when passion for nature is combined with professional strategy, it is possible to stop destruction and build a legacy of conservation for the Southern Cone.