Internationally, ‘Environment Day’ is celebrated on the 5th June every year. Interestingly, this is the day that the Argentine government chooses to announce the five most pressing issues threatening the environment in Argentina: Climate change, deforestation, water, waste and conservation of protected areas

“Graffiti is a crime,” Brazilian street artist Alexandre Orion reminds me, as we chat during Puma’s International Urban Art Festival in Buenos Aires. Obvious that may be, but its controversial status seems easy to forget in a world where top graffiti artists’ discarded pizza boxes are sold to fans on eBay.

Toxic chemical residue and methane gas bubbles are a thing of momentary concern to most tourists who pass the end of the 64km Matanza-Riachuelo river, on their way to the vibrant buildings that make up Caminito, in La Boca.

The Blacksmith Institute, in its second annual report, found that the top ten worst polluting sites in the world are in developing countries. The institute ranks places according to the scale and toxicity of the pollution and on the numbers of people at risk, particularly focusing on the health impact of children. And surprisingly, Argentina figured in the organsition’s new ‘Dirty Thirty’ list for the first time.