Argentina is considering amending its Glacier Law to allow mining in glacial regions, sparking debate over potential impacts on water resources and global food supplies.

Beneath the shining white glaciers of the Andean mountains lie valuable deposits of gold, copper and molybdenum which, until recently, were off-limits to the mining companies that have set their eyes on these untapped minerals. That could be about to change, after legislators in Argentina agreed to amend the Glacier Law that has prohibited all mining and exploration activities in the country’s glacier regions since 2010. The legislation defined the country’s 16,000 glaciers – covering an area of...