Environmental Politics and Policy in Latin America

Abstract

This chapter examines both the opportunities and the difficulties that shape environmental politics and policy in Latin America. The dynamism of the first half of the 1990s offers reason for cautious optimism about the future of environmental protection in the region, tempered by a recognition of the real political and economic problems that this region faces in the coming decades. International efforts to promote sound environmental policy in the developing world helped educate bureaucrats and politicians in these countries in new ways for assessing the costs and benefits of their development policies. As a consequence of this shift in priorities in the international community, financial and technical assistance is now available for a wide array of projects aimed at transforming development strategies hitherto largely devoid of environmental content. Democratization alone does not guarantee that environmental concerns will gain support in the government. Scarce fiscal resources ensure fierce competition for government funds.