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Latin America faces a crossroads and there is not much interest from leaders in changing this landscape. This is one of the main conclusions of the authors of the book “The environmental tragedy of Latin America and the Caribbean”, which also makes a collective reflection on what is happening with sustainable development in the region.
The book, published by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), an organization that invited 21 Latin American authors who theorized and deepened the relationship between development and the environment, concludes that the region is subject to a style of capitalism that is leading it to a difficult problem to solve.
The document states that this type of development is extremely harmful, as economic growth has been supported by the exploitation and overexploitation of natural resources, the largest capital that countries in the region have.. “We are concerned about our short-term experience, but it is necessary to think long-term and if these development policies are not changed, the environmental situation will worsen,” said Nicolo Gligo, director of the University’s Center for Public Policy Analysis. of Chile and one of the authors of the book.
They determine in the publication that the solution to environmental problems is neither technological nor scientific and that although these two aspects are important, the best development formula is not to cut down forests, stop polluting the waters and not excessively exploit marine resources. For this reason, the authors believe that the problem is political and managerial and, therefore, it is necessary to start from the improvement of national environmental management systems. Through the book, the authors urgently call for new ways to protect natural resources and achieve sustainable development.
In the first five chapters, of the 12 contained in the book, the authors perform several contributions in which it is supported that the planet has been led to an increasing deterioration of the biosphere, aggravated by the phenomenon of climate change, in the framework of an unbalanced, unjust and exclusive international economic order.
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The book poses the need for a structural change that leads to higher quality development, a paradigmatic and cultural change, which allows a better quality of life, with a significant focus on environmental sustainability. In his reflections, the urgent need to improve development parameters, dominated by the indicators of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is underlined.
Experts, including Colombians Margarita Marino de Botero, Manuel Rodríguez and Julio Carrizosa, say in the publication that the region’s development model is unsustainable and that it is leading to environmental collapse and a generalized crisis. while leaders ignore the warnings and calls to change the model being made by national and international authorities.
Furthermore, there is a need to move towards the implementation of multinational agreements in the field of research and sustainable management of lands and ecosystems or geographic spaces shared between two or more countries, in particular where important transformation processes are underway.
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According to the former Minister of the Environment, Manuel Rodríguez, this environmental tragedy that is experiencing in the region is the one that all human beings are experiencing today, because those who have to make decisions continue to refuse to recognize it.
Increase in poverty
In his view, the way the region is following the course will increase the poverty of hundreds of millions of people. Explain it in The first part of the book diagnoses the situation in Latin America and compares it with other regions of the world. What is worrying is that they all share development models that are environmentally unsustainable and that do not solve various social problems.
In Latin America, he says, the failure of this development model has to do with serious situations, such as the persistence of extreme poverty; the accelerated deterioration of the physical and biological terrestrial and marine environment e the recent increase in the instability of the situation of the emerging middle classes.
Deforestation is one of the serious environmental and sustainable development problems in the region. Photo: Jhon Barros
In the first chapters it is also oriented towards a strategic vision that emphasizes the need for greater knowledge of the territory and its ecosystems, recognize the heterogeneity of the continent, of each country and its various territories, addressing the concepts of ecological, water and carbon footprint and saving the perspective of the balance of materials.
The second part of the book is dedicated to examining possible ways out of the crossroads, without falling, according to Manuel Rodríguez, into the trap of generating the illusion of a radical change in the development paradigm, as proclaimed by some populist leaders in the region. . “It is proposed, yes,” to implement a strategy that translates into the reduction of losses of natural assets and the management of artificial, avoiding reaching the limits of structural changes in the ecosystem, “he says.
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It also addresses the need to bring about productive transformation through new technologies and science, and emphasizes this “Interscience” is the necessary tool for research.
The document acknowledges that there has been progress in environmental legislation and institutions in the region, but their effectiveness and efficiency have been limited. It stresses the need for national strategies that decisively incorporate the environmental dimension in order to help reverse the unsustainability of the current model and make structural changes feasible.
In the framework of the presentation of the book, Rodríguez stated that one of the biggest global problems is climate change and in particular in Latin America, the greenhouse gases that contribute to this crisis are generated by agriculture and deforestation. For this reason, an agricultural transformation is necessary that allows not only to mitigate climate change, but to cope with the impacts it generates. This should lead to better use of water and land.
The generation of high productivity in both peasant farming and large-scale agriculture is part of the same agenda, which should be aimed at inclusion Latin America in another form of world economic growth with value-added agribusiness, with the idea of generating a transition that prevents economies from becoming so dependent on extractivism.
On the other hand, there must be the control of deforestation, which is the biggest problem in the region, with the aggravating circumstance that most of it is generated for the development of extensive livestock. 70 percent of the deforestation in the region goes to this activity.
Indigenous communities are essential for the sustainable development of the region. Photo: Esteban Vega
Indigenous potential for sustainable development
Indigenous and peasant peoples have a special chapter in the 127-page book. To analyze its current and potential contribution to sustainable development, which must necessarily start from the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and the claim of regional farmers.
The existence in the region of a large number of cultures, societies and communities stands out, many of which are organized outside the national society and which have suffered centuries of discrimination, exclusion or harmful inclusion that has marginalized them from effective participation in the formation of nations.
For Rodríguez, This book should serve to generate debate on the future of Latin America and the Caribbean, and as one of the means to transform the environment into a central subject of politics and remove it from the marginal role it occupies today.
For her part, Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of ECLAC, said that it is necessary to move forward in thinking that allows to work on the protection of ecosystems, since it is an irreplaceable capital. “The environment and the environment are the basic infrastructures for the present and future development of our region”.
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