El municipio y el medio ambiente en América Latina

Abstract

The crisis of the 1980s obliges us to come face to face with the major -and, it seems, very varied- problems that currently hinder development processes in Latin America. One of these entails the markedly centralist orientation of Latin American States, which dooms local municipal governments to marginal status and virtual ineffectiveness. The second major problem discussed in this article has to do with the recent deterioration of the environment which, in the last analysis, is determined by the style of development that has prevailed in the region for the past four decades.

This paper defends the theory that both problems should be tackled in joint fashion through a decentralizing and democratic reform of the State. Within this framework, the strengthening of municipalities and the assumption of their new role as promoters of development at the local level, would allow for comprehensive environmental programs based on specific territorial units; for this reason, they would take into account the enormous; diversity of social and ecological situations existing in Latin America. This essay includes a comparative analysis of the present status of municipalities in nine Latin American countries, as well as a critical appraisal of environmentalist thought in the region.