Economic Development, Environmental Conflicts and Citizen Participation in Latin America

Authors: Luis F. Beltrán Morales, Felipe García-Rodríguez, Daniel LLuch Cota, German Ponce Díaz, Victor Sevilla Unda

Abstract:

Environmental conflicts produced by economic development and natural resources exploitation, are discussed. Main causes of conflicts in developing countries were shown to arise from geographically external investments, inefficiency of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), and the lack of communication between government and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs). Citizen participation can only intervene during late stages of the EIA, which is considered as one of the main shortcomings in satisfying demands of local people.

Keywords: Economic Development, Environmental Conflicts, Citizen Participation, NGOs.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1061928

References:

[1] An├│nimo (1995). El Nuevo Ecologismo: Manifiesto de los ├ímbitos de comunidad, ed. Posada, México, 1995, p.219.
[2] Arts J., Caldwell P. & Morrison-Saunders A. (2001). Environmental impact assessment follow-up: good practice and future directions-- findings from a workshop at the IAIA 2000 conference. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal. 19: 175-185.
[3] Beltrán Morales L.F., García-Rodríguez F.,Ortega Rubio A., Borges- Contreras J. & Sánchez-Mota G. (2003) Multivariate Analysis of the primary economic sector of Mexico. Sustainable Development. 11:77- 83.
[4] Beltrán Morales, L.F. (2002a). Consumo sustentable como derechoobligación para disfrutar de un medio ambiente sano. Región y Sociedad. Vol. 14(23):193-198.
[5] Beltrán Morales L.F., García-Rodríguez F., Ortega-Rubio F. & Borges- Contreras J. (2002b). Apertura Comercial y Medio Ambiente. Interciencia, 27(5): 259-273.
[6] Fischer T. (2002). Strategic environmental assessment performance criteria--the same requirements for every assessment?. Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management. 41: 83-99.
[7] Noble B.F. (2000). Strategic environmental assessment: what is it and what makes it strategic?. Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management. 22: 203-224.
[8] Ortega-Rubio A., C. Salinas-Zavala, D. Lluch-Cota & E. Troyo- Diéguez. (2001). A new method to determine the level of the Environmental Impact Assessment Studies in Mexico. Environmental Impact Assessment Review. 21:73-81.
[9] Pérez-Maqueo O., Equihua M., Hern├índez A. & Ben├¡tez G. (2001). Visual programming languages as a tool to identify and communicate the effects of a development project evaluated by means of an environmental impact. Environmental Impact Assessment Review. 21:241-270.
[10] Sabatini F. (1994). Espiral hist├│rica de los conflictos ambientales: el caso de Chile.Ambiente y Desarrollo, Vol X, Nº 4, 15-19.
[11] Sabatini F. (1995). ┬┐Qué hacer frente a los conflictos ambientales?Ambiente y Desarrollo, Vol XI - Nº 1, 21-30.
[12] Torei S. (1996). La participaci├│n ciudadana en la evaluaci├│n de impactos ambientales. Ambiente y Desarrollo, Vol XII, Nº 1, 7-11.