Institutions and Intellectuals That Configure the Concept of the Environment and Development in Latin America and Its Global Impact

Abstract

This paper is part of a research into the Latin American thinking on international affairs and a continuation of a line of work on Latin American contributions to the environmental discussion installed in the global political agenda in the early 70s. The premise wa s that Latin American contributions were initially made by professionals closely related to ECLAC, UNEP and the Bariloche Foundation. These professionals and agencies understood how poverty and backwardness were endured by the majority of the regional and world’s population was one of the main causes of environmental degradation; consequently, overcoming the environmental crisis meant that underdevelopment should be eradi cated without delay. This view of the environmental problems wa s synthesized in the combined concept of “ environment and development ” , which was also understood in the region as “eco development”. Finally, the broad phenomenon they wanted to describe using the terms “environment and development” was summarized in the concept of sustainable development as defined in the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development report “Our Common Future”.