The Environmental Impact of Globalization on Latin America: A Prospective Approach
17 Pages Posted: 26 Jul 2009
Date Written: 2001
Abstract
Current changes in Latin America include the abandonment of the economic pattern of import substitution, a growing opening of the national economies, a continental wave of political democratization, an apparent economic recovery from the "lost decade" (the 1980s), a growing social polarization, a worsening of environmental problems, the growing influence of the market, and the most intense urbanization process on the planet. The aim of this paper is not to discuss the advantages or disadvantages of the prevailing economic pattern, but only to analyze some of possible environmental implications derived from the way of insertion of the countries of the region in the global economy The region as a whole is relatively well endowed in terms of natural resources. With little more than 8% of the global population, Latin America has 23% of the potentially arable land, 10% of the cultivated land, 17% of the pastures, 22% of the forests (and 52% of the tropical forests), and 31% of the permanently usable freshwater. It has not less than 3% of world reserves of fossil fuel and 19% of the technically usable hydroelectric power.
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