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Sustainable Development in Latin America From the Andes to the Amazon, from the Choco to Chile, Latin America harbors a tremendous diversity of wild places, plants and animals. More than half the world's tropical forests are found here, for example, and its wilderness areas are among the most extensive and beautiful on the planet. Yet the threats facing the continent are well-documented: deforestation and illegal logging, poverty, pollution, and overexploitation of natural resources are all taking their toll. The combination of urgent environmental threats, limited resources, and political and economic inequity presents a difficult challenge for conservation. Over the past decade, sustainable development has emerged as a way of addressing all of these factors in concert. In purely economic terms, sustainable development was defined by the United Nations Rio Conference in 1992 as "economic growth that meets human needs while protecting nature's ability to renew itself." In broader terms, sustainable development is a framework for envisioning and achieving a secure and equitable future for humankind that supports both human and natural communities. The commitment to sustainable development has led conservation groups, governments, and international organizations to invest in a number of conservation strategies in Latin America: debt-for-nature swaps, ecotourism, environmental education, new protected areas, national biodiversity action plans, and the like. Yet sustainable development is not an approach that can be imposed from without: the interests and initiative of local and indigenous peoples living in the affected areas themselves are essential. What is NatureServe Doing? NatureServe works to protect biological diversity in Latin America and the Caribbean by promoting the development and use of scientific information and technologies that can help meet the region's pressing conservation needs. Central to this effort is enhancing capacities for biological inventory, monitoring, and data management by organizations in each country. These efforts support sustainable development initiatives by helping local leaders to better understand the natural resources of their regions and to devise strategies for managing and protecting them. In most cases, conservation goals must be linked with regional and national environmental policies and economic priorities. NatureServe is committed to implementing projects that bridge the gap between economic development and ecosystem sustainability.
Learn more about NatureServe projects in Latin America. Other Key Resources Inter-American
Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN) |
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