Sustainable Development through Policy Integration in Latin America: A comparative approach

Abstract

‘Greening’ the economy requires the creation of new markets in ecological goods and services, and there exist today many different payment mechanisms that differ significantly in terms of their distributional outcomes. Laura Rival compares three case studies: a forest conservation scheme involving payments for ecosystem services (PES) in the state of Amazonas, Brazil; Ecuador's government-led PES aimed at avoiding carbon dioxide emissions by keeping oil in the ground; and a ten-year grassroots project in the state of Minas Geiras, Brazil, which combats social exclusion with the dissemination of agroecological practices among poor small-scale farmers to provide viable economic alternatives to out-migration. The three programmes result from the efforts of social actors who have sought to create innovative sustainability-enhancing institutions in order to achieve environmental and social policy integration