Environmental policy in Chile: the politics of the comprehensive law

After decades of neglect environmental issues are rapidly making their way on to the policy agendas of Latin American governments. Much of the change is due to growing concern over the ecological degradation that has accompanied traditional economic development models. Yet developing countries are understandably reluctant to forgo economic growth in the interest of environmental protection. In order to overcome the divisive issue of growth versus environment, the development community formulated the concept of sustainable development: growth with environmental protection and natural resource conservation. Many of the environmental policy prescriptions of developing nation governments spring from this concept. However, because there is no single, technologically correct alternative to traditional developmental paths the environment can become a highly politicized issue area.