Tendances et perspectives du développement durable en Amérique latine

Abstract

Among the crises facing humanity on the eve of the 21st century are those involving access to and protection of natural resources. The increasing conflict between economic growth and preservation of the environment threatens already precarious living conditions in the developing world. Deforestation, erosion, pollution, and exhaustion of nonrenewable resources increase the difficulty of satisfying human needs. Controversy over sustainable development increased prior to the Rio Conference in June 1992. The limits of a civilization dependent on hydrocarbons and petrochemical production become much clearer each day, but no other model or strategy of development applicable on the national and international level has been recognized. The widely proclaimed superiority of the neoliberal model based on productivity, market forces, and export must be carefully assessed for its considerable though unacknowledged costs of political repression and environmental degradation. Although there is no widely accepted operational definition of sustainable development, some characteristics have been identified. Sustainable development must be based on a new orientation toward technological progress that will reinforce the productivity of capital and labor without, as in the past, sacrificing the productivity of natural resources. The cost of exhaustion of nonrenewable resources must be included in the calculation of incomes and economic growth rates. A profound transformation is underway of the industrial paradigm that appeared at the end of the last century when assembly line production of standardized consumer goods for the mass market replaced artisanal production. The new paradigm, with integrated systems and flexibility resulting from use of personal computers has modified the rules of international trade. Changes in organizational structures, management techniques, and processes of work will be indispensable to effective use of the new technologies. A systematic and supple integration of production processes, better techniques of quality control, reduced energy consumption and raw material inputs, and continuous training and recycling of the labor force will be required. The progressive deterioration of living conditions for the great majority of Latin Americans under the current system of development encouraging environmental destruction makes the need for a new development strategy obvious. The priority objectives of an endogenous development model include satisfaction of basic needs, greater social equality, and economic practices acceptable for the environment requiring less consumption of energy and raw materials per unit of product.