The Pursuit of Entrepreneurship by Youths in the Caribbean

Many civilizations have imprinted the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region long before the colonial period. These have in many cases developed into “cultural landscapes” or outstanding works of nature and of man as defined by the World Heritage (WH) Convention. Interestingly the LAC region remains one of the less represented, accounting only 8% of the “cultural landscapes” worldwide. This paper analyzes with “qualitative content analysis”, the constituting elements that have been used for the properties nomination in the region of LAC region. The data sources included the WH designation reports and nomination files. We conclude that the cultural landscapes in the LAC region have been nominated exclusively on the basis of WH cultural criteria with natural criteria remaining absent. Most cultural landscapes in the LAC region rest on still ongoing economic activities which in turn are linked to a Nation-place and State –making narrative. We hold the thesis, that the value of cultural landscapes is understood and known in the LAC region but used strategically for the conservation of existing (traditional) spatial orders. We suggest the inclusion of natural values and their respective organizations to level the region to new spatial complementarities and global orders.

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgments I would like to thank Paul Cammack, Adam David Morton, Stuart Shields and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft. Notes 1. James D. Wolfensohn & François Bourguignon, Development and Poverty Reduction: Looking Back, Looking Ahead (World Bank, 2004), p. 32. 2. Paul Cammack, ‘Neoliberalism, the World Bank, and the New Politics of Development’, in Uma Kothari & Martin Minogue (eds), Development Theory and Practice: Critical Perspectives (Palgrave, 2002), pp. 157–78; Paul Cammack, ‘The Mother of all Governments: The World Bank's Matrix for Global Governance’, in Rorden Wilkinson & Steve Hughes (eds), Global Governance: Critical Perspectives (Routledge, 2002), pp. 36–53; Paul Cammack, ‘The Governance of Global Capitalism’, Historical Materialism, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2003), pp. 37–59; and Paul Cammack, ‘What the World Bank Means by Poverty Reduction and Why it Matters’, New Political Economy, Vol. 9, No. 2 (2004), pp. 189–211. 3. Cammack, ‘Neoliberalism’, p. 178. 4. Cammack, ‘The Mother of all Governments’, p. 50. 5. Cammack, ‘What the World Bank Means by Poverty Reduction’, p. 197. Despite Stiglitz's somewhat acrimonious departure in January 2000, his legacy endures insofar as the logic of competition remains at the heart of World Bank political economy. The 2005 World Development Report, for example, states that that ‘a good investment climate encourages firms to invest by removing unjustified costs, risks, and barriers to competition’. What is required, therefore, is ‘an environment that fosters the competitive processes that Joseph Schumpeter called “creative destruction” – an environment in which firms have opportunities and incentives to test their ideas, strive for success, and prosper or fail’. World Bank, World Development Report 2005: A Better Investment Climate for Everyone (World Bank & Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 2. 6. Though the frame of reference for the central argument of this article is Cammack's scholarship on the governance of global capitalism, the utility of the analysis being presented certainly extends to fall within a variety of contemporary historical materialist scholarship. For example, the article could easily complement recent work on the ‘transnationalisation’ of the state. See William I. Robinson, A Theory of Global Capitalism: Production, Class, and State in a Transnational World (The John Hopkins University Press, 2004); and, for an application of the theory, William I. Robinson, Transnational Conflicts: Central America, Social Change, and Globalization (Verso, 2003). It could also serve as useful postscript to the analysis of the transnationalisation of the Mexican state by Adam David Morton, ‘Structural Change and Neoliberalism in Mexico: “Passive Revolution” in the Global Political Economy’, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 4 (2003), pp. 631–53. However, I should stress that my research seeks to develop an approach that places investigatory primacy upon the study of ‘social form’ in capitalism and, as such, advances a different kind of dialectical analysis to that operationalised by Robinson, Morton and other contemporary theorists of ‘global economy’. By approaching the question of national reforms from a different methodological standpoint, the wider research of which this article is constitutive has arrived at qualitatively different conclusions to those of Robinson and others. For further clarification of this methodological distinction and why it is important, see the exchange between Andreas Bieler & Adam David Morton, ‘Globalisation, the State and Class Struggle: A “Critical Economy” Engagement with Open Marxism’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol. 5, No. 4 (2003), pp. 467–99; and Werner Bonefeld, ‘Critical Economy and Social Constitution: A Reply to Bieler and Morton’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol. 6, No. 2 (2004), pp. 231–37. 7. Mark E. Williams, Market Reforms in Mexico: Coalitions, Institutions, and the Politics of Policy Change (Rowman and Littlefield, 2001), p. 3. 8. See Nora Lustig, Mexico: The Remaking of an Economy (Brookings Institution, 1995); Gerardo Otero (ed.), Neoliberalism Revisited: Economic Restructuring and Mexico's Political Future (Westview Press, 1996); and Susanne Soederberg, ‘State, Crisis, and Capital Accumulation in Mexico’, Historical Materialism, Vol. 9, No. 1 (2001), pp. 61–84. 9. Here, I am paraphrasing Wolfensohn & Bourguignon, Development and Poverty Reduction, p. 2. 10. Joseph Stiglitz, ‘More Instruments and Broader Goals: Moving Toward the Post-Washington Consensus’, The WIDER Annual Lecture, Helsinki, Finland, 7 January 1998; and Joseph Stiglitz, ‘Towards a New Paradigm for Development Strategies, Policies and Processes’, Prebisch Lecture, UNCTAD, Geneva, 19 October 1998. 11. Joseph Stiglitz, ‘Distribution, Efficiency, and Voice: Designing the Second Generation of Reforms’, speech delivered during conference sponsored by the Brazilian Ministry of Land Reform and the World Bank, Asset Distribution, Poverty and Economic Growth, Brasilia, 14 July 1998. 12. Principal authors of the Viewpoints reports have included Shahid Javed Burki, a former finance minister for Pakistan, former World Bank vice president for the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region, and most recently the chief executive officer of Washington DC-based EMP Financial Advisors; Sebastian Edwards, a Chicago-trained economist, columnist for the Wall Street Journal, consultant to numerous international organisations and multinational firms, former World Bank Chief Economist for the LAC, and currently Henry Ford II Professor of International Business Economics at the Anderson School of Management, California; Guillermo E. Perry, former Colombian minister of finance and public credit, former Colombian senator and constitutional assemblyman, and director of LAC policy research at the Bank since 1996; and David de Ferranti, chair of the Rockefeller Foundation's finance committee, former director at the Rand policy research institute, and current Bank vice president for LAC. 13. This ‘unfinished’/‘second generation’/‘incomplete’ discourse is not confined to the Viewpoints series. See, for example, José Luis Guasch, Labor Market Reform and Job Creation: The Unfinished Agenda in Latin American and Caribbean Countries (World Bank, 1999); and Indermit S. Gill, Claudio E. Montenegro & Dörte Dömeland (eds), Crafting Labor Policy: Techniques and Lessons from Latin America (World Bank & Oxford University Press, 2002). Nor is it confined to World Bank reports for the LAC region – see, for example, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Productive Development in Open Economies (ECLAC, 2004). 14. Shahid Javed Burki & Sebastian Edwards, Latin America after Mexico: Quickening the Pace, Latin American and Caribbean Studies Viewpoints (World Bank, 1996), p. 11. 15. Shahid Javed Burki & Sebastian Edwards, Dismantling the Populist State: The Unfinished Revolution in Latin America and the Caribbean, Latin American and Caribbean Studies Viewpoints (World Bank, 1996), p. 25. 16. The most explicit and, at the same time, accessible exposition of this ‘deep interventionist’ competition logic can be found in World Bank, Transition – The First Ten Years: Analysis and Lessons for Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union (World Bank, 2002). 17. Burki & Edwards, Dismantling the Populist State, p. 27. 18. See, for example, Juan Luis Londoño, Poverty, Inequality, and Human Capital Development in Latin America, 1950–2025, Latin American and Caribbean Studies Viewpoints (World Bank, 1996). 19. Shahid Javed Burki & Guillermo E. Perry, The Long March: A Reform Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean in the Next Decade, Latin American and Caribbean Studies Viewpoints (World Bank, 1997). 20. Ibid., p. 57. 21. Shahid Javed Burki & Guillermo E. Perry, Beyond the Washington Consensus: Institutions Matter, Latin American and Caribbean Studies Viewpoints (World Bank, 1998). 22. Ibid., p. 25. 23. Ibid., pp. 34–6. 24. Shahid Javed Burki, Guillermo E. Perry & William Dillinger, Beyond the Center: Decentralizing the State, Latin American and Caribbean Studies Viewpoints (World Bank, 1999), pp. 1–7. 25. David de Ferranti, Guillermo E. Perry, Indermit S. Gill & Luis Servén, with Francisco H. G. Ferreira, Nadeem Ilah, William F. Maloney & Martin Rama, Securing our Future in a Global Economy, Latin American and Caribbean Studies Viewpoints (World Bank, 2000), pp. 1–12. 26. Ibid., p. 123. 27. Ibid., p. 125. 28. David de Ferranti, Guillermo E. Perry, Daniel Lederman & William F. Maloney, From Natural Resources to the Knowledge Economy: Trade and Job Quality (World Bank, 2002). 29. Ibid., p. 2. 30. David de Ferranti, Guillermo E. Perry, Indermit Gill, J. Luis Guasch, William F. Maloney, Carolina Sánchez-Páramo & Norbert Schady, Closing the Gap in Education and Technology, Latin American and Caribbean Studies (World Bank, 2003). 31. Ibid., p. 10. 32. David de Ferranti, Guillermo E. Perry, Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Michael Walton, Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean: Breaking with History?, Latin American and Caribbean Studies Viewpoints (World Bank, 2004). 33. Nikki Craske, ‘Another Mexican Earthquake? An Assessment of the 2 July 2000 Elections’, Government and Opposition, Vol. 36, No. 1 (2001), pp. 40–1. 34. Vicente Fox Quesada, A Los Pinos: Recuento autobiográfico y politico (Editorial Oceano de México, 1999), pp. 112–3. 35. Ramón Muñoz Gutiérrez, Pasión por un Buen Gobierno: Administración por Calidad en el gobierno de Vicente Fox, en Guanajuato (Editorial Grijalbo, 2003), pp. 9–35, 57–62, and 23. Further evidence of Fox's politics can be found in his involvement with prominent Latin American ‘third way’ political forums, such as the Grupo Mangabeira and the Grupo San Angel. Fox's first foreign minister discusses this involvement, and the content of the resulting ‘Buenos Aires consensus’, in Jorge G. Castañeda, ‘Mexico: Permuting Power’, New Left Review, No. 7 (2001), pp. 17–32. Such forums have been criticised for espousing ‘the ultimate goal of a market society of possessive individuals’: see John Gledhill, ‘Some Conceptual and Substantive Limitations of Contemporary Western (Global) Discourses of Rights and Social Justice’, in Christopher Abel & Colin M. Lewis (eds), Exclusion & Engagement: Social Policy in Latin America (Institute of Latin American Studies, 2002), pp. 131–47. 36. The Mexican Employers' Confederation (COPARMEX) had been formed in 1929 by conservative, and predominantly Catholic, Monterrey-based industrialists united in their opposition to the social reformism of the Mexican government at this time and, in particular, to the newly adopted Federal Labour Law. COPARMEX went on to cultivate a number of voluntary organisations that would later provide support for the National Action Party (PAN) and form the neopanista wing of the party, to which Fox is most closely aligned. 37. Roderic Ai Camp, Mexico's Mandarins: Crafting a Power Elite for the Twenty-First Century (University of California Press, 2002), p. 269. 38. Ibid., p. 270. 39. Roderic Ai Camp, Politics in Mexico: The Democratic Transformation (Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 183. 40. Poder Ejecutivo Federal, Plan Nacional de Desarrollo, 2001–2006 (Poder Ejecutivo Federal, 2001). 41. Ibid., pp. 21–2, my translation. 42. Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social, Programa Nacional de Política Laboral, 2001–6 (Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social, 2001). 43. Ibid., p. 112, my translation. 44. The discursive correspondence between the Fox government's policy documents and World Bank, World Development Report 2005: A Better Investment Climate for Everyone, is striking: ‘An investment climate that encourages growth creates sustainable jobs and opportunities for microentrepreneurs – the key pathways out of poverty for poor people, pathways that will become more crowded with coming demographic changes (p. 19). … It also encourages people to invest more in their own education and skills to take advantage of better jobs in the future. There is thus a two-way link between skills and jobs, with an improved investment climate complementing efforts to improve human development (p. 33). … There are, however, short-term costs due to changes in job characteristics and greater labour mobility in a modern, productive economy. This reinforces the importance of looking at labour market policies in the context of broader strategies, including efforts to foster a more skilled and adaptable workforce and to help workers cope with change’ (p. 142). 45. Gustavo Castro Soto, ‘The World Bank in Mexico’, Chiapas al Día, No. 236, 22 March 2001, http://www.ciepac.org/bulletins/ingles/ing236.htm, accessed on 31 January 2005. 46. ‘Directivos del Banco Mundial se reúnen con presidente de México y reafirman confianza en la economía del país’, World Bank press release, 20 January 2003. 47. See Dan Morrow (Lead Researcher), ‘Mexico: Country Assistance Evaluation’, Operations Evaluation Department, World Bank, 28 June 2001; and the author's interview with a Senior Operations Officer, Colombia and Mexico Country Management Unit, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank Group), Mexico City, 1 December 2003. 48. Other Mexican officials present at the meetings included: Carlos Gadsen (Director General of the National Institute for Federalism and Municipal Development); Angel Gurría (Minister of Finance and Public Credit); Rodrigo Morales (Director of the Centre for Economic Investigation); Ricardo Ochoa (a Director General in the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit); Moises Pineda (now an executive at the World Bank); Cecilia Ramos (former Minister for Economic Affairs in the Mexican Embassy to the UK, and now a representative of Mexico at the World Bank); and Eduardo Sojo (the Presidential Coordinator of Public Policy). 49. Marcel M. Giugale, Olivier Lafourcade & Vinh H. Nguyen (eds), Mexico: A Comprehensive Development Agenda for the New Era (World Bank, 2001). 50. World Bank Comprehensive Development Secretariat, ‘Comprehensive Development Framework: Implementation Experience in Low- and Middle-Income Countries – Progress Report’, 26 April 2002, p. 59. 51. See Marcel M. Giugale, ‘A Comprehensive Development Agenda for the New Era: Synthesis’, in Giugale et al., Mexico: A Comprehensive Development Agenda, p. 3. 52. Ibid., pp. 15–16; also William F. Maloney, with Gladys Lopez-Acevedo & Ana Revenga, ‘Labor Markets’, in Giugale et al., Mexico: A Comprehensive Development Agenda, pp. 511–36. 53. World Bank, ‘Memorandum of the President of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Finance Corporation to the Executive Directors on a Country Assistance Strategy of the World Bank Group for the United Mexican States’, Report No. 23849-ME, Colombia–Mexico–Venezuela Country Management Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, 23 April 2002; Ulrich Lächler (Lead Researcher), ‘Mexico: Enhancing Factor Productivity Growth’, Country Economic Memorandum, Report No. 17392-ME, Mexico Department, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, World Bank, 31 August 1998; and World Bank, ‘Memorandum of the President of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corporation to the Executive Directors on a Country Assistance Strategy Progress Report of the World Bank Group for the United Mexican States’, Report No. 22147-ME, Colombia–Mexico–Venezuela Country Management Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, 21 May 2001. 54. Morrow, ‘Mexico: Country Assistance Evaluation’. 55. Ibid., p. iii. 56. ‘Memorandum to the Executive Directors and the President’, 28 June 2001, in Morrow, ‘Mexico: Country Assistance Evaluation’. 57. World Bank, ‘Memorandum of the President of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Finance Corporation to the Executive Directors on a Country Assistance Strategy of the World Bank Group for the United Mexican States’, p. 1, emphasis added. 58. Ibid., pp. 43–50. 59. Ibid., p. 22, emphasis added. 60. Official Diary, Poder Ejecutivo Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, 6 December 2001. 61. Gillette Hall (Lead Researcher), Estrategia Desarrollo de los Estados del Sur de México, Vols. I and II (World Bank, 2003). 62. ‘México necesita combatir la pobreza en el sur para consolidar su prosperidad económica’, World Bank press release, No. 2004/012/MEX, 25 September 2003. 63. Olivier Lafourcade cited in ‘World Bank Team Offers Policy Menu’, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/LACEXT/MEXICOEXTN/0,,contentMDK:20018971∼menuPK:338416∼pagePK:141137∼piPK:141127∼theSitePK:338397,00.html (accessed on 31 January 2005). 64. The term ‘official’ here refers to those unions that were given privileged political access to state resources under the PRI and, as a result, were able to broaden membership and defeat their adversaries within the labour movement. The dominant position of these ‘state-corporatist’ unions remained unchallenged until the 1980s and the onset of neoliberal restructuring. 65. Lächler, ‘Mexico: Enhancing Factor Productivity Growth’, pp. 91–2; Graciela Bensusán, ‘A New Scenario for Mexican Trade Unions: Changes in the Structure of Political and Economic Opportunities’, in Kevin J. Middlebrook (ed.), Dilemmas of Political Change in Mexico (Institute of Latin American Studies and Center for US–Mexican Studies, 2004), pp. 261–5; see also James G. Samstad, ‘Corporatism and Democratic Transition: State and Labor During the Salinas and Zedillo Administrations’, Latin American Politics and Society, Vol. 44, No. 4 (2002), pp. 1–28. 66. Giugale, ‘A Comprehensive Development Agenda for the New Era’, p. 15. 67. Maloney, with Lopez-Acevedo & Revenga, ‘Labor Markets’, p. 513, emphasis added. 68. This follows the typology of Mexican labour unions in Bensusán, ‘A New Scenario’, pp. 237–85. Bensusán's third type is ‘movement unionism’, which refers to those unions that are insistent about their opposition to neoliberalism and openly seek to challenge the state. 69. Abascal was quoted as follows in La Jornada, 26 May 2001: ‘In effect, there is a shared vision about the necessity to modernize labor legislation. We are in agreement with the modernization of this legislation, but we are in agreement with everyone: national and international investors, the World Bank, and workers. Everyone is in agreement because it is necessary to do it’ (my translation). 70. Kevin J. Middlebrook, ‘Mexico's Democratic Transitions: Dynamics and Prospects’, in Kevin J. Middlebrook (ed), Dilemmas of Political Change in Mexico (Institute of Latin American Studies and Center for US–Mexican Studies, 2004), p. 36. The UNT stress in their counter-proposal for labour reform that ‘the choice is not flexibility versus justice’, and neither is it between ‘productivity and the profit of the firm versus the rights of workers’ – see Unión Nacional de Trabajadores, ‘Por un Nueva Ley Federal del Trabajo para la reestructuración productiva y la transición democrática’, Trabajadores, No. 30 (2002), my translation. The compulsion to make this clear testifies to the extent of the UNT's suspicion as regards the Fox government's for labour The the state to to workers is that which from being market not that which from or Mexico Labor and a of the Mexico Labor the United and the Center of the See ‘Por un Nueva Ley Federal del Trabajo para la reestructuración productiva y la transición Secretaría de y Programa Nacional de del Desarrollo, (Secretaría de y 2002). World Bank, Country Economic and for Report Mexico and Country Management Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, 30 July 2002, p. 16. See Ramos de and in Policy The First of Vicente Center for International Development at University No. 2001). Fox his efforts at public support a and the on on two in See Ramos de pp. the for reform was the of in the form of a ‘The New Public Jornada, 28 March 2001). For a of see Secretaría de y First of and of the Financial Reforms’, 7 May 2001. See ‘The Political of in Mexico’, in and S. (eds), and in Latin America University Press, pp. The term was by Guillermo with reference to the of in and Carlos in A key of these was the in which ‘the the of a the of the & Latin America 2003), p. the between Fox and do not here for et al., out that their as for their own to the of the of and to policy in a by market (p. have Fox with to his own the has an of in the see Camp, Politics in p. ‘a study of the that the on a of the time with for Fox has had an with prominent and and de de had a with Carlos which Fox had to a that the of Guanajuato in Fox's to for president his de as to the and his of his with the See Mexico: as It Vol. No. (2002), pp. For Fox had to at the that the reforms would further of a to the during meetings a See La Jornada, 14 December 2000 and 21 December La Jornada, 6 April 2001. La Jornada, April 2001. During 2002, a reform to the development the Federal of and to Public a reform to the of the and the of the See Secretaría de y ‘The Executive to the Economic for had been a of the Grupo San Angel with Fox and had public of support for the government July 2003). and Mexico & Report, January ‘The of Vicente Fox is ‘the president will to in Los but be changes from his like other but be a political in July 2003). The a Years: The and Fox as a somewhat of an 2003). See Nacional a la y de los de la Nacional de México, 2004). as to the number of to the Ministry for the there were 28 2003), there were Labor & 2003). Mexico Labor & December and La Jornada, December 2003. in December 2003. quoted in March For a further of the of reform under Fox, see ‘The of The Political Economy of Reform in Mexico’, Capital & Class, No. pp. La Jornada, December See, for example, World Bank, ‘Memorandum of the President of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Finance Corporation to the Executive Directors on a Country Assistance Strategy of the World Bank Group in with the United Mexican States’, Report Colombia and Mexico Country Management Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, April and M. at an Vol. No. 1 (2004), pp. but other example, the on the Strategy key for growth within the the of barriers to the climate for and labour See the The for growth and Report from the Group by for Official of the 2004).

The Obama administration has an historic opportunity to reform the US ‘War on Drugs’ (WOD) policies in the strategically important Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region. This paper examines the impact of the WOD policies and concludes they have seriously exacerbated crime and corruption rates in LAC. The result is weakened governance structures and economic capacities in LAC. The WOD has emphasized supply curtailment in source and transit countries, rather than demand reduction in the US This offshoring of attacks on drug organizations has resulted in the acceleration of violence and corruption as drug traffickers develop new strategies to maintain their profits. The LAC region has the highest murder rate in the world, even higher than regions with armed conflict. We recommend that the US abandon drug prohibition. Decriminalization would allow governments to control the trans-shipment, production and distribution of these drugs. This would immediately allow resources devoted to law enforcement activities to be redirected to assist addicts and to provide financial support to strategically important neighboring LAC states. Controlling the marketplace would also provide the US and LAC with new sources of taxes. We also recommend that LAC governments act together to overcome their small sizes or weak institutional capacities by deepening cooperation as between MERCOSUR and CARICOM. This would enable joint initiatives such as policing of territorial water, thus reducing the need for US incursions into the region. Finally, any solution in the region must be supported by the creation of economic opportunities, both intra-regionally and through fairer access to the US markets, particularly for agricultural goods.

The main aim of this review is to examine agricultural water consumption in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) regions to understand how climate change will impact water availability and how the application of nuclear and stable isotope techniques can be used as tools for improving water use efficiency (WUE) for crop production. The status of agricultural water management in some LAC countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, is also reviewed. In the LAC region, water consumption for agricultural irrigation ranged between 35% and 86% of the total available water. However, the WUE is very low in some LAC countries. Although the region, in general, has adequate water resources, there is still a need to improve WUE to increase the productivity of agricultural water. The impact of climate change in some LAC countries may lead to intensification and expansion of agricultural activity. In these areas, the WUE can be improved through soil and water conservation, minimizing soil evaporation (E), as well as through better irrigation management, especially by using an integrated approach on an area-wide basis to manage all land use activities and farming systems within an agricultural catchment. Nuclear and stable isotope techniques using Keeling Plot or IMB methods can play important roles in improving WUE in agriculture in LAC countries by providing information related to soil water losses for improving irrigation systems.

The Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region must acknowledge both the potential of second-generation biotechnologies and the public's deep mistrust for new, untested technologies they feel are outside their control. The future success of cisgenic and Genome Edited (GEd) crops depend to a large extent on whether public policy is well-crafted. In order to build public confidence in the governance of second-generation biotechnologies, transparency, together with adherence to safety and environmental standards and ethical principles, is essential. However, the all-important safety aspects of policy must be guided by scientifically defensible, risk-based approaches rather than protectionist and restrictive trade and assistance policies, and public opinion, especially when the latter is driven by activist groups and geopolitical agendas. To promote sustainable development and global harmony, industrialized countries also have a moral imperative not to influence policies that limit the development of other less advanced countries (Lower and Middle Income Countries, LMICs) and learn from the missteps of regulating Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) that illustrate that choosing a flawed paradigm has critical implications for a technology. This chapter answers a call from many scientists and stakeholders in the LAC region to policy makers, regulators, science communicators and society, to embrace innovation and seize the opportunity to make second-generation biotechnologies an accessible option for those who could benefit most, contribute to food security and make a circular bio-economy a feasible reality for the region. The agricultural and food systems in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region need urgent reform, as the region is the world's breadbasket and its lungs. To enter the circular bio-economy and contribute to decarbonization, the region needs to enhance its biomass productivity with less inputs (land water, agrochemicals), with environmental responsibility and with social inclusion. Properly used biotechnologies, such as GMOs and New Breeding Techniques (NBTs), also known as Precision Breeding that may include cisgenesis, can contribute to a Climate-Smart-Agriculture and several of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG2. This chapter explores and discusses the adoption of second-generation biotechnologies and discusses mechanisms for crafting coherent science-based and risk-based policy for agriculture biotechnology in the region. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay are leading the way in the Southern Cone, and Honduras and Guatemala in Central America, while Mexico, the Caribbean nations and the Andean countries are lagging behind with agricultural policies influenced by political populism and narrow sectorial interests, paradoxically leading to a host of unintended political, social and economic consequences, with the exception of Colombia. As a key agrifood trade partner to the EU, the chapter explores LAC's role and discusses the important influence and the unintended consequences of past and current anti-GMO advocacy, including the damaging EU's Farm-to Fork policies for the region. As a high goal, the chapter proposes policy harmonization on cisgenesis and NBTs in the region, following the lead from the Southern Cone countries, especially Argentina.

The economic success of China and India is looked upon with admiration but also concern about the effects that the growth of these Asian economies may have on the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region’s manufacturing and services sectors. The evidence summarized here indicates that certain manufacturing and service industries in some countries, particularly in Mexico and to a lesser extent in Central America and the Caribbean, have been negatively affected by Chinese and Indian competition in third markets. Also, LAC imports from China and India have been associated with modest unemployment and adjustment costs in manufacturing industries. Nevertheless, there is substantial evidence of positive aggregate effects for LAC economies associated with China and India’s greater presence in world exports, financial flows, and innovation. Even though there is significant heterogeneity of such effects across LAC sub-regions, China and India’s growth is creating new production possibilities for LAC economies, in particular for sectors that rely on natural resources and scientific knowledge, which not only benefit from the growing internal markets of the two Asian economies and their effect on commodity prices, but also from complementarities in third markets through production networks, cheaper inputs and capital, and innovation spillovers. In sum, China and India’s growth has not been a zero-sum game for LAC, but the potential benefits are not being fully realized. It is crucial that LAC countries take full advantage of the growing presence of China and India in world markets by adopting offensive strategies that facilitate both the participation of LAC firms in global production networks and their commercial presence in the two Asian economies’ markets. Governments should avoid protectionist temptations and should focus on facilitating the adjustment in affected sectors, as well as the emerging structural shift towards more natural-resource and scientific-knowledgeintensive sectors by adopting adequate education, innovation (both patentable and non patentable), natural resource management, and rural development policies.

BackgroundViolence-related injury has been an important harmful consequence of drinking in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region, but the risk at which drinking places the individual for violence-related injury...

This article examines how the Chinese elites are interpreting China’s growing presence in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region and the various ways in which the United States is responding to China’s expanding activity in the region. Some of China’s elites caution that China’s international posturing could be overly assertive. Regarding China’s growing role in the LAC, they have made a note of US sensitivities, in addition to China’s challenges and limitations in various Latin American countries. Regarding the US response, some US concerns may be legitimate, and others are less valid. Looking ahead, even though US–China interactions in the LAC will remain competitive, the US and China could potentially avoid counterproductive policies while also pursuing pragmatic co-operation. While China does not yet face a serious problem of strategic overstretching in the LAC, China’s domestic debate on the topic will provide feedback to China’s policymakers and promote fruitful China–LAC relations.

The alcohol industry in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region promotes demand for alcohol products actively through a number of channels, including advertising and sponsorship of sports and other events. This paper evaluates whether human rights instruments that Latin American countries have ratified can be used to limit children's exposure to alcohol advertising and promotion. A review was conducted of the text of, and interpretative documents related to, a series of international and regional human rights instruments ratified by most countries in the LAC region that enumerate the right to health. The Convention on the Rights of the Child has the most relevant provisions to protect children and youth from alcohol promotion and advertising. Related interpretive documents by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child affirm that corporations hold duties to respect and protect children's right to health. Human rights norms and law can be used to regulate or eliminate alcohol beverage marketing and promotional activities in the Latin American region. The paper recommends developing a human rights based Framework Convention on Alcohol Control to provide guidance.

Public vaccine manufacturing capacity in the Latin American and Caribbean region: Current status and perspectives

Objective To determine the association between fetal macrosomia (FM) and postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) women.Data Sources Studies evaluating the association between FM and PPH (≥ 500 ml) and severe PPH (≥ 1,000 ml) until November 4, 2021, indexed in CINHAL, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, LILACS, and SciELO.Selection of Studies Inclusion criteria were cohort and case-control studies that provided the number of PPH and FM cases. Exclusion criteria were studies lacking information about the number of cases, with a population of women who were not from LAC; published in a language other than English, Spanish, or Portuguese, and with a different design.Data Collection Data extraction was performed independently by two authors, and discrepancies were resolved with a third author. Data regarding FM and PPH cases were retrieved.Data Synthesis Of the 1,044 articles evaluated, 5 studies were included, from 6 different countries: Argentina and Uruguay (multi-country), West Indies, Antigua and Barbuda, French Guyana, and Suriname. The pooled odds ratio (OR) for FM and PPH in the meta-analysis (five studies) was 2.10 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.79–2.47; I2: 0%), with estimates within this 95% CI in the sensitivity analysis. The combined OR for severe PPH (3 studies) was 1.61 (95% CI: 0.40–6.48; I2: 91.89%), showing high heterogeneity.Conclusion There was a positive association between FM and PPH in the LAC, increasing the risk of the presence of this event 2-fold. The high heterogeneity of the studies that measured severe PPH does not allow drawing conclusions about the estimates obtained.

Managing value chain environmental impacts and natural resource use has become an important consideration in the purchasing decisions of large publicly traded companies. Suppliers, including micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region,can increase their competiveness by using best practices in natural resource management and reducing their environmental impacts. In order to assess how value chain environmental management can improve MSME competitiveness, this study identifies best practices among companies in key economic sectors in LAC with the largest value chain environmental inputs (e.g. water use, commodities) and outputs (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions, waste). Tools and incentive mechanisms that support adoption of best practices were identified and assessed for usefulness. This study provides valuable guidance to various actors along the value chains of multinational companies that operate in LAC, including suppliers (MSMEs), financial institutions, and other entities (international development organizations, industry associations, research organizations, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)) interested in fostering the development of greener value chains. The identification of key sectors, considering both economic and environmental impact significance, provides interested entities with a ranked list of sectors to work with. The identification of key environmental inputs and outputs is a valuable reference point for prioritizing key issues for LAC companies in each sector. Finally, this study's review of value chain environmental management best practices, tools, and incentive mechanisms supports knowledge sharing, development of greener value chains, improved environmental management of MSMEs, and key areas for supporting investment.

This database compiles current standardized statistics on sovereign debt issuances for the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region and contains biannual data starting in 2006 through June 2023. Sovereign debt data is classified by legislation, creditor, currency, and maturity, among other areas, for 26 LAC countries. The availability of valid, comparable, and standardized public debt data is essential for the implementation of sound policies. As such, at the core of the LAC Debt Group initiative is the development of a standardized sovereign debt database to help debt managers, policymakers, and other actors of financial markets analyze the evolution and composition of public debt in the region and conduct cross-country comparisons. LAC public debt offices provided the data in response to a questionnaire specifically designed to allow comparability. The questionnaire, whose response is non-compulsory, is intended to compile current standardized statistics for objective and homogeneous definitions of public debt.

After constructing a broad and novel database of 52 countries over 2001-11, this study assesses the link between financial intermediation and saving. The study finds that the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region lags well behind other regions in terms of financial depth, as measured by gross private domestic financial assets. LAC countries also have a larger share of bank deposits and cash in the private sector portfolio, compared to non-bank assets (bonds and shares). Moreover, within the institutional investor industry, pension funds are relatively developed in the region, although they grew out of the compulsory pension systems in several countries that date back to the 1980s and 1990s. The findings also indicate that LAC countries have about 40 percent of gross private financial wealth invested abroad, but just 4 percent of gross private liabilities have that origin, which attests to region's obstacles in tapping international markets. The countries in general present a small share of household and business saving being intermediated through the financial system. In the specific case of bank deposits, just 5 percent of household saving and 3 percent of business saving are kept in the banking system.

This paper presents the National Health Accounts (NHA) methodology and its relevance in policy making in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region. After presenting the concept of NHA and highlighting recent results of LAC data collection activities, the paper will focus on policy applications of NHA and its usefulness in supporting the financial dimension of health reforms. Lastly, it will analyze problems and drawbacks in the use of this tool. In short, the paper attempts to answer the following questions: What is NHA? How is it used? Why is it not used? How can and should it be put to use in LAC? Despite the serious drawbacks that exist in the NHA practice (e.g., methodological problems, understanding by policy makers, and institutionalization), the main message of this paper is a normative one: NHA should become the Management Information System for health policies, in particular when the health reform process is in progress.