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The concern about the relationship between environmental problems and moral reflection is not new, however, it has been treated from the legal specificity. Importance has been given to the economic aspect because the environmental tax is necessary in the collection of the different countries. But there is no moral foundation for ecological taxes. The lack of moral basis leads to distortion and easy access to commercial interests or, failing that, to distortion. Thus, the set of values supported by ecoethics allows public policies to have greater clarity and orientation at the time of planning all ecological legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electromobility is perceived worldwide as an ideal means of coping with the adverse effects of greenhouse gas emissions, which is why several countries are implementing measures to accelerate its development. In this context, Latin American countries are lagging behind other countries, mainly Asian and European, yet they are making great efforts to catch up, some faster than others. In this forum we focus specifically on the progress and next steps of the countries that make up the Pacific Alliance: Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Chile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to make an analysis of the main issues of environmental or ecosystem services regulations in Argentina, and a brief reference of a selection of Latin American countries laws (Peru and Costa Rica). We implemented the documental observation and normative comparative methods. One of the main results is that during last year many bills of laws were presented at the National Congress, which guidelines might be useful as precedents. Notwithstanding, in parallel an integral evaluation must be made in order to state if some valid environmental laws should be or not abolished, in order to avoid new contradictions. One of the main limitations for the argentine case, is that there is not a specific regulation about environmental services. We can conclude that in the case of other countries of the region which already have regulated the ecosystem services payment, there are some relevant issues which might be taken into account for future laws and/or public policies in Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decentralization of environmental management implies the transfer of power and responsibilities at the local level. Although there are bibliographic reviews dealing with decentralization and the environment, there is a gap in the specific case of Latin America. Through the Systematic Quantitative Literature Review technique, we observed that the literature patterns reveal territorial and thematic imbalances in the analysis. Said results correspond to a majority of studies that have focused on Bolivia and Brazil. These approaches, their focus on decentralization of forest management and their dissimilar result-which are within the domain of Anglo-Saxon academics-depended, in turn, on the country being reviewed and the disciplinary approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyze how despite the economic and political structural differences of the Latin American countries, the common denominator of these economies is its dependence with the global economy as producers of primary goods. This exploitation of raw materials, called neoextractivista model, carries from its own origin hoarding of land, deportation or displacement of rural communities, establishing then, for natural consequences, a spiral of criminalization and repression of resistance by territorial disputes and divergent values around them, in a context of great power asymmetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduces the concept of green tax reforms ("reforma fiscal ambiental") and examines its pertinence for the region, based on the analysis of the opportunities and difficulties for implementing those reforms in two essential public services: the provision of electric power and urban public transportation. Those services are analyzed in their specificities but are considered illustrative of more general situations. After a conventional analysis of objectives and instruments, it is shown that the markets are interdependent and that environmental goals are cross-cutting. From those methodological principles, the shortcomings of the public policies conceived like parallel and autonomous channels become more obvious. Although there seem to be spaces for fiscal innovations with environmental objectives, the paper analyzes the distribution and the competitiveness challenges, and the political economy and institutionalist issues; the results make possible to situate the energy and public transportation agendas in a more general and productive context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I focus on societal movements against destructive expansion now in progress in Latinamerican countries. On the one hand, I point out some characteristic aspects of the logic which promotes this expansion, stressing in mechanisms to expropriate people and communities. On the other hand, I deal with some characteristic traits of societal movements, emphasizing on territorial and sacred rights alleged by communities to defend their territories. Taking in count that these process are confrontations about the alleged universality of the modern conception of nature, I ask what contribution may offer these particular movements to renew our imagination facing to challenges by global environmental crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an analysis between research article published in 1974 which alerted the world about the loss of the ozone layer and in parallel on one of its authors, Mario Molina. We review how the study came about and which were its societal consequences out of the academic scientific ambit. Through this particular point of view we characterize the relationship science-society around three lines of analysis: infrastructure, leadership and flexibility. We use this characterization to ponder opportunities for Latin America like interaction between government, academy and industry, the investment in science and technology and long term projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Si bien el Protocolo de Kyoto proporcionó un marco para reducir las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero de las naciones industrializadas, las actuales negociaciones sobre cambio climático anticipan futuros compromisos de los principales emisores de carbono entre los países en desarrollo. Se utiliza aquí una versión actualizada del modelo de equilibrio general del Proyecto de Análisis del Comercio Global (gtap-e) para analizar los efectos económicos de la reducción de las emisiones de carbono bajo diferentes hipótesis de comercio de derechos de emisión. La participación de países en desarrollo como China y la India reduciría los costos de ese comercio. Las repercusiones en América Latina varían si se trata de un país exportador o importador de energía y si se reducen o no las emisiones estadounidenses. Los efectos en el bienestar podrían ser negativos según el sistema de comercio de derechos adoptado y los socios comerciales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Carbon Kuznets Curve has been a widely explored and controversial topic in empiric environmental economics, mainly due to its straightforward implications to designing climate policy strategies. This paper is aimed to explore the relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and product for a set of Latin American and Caribbean countries using a semiparametric approach. Our results confirm that Carbon Kuznets Curve hypothesis does not holds in the region and offer some evidence in favor of a reallocation process of carbon emissions, verifying the haven pollution hypothesis on lower income countries. In this context, "wait and grow" is a totally unfeasible solution for environmental problems on Latin America and the Caribbean. Instead of this, an active climate policy is urgently needed in order to adapt and mitigate climate change effects on the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to assess the determinants for adoption of active environmental policies by countries in the region. It considers, as a reference, two indicators of international environmental policy: The number of ratified international treaties related to this matter and implementation of programs suggested by Agenda 21. The only important factors for evaluating whether the governments of the region are going to have more active policies in favor of environmental conservation seem to be the degree of human development (which measures growth in three dimensions: Education, life expectancy, and income levels) and demographic pressure. Political systems and the environmental status of countries do not seem to influence more active ecological policies. The results are robust for differing specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]