ECOPOLITICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS IN LATIN-AMERICA

More than five hundred environmental nongovernmental organizations, most of them less than a decade old, operate in Latin America. Their popularity as vehicles of social change, the inability of governments to address environmental problems, new sources of international funding, and the idea of sustainable development have contributed to the proliferation of these organizations. Merits and limitations of this movement are assessed by case studies from Mexico and Venezuela. Conservation strategies have shifted from protectionist models to the politically popular notion of sustainable development.