ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by examining some cases of environmental legislation and implementation. The cases listed make plain that traditional development approaches often constitute or involve significant roadblocks for sound environmental policy development and implementation, though these are somewhat different for developed from what they are for developing countries. The chapter next discusses a few salient ones in some detail. It proceeds to assess cases of dealing with development projects. The chapter further provides grounds for concluding that past uses of less legislation-dependent procedures, as well as current policy-making developments, evidence the greater effectiveness and political feasibility of nonconfrontational and nonadversarial approaches. Accordingly, the philosophical and political approach is best suited for dealing with the issues and offers a chance of cementing forms of development and their associated social and environmental arrangements along morally acceptable lines. This approach will not eliminate the fact that most currently significant developmental policy and decision problems in Latin America involve conflict.
