Introduction

Against the background of increasingly frequent conflicts over the environment in Latin America, this chapter provides historical context and suggests a framework for the chapters and cases comprising this volume. It outlines the variety of roles religious actors and ideas currently play in social mobilization and public policy around the environment in Latin America, and at what scale. It also describes the effects of religion as an increasingly plural landscape, site of encounter and contestation, and bridge between the global and the local. Finally, the chapter notes religious contributions to rights-based and community approaches to the environment, the emerging protagonism of indigenous peoples, and growing importance of faith-based transnational or issue-specific advocacy networks for such efforts.