This edited collection addresses the tensions of unequal power relations, conflicting priorities, and trade-offs among multiple goals in resource-rich regions of Latin America. It accomplishes this by unpacking environmental governance as a complex process of formulating and contesting values, procedures and practices shaping the access, control and use of natural resources. Contributors from various fields address the challenges, limitations, and possibilities for a more sustainable, equal, and fair development.

In Environmental Justice in Latin America: Problems, Promise, and Practice, scholars and activists investigate the emergence of a distinctively Latin American environmental justice movement, offering analysis and case studies that illustrate the connections between popular environmental mobilization and social justice in the region. Taken together, the analyses and case studies suggest that environmental justice—which highlights both broader issues of global injustice and local concerns—holds tremendous promise as a way to understand and address environmental inequities in Latin America and elsewhere.