SUSTAINABILITY

Equality and sustainability. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) urges Latin American countries to move towards a “Great Drive for Sustainability” based on a combination of economic, industrial, social and environmental policies with the aim of stimulating a reactivation grounded in equality and sustainability. As outlined in the following document, the organization offers the region a development proposal based on the welfare state, technical change and productive transformation associated with caring for the environment.

“The implementation of a new policy agenda also requires new political coalitions (internal and international) and new forms of international cooperation that sustain the change in the style of the development. These coalitions are being forged, but they are still too weak to give a new dynamic to national economies and the global system,” indicates ECLAC. From this point on, it proposes “refounding multilateralism on new bases” with the aim of expanding the political spaces on the periphery and advancing towards greater social equality.

On the other hand, it highlights the challenge of today’s economies to advance with a production that is sustainable and focuses on caring for the environment. “It is necessary to channel the energies of societies and the learning generated by the crisis in a constructive direction, in which a new style of development is promoted, sustainable in its social, economic and environmental dimensions. Only in this way will it be possible to achieve inclusive social well-being, the protection of the ecological integrity of the planet and a fairer world”, it indicates.

Next steps 

Through the publication of this document, ECLAC has presented the region with a development proposal based on the welfare state, technical change and productive transformation associated with caring for the environment. It is expected that this text will be taken into account by the States that are developing public policies to reactivate the economy after the impact of COVID-19.