What One Program Says About Latin America’s Sustainable Development Agenda

Latin America’s Urbanization 

From the end of the 20th century onward, the region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has experienced an unprecedented rate of urbanization. According to the United Nations, the region’s urbanization rates jumped from 62% in 1980 to 80% in 2011. By 2050, this growth rate is set to hit  85%. This makes LAC the second-most urbanized region in the world, closely following behind North America. Generally, urbanization connotes economic progress and modernization. Indeed, LAC’s growing cities continue to encourage economic and productive growth (generating 60% of Latin America’s GDP) as well as promote technological innovation and greater digitization for the whole region. Yet, this has also brought about inequalities greatly felt throughout the region, especially urban poverty and environmental vulnerability. Especially within the past decade, urbanization (both the good and the bad) has led LAC to take up a number of sustainable development projects to accommodate such rapid growth and address these two key issues. 

One current effort is the Emerging and Sustainable Cities Program. Launched in 2012 and funded by the Inter-American Development Bank, the effort focuses on providing financial and technical assistance to address environmental, urban, and fiscal sustainability in various LAC cities. These funds go to urban housing and infrastructural projects, local healthcare systems, upgrades to greener energy and technology, and disaster risk management (IDB). The program’s strategy to do so is to work directly with national and subnational governments  throughout the region. The goal is that by funding top organizations, resources will then trickle down to the local community with special emphasis for the urban poor. Rather than focusing on established ‘megacities,’ whose growth has plateaued, the program looks towards emerging, intermediate sized cities experiencing population and economic growth exponentially. Yet, despite its promising efforts, the participation of new LAC cities is lacking. According to the UNFCC Secretariat (UN Climate Change), to date, the ESCP is active in 55 cities throughout the region (reaching 50 million people, 10 million of which are poor). However, this is an underwhelming number for the General Coordinator of the ESCP Ellis Juan, who hoped to assist 150 emerging cities by 2020. Thus, getting new emerging cities on board with the program appears to be a challenge. The intentions of this transnational effort certainly appears good on paper, but successful execution and the willing participation of LAC cities remain uncertain. This may be in part due to a larger, political backdrop occurring within Latin America, where conflict in economic interests – such as continued gold mining and deforestation – as well as targeted violence towards environmentalists are slowing progress towards sustainable, green efforts. Therefore, in light of this, this article asks a few questions: (1) can the Emerging and Sustainable Cities Program be regarded as a success in Latin America’s sustainable development efforts and (2) what does this say about Latin America’s stance on sustainability as a whole?

Looking on the Bright Side 

Since the Emerging and Sustainable Cities Program remains a relatively new program, determining its overall success is difficult to pinpoint. The most recent and only report specifically on the program, published by the Office of Evaluation and Oversight in 2016, admits “it is still early to assess the effectiveness of individual action plans produced by the initiative”. Nonetheless, the report was able to take stock of the overall effectiveness of ESCP thus far. For the most part, the evaluation regarded the program positively, calling its model for knowledge generation and dissemination as well as its transparency as a brand “particularly valuable and novel”. In addition, the evaluation praised the ESCP for working with over 70 partners in diverse fields, including various government, academia, and private sectors of development. According to the report, the  wide range of  partnerships successfully ensured a flexibility in the management and execution of the program. Furthermore, diversity of partnerships helps the program meet the ESCP’s three pillars of addressing environmental, urban, and fiscal sustainable development. Thus, overall, the way ESCP is run appears to be successful, but can the same be said about its impact on LAC’s emerging cities?

Last year, UN Climate Change particularly noticed the ESCP’s work in La Paz, Mexico, where the city’s public transport system was upgraded to a cleaner, more efficient bus system. This has increased the comfort of up to 50,000 people per day and reduced pollution in the city. They also praised infrastructural improvements made possible by the ESCP  in Mar del Plata, Argentina which enhanced the walkability of streets for 13,000 pedestrians per day. In addition, OVE’s evaluation found the completion rate of action plans (which include city-specific improvements to water and sanitation, environmental risk management, housing initiatives, and citizen security) to be an indicator of the program’s success. By 2016, four years into the program, 35 emerging cities had already finished their action plans, including all five original participants from the program’s pilot. Thus, eager implementation of actively participating cities “suggests that the technical assistance provided by the initiative has gone beyond just provision of knowledge to a potential real impact on cities” (OVE). 

Lastly, the program is a success in terms of its global norm-setting potential. OVE’s report recommended the initiative to “explore ways to use the ESCP model of partnerships and knowledge sharing in other initiatives.” Furthermore, the ESCP’s work as an example for others not only applies to “other initiatives” inside and outside the Inter-American Development Bank. As the world collectively urbanizes with two-thirds of the global population projected to live in cities by 2025, other countries (especially IDB’s 22 non-borrowing countries currently investing in these projects) can learn from the successful cases of the ESCP. According to the UNCC, the ESCP’s replicability may inspire a ‘“spillover effect,” in other multilateral development banks, governments, and non-governmental organizations. Indeed, the UNCC’s particular interest in the program shows the ESCP’s work in sustainable development is being taken seriously on the global stage.

Current Challenges 

No program is perfect, however, especially when it is relatively new. The ESCP is no different, struggling to garner participation from emerging cities yet to join the initiative. To date, the IDB identifies a total of 242 emerging cities within the region, meanwhile only 55 are actively participating. Thus, while eager participation was evident amongst emerging cities already working with the initiative, enthusiasm seems to dwindle for those yet to join. This may be a sign that the program is struggling to keep up with the region’s exponential urbanization. New emerging cities are popping up rapidly as the region continues to grow. Just in 2015, the IDB identified 140 emerging cities. Thus, within 8 years, 98 cities were added to the ESCP’s radar. Therefore, garnering new participants while also remaining invested in the cities already engaged with the program appears to be a juggling task risking ESCP’s outreach and effectiveness.

Citizen participation within the cities taking part of the initiative is equally  underwhelming. OVE’s report flagged this issue, noting this is due to the distrust citizens have towards their local government. They noted this was the case for residents in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, whose limited trust and lack of experience in local planning processes led to their low engagement with ESCP funded projects. For ESCP’s assistance to make a meaningful impact, citizen participation is key in accurately addressing the niche issues and needs of each emerging city (OVE). In addition, “engagement with society” ensures the project’s longevity, as citizens can pressure local government officials to continue their direct work with the ESCP (OVE). Yet, cases like Mar del Plata, Argentina show the ESCP is taking steps to better engage with the citizens they impact by polling stakeholders and partnering with local radio stations.

Progress in a Backdrop of Backlash 

Despite participatory challenges, the ESCP can still largely be viewed as a success since emerging cities have eagerly kept up with their action plans and benefited from the ESCP’s financial and technical support. Benefits included cleaner transportation and improved infrastructure. Furthermore, this initiative shows the program’s potential in influencing other sustainable development projects both at the regional and global level. Thus, through initiatives like the ESCP, many have come to view Latin America as an exemplary champion of sustainable development efforts. The World Economic Forum places Latin America as a global leader in sustainable development stating, “Countries of the region [LAC] have displayed an extraordinary commitment to sustainable development… They must now show their ability to lead the way.”

At the same time, however, the ESCP’s participatory challenges not only showed a general distrust between Latin American citizens and their local government, but also to a larger, political backdrop occurring throughout the region. Especially in terms of its green policy, Latin America appears to be clashing in interest and values. Whilst taking on sustainable development initiatives such as the ESCP, LAC countries simultaneously continue to pursue their own economic interests in gold mining as well as in the oil and timber industries. Deforestation also remains a regional problem, especially in Gran Chaco where large-scale soy and cattle farms continue to clear the second-largest woodland in Latin America. In addition, backlash against environmentalism has made LAC the most dangerous region for environmentalists (Global Witness). According to Global Witness’ 2022 report, the region accounts for 88% of the 177 environmentalists killed globally that year. 

With all this context in mind, the World Economic Forum’s claim, “Latin America and the Caribbean has yet to close the gap between rhetoric and reality,” still holds true. Both the ESCP as a multilaterally funded program and the LAC region as a whole appear to be at a crossroads between progress and challenge, rhetoric and action, as well as support for a sustainable future and a conflict of interest. Yet, this “critical juncture” currently felt in the region (as UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohemmed put it) is not an entirely bleak picture. Certainly LAC’s sustainable efforts require accountability where its “leaders will need to make a choice – to fulfill their commitment to a better future, or let it fall to the wayside” (UN). At the same time, however, both the successes and challenges occurring in Latin America shows that we are the cusp of great potential change both regionally and globally. This complicated picture towards a more sustainable future need not be wary. Rather, it goes to show how global sustainable development takes patience, trial and error, and the shared responsibility of all – governments, NGOs, and citizens alike. 

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own, and may not reflect the opinions of The St Andrews Economist.

Image Courtesy of UNFCCC, Activity Partners