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Population, territory and sustainable development

The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of current trends, contexts and issues in the spheres of population, territory and sustainable development and examine their public policy implications. Three themes run through the report. The first two are laid out in the empirical chapters (III through X); the third is taken up in the closing chapter. Using the most recent data available (including censuses conducted in the 2010s), the first theme describes and tracks location and spatial mobility patterns for the population of Latin America, focusing on certain kinds of territory. The second explores the linkages between these patterns and sustainable development in different kinds of territory in Latin America and the Caribbean. The third offers considerations and policy proposals for fostering a consistent, synergistic relationship between population location and spatial mobility, on the one hand, and sustainable development, on the other, in the kinds of territory studied.

The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of current trends, contexts and issues in the spheres of population, territory and sustainable development and examine their public policy implications. Three themes run through the report. The first two are laid out in the empirical chapters (III through X); the third is taken up in the closing chapter. Using the most recent data available (including censuses conducted in the 2010s), the first theme describes and tracks location and spatial mobility patterns for the population of Latin America, focusing on certain kinds of territory. The second explores the linkages between these patterns and sustainable development in different kinds of territory in Latin America and the Caribbean. The third offers considerations and policy proposals for fostering a consistent, synergistic relationship between population location and spatial mobility, on the one hand, and sustainable development, on the other, in the kinds of territory studied.

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205<br />

There are so many components (production, social <strong>and</strong> political) <strong>and</strong> new instruments on top of<br />

historical regional policy instruments that the focus is now on families of regional policies rather than a<br />

single regional policy (see box XI.5). An important point of this proposal <strong>and</strong> of the general discussion of<br />

territorial policies in the region is the difference between “regional” <strong>and</strong> “local”. The local sphere has<br />

been the focus of what has been called decentralization, with local (municipal) governments exp<strong>and</strong>ing<br />

their functions, competencies <strong>and</strong> resources (at times with imbalances between new tasks <strong>and</strong> resources).<br />

But regionalization has been a less well defined process with marked national specificities because in<br />

federal countries the rationale is far more political.<br />

Box XI.5<br />

FOCUSING ON THE FAMILY OF TERRITORIAL POLICIES<br />

Territorial issues are now so heterogeneous <strong>and</strong> broad (unlike the strategies deployed in the twentieth century) that<br />

discussion centres on a “family of territorial policies” encompassing, “in addition to decentralization/federalism,<br />

local <strong>development</strong> <strong>and</strong> territorial competitiveness, l<strong>and</strong>-use planning <strong>and</strong> the regionalization of cross-cutting <strong>and</strong><br />

sector-based policies (promoting production <strong>and</strong> business <strong>development</strong>)” (ILPES, 2007). Although these policies are<br />

diverse, they may be grouped according to the common denominator of the challenges they involve: the need to<br />

make strides towards greater, more consolidated decentralization that amplifies the positive impacts <strong>and</strong> seeks to<br />

extend them beyond a sector-based, functional perspective in a participatory process that brings all relevant local<br />

actors together.<br />

This new concept (families of territorial policies in Latin America) has, moreover, shown that rising<br />

regional exports have not necessarily boosted regional <strong>development</strong>. Hence the need for sound political <strong>and</strong><br />

institutional coordination between central <strong>and</strong> regional levels to reconcile <strong>and</strong> boost the benefits of economic growth<br />

on several scales. Such coordination has been enhanced recently by the new strategies for fighting poverty, with<br />

national programmes that also have decentralized functions <strong>and</strong> local programmes with national functions as well.<br />

The challenge then becomes how to coordinate different levels of government.<br />

There is, therefore, renewed emphasis on regional <strong>development</strong> policy design <strong>and</strong> implementation<br />

—undertaken by the State but aimed at goals on several scales— <strong>and</strong> their coordination with social, decentralization<br />

<strong>and</strong> l<strong>and</strong>-use planning policies.<br />

Source: J.C. Ramírez, I. Silva <strong>and</strong> L.M. Cuervo, “Economía y territorio en América Latina y el Caribe: Desigualdades y<br />

políticas”, Libros de la CEPAL, No. 99 (LC/G.2385-P), Santiago, Chile, Economic Commission for Latin America <strong>and</strong><br />

the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2009.<br />

As a rule, territorial <strong>development</strong> policies favour both processes, which, in principle, empower<br />

subnational spaces. But after 20 years of decentralization current expectations are more tempered, above<br />

all because the resource base, which varies widely from one location to another, is decisive for local<br />

capacities <strong>and</strong> budgets:<br />

“In Latin America, decentralization is extremely difficult, given the high level of regional<br />

productive disparity that seriously limits the functioning <strong>and</strong> financing of decentralized services<br />

(especially where their provision affects equity) […]. This is why the result of reforms will depend on the<br />

accompanying system of financial transfers <strong>and</strong> the compensatory role played by central governments<br />

[…]. However, even when the required financial resources are to h<strong>and</strong>, disparities will also affect the<br />

availability of human resources <strong>and</strong>, in general, the capacities for interjurisdictional management. This<br />

implies that the transfer of monetary resources must be combined with training <strong>and</strong> capacity transfer […].<br />

The debate on decentralization has highlighted the role of subnational governments. Nevertheless,<br />

refocusing on the need to ensure a basic level of rights in relation to decentralized sectoral policies leads<br />

to the conclusion that much needs to be done to redefine the role of central governments in decentralized<br />

countries, while also consolidating fiscal sustainability. This also emphasizes the need to avoid the

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