The Bank of the South and the environment

Abstract

This article places the objectives of a development bank within the development tradition at the center of debate against a bank financed by South American countries where the satisfaction of the development of natural resources seeks not to improve the conditions of local populations, but rather to achieve comparative advantages and the added value of their insertion into worldwide markets. The exploitation of the resources from a large part of the Amazon basin is linked to the fostering of a series of infrastructure projects that would cause generations of ecological damage to the area. The author contemplates the problematic relationship between a development bank that seeks equilibrium with the environment and a development bank connected to the interests of the state and export sector oligarchies.