Researcher(s):
Alex Groher-Jick
ENVS course(s): 400 Initiated: September 2017 Completed: May 2018 Go to project site
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The COP21 Paris Climate agreement was lauded as a major success for international sustainable development by many environmental activists the world over, yet some argue that there are major flaws in the landmark accord pertaining to feasibility and equitability. The agreement grants autonomy to nations by allowing them to set their own Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), so it is imperative that national policies be examined as they hold much of the power under the COP21 climate agreement. I examine the INDC of Chile, Latin America’s poster-child for neoliberalism, given its position as a developing nation of the global South and its recent adoption of sustainable development reforms. Through a rhetorical and textual analysis of the agreement and Chile’s INDC as well as various Chilean media sources, I suggest that there is a lack of meaningful prosocial considerations, and those that exist are unable to translate down to the subnational scale. Given Chile’s fraught relationship with their indigenous communities, specific attention is paid to the way that Chile fails to recognize their condition, or any other vulnerable groups’ conditions.