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ChapterG
TERRITORIAL INEQUALITY, SPATIALMOBILITYANDVULNERABILITY
Latin America and the Caribbean have certain distinctive characteristics in the spatial distribution of the
population. These include high rates of urbanization, with the attendant opportunities and risks, a
persistent rural exodus, limited options for development in rural areas and small communities, a tendency
for population and activities to concentrate in a few dynamic centres, and the segregation and
vulnerability that poor people face because of their geographical location.
Territorial and social inequalities are dialectically interwoven. Differences among subnational
territories in terms of income, poverty, productivity, access to well-being and natural-resources
endowment contribute to the overall contrasts in these indicators at the national level. Territorial
inequalities occur at different geographical scales, between broad regions or major administrative
divisions, between urban and rural areas, or betweenminor administrative divisions within the same city
or metropolitan area. All these expressions of inequality are directly linked to the perpetuation of poverty
and social inequality, the weakness of social cohesion, problems of sustainability, and governance
difficulties (ECLAC, 2014). For this reason, it is vital to narrow the gaps among territories in order to
attain greater equality. Hence the importance of policies that consider not only production convergence
but also spatial convergence.
The Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development,
specifically chapter IX on Population distribution, urbanization and internal migration, established goals
and measures (9.1 to 9.25) relating to the issues addressed in this chapter and linked to population and
territorywithin a framework of sustainable development.
The Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development takes account of these particular
characteristics of the region and the specific challenges that countries face in dealing with these issues,
and recognizes the advances to date and the experience built up in the region over the past few decades
with respect to decentralization, development planning and territorial planning, while expressing concern
over the high costs of various kinds imposed on the regionby natural and socio-environmental disasters.
This chapter contains nine priority measures that are closely related to each other and that share
various lines of action. Three Priority measures convey general aspirations with respect to the territory
(PM 76), environmental risks (PMs 76 and 82), disasters caused by natural and socio-environmental
events (PM 82) and the exploitation of natural resources (PM 83): they are dealt with only briefly, on the
grounds that that they can be implemented and monitored through other PMs of the Montevideo
Consensus on Population and Development and other international instruments, forums andmechanisms
as detailed in the respective tables. The remaining six priority measures are set forth in detailed tables.
These relate directly to issues of development and social well-being and access to basic services (PM 77),
decentralization and citizen participation at the local level (PM 78), citizen security and creative leisure as
ways to prevent social problems (PM 79). Territorial and urban planning are presented from the
perspective, on one hand, of sustainable urban development and the strengthening of city systems and
their rural environments (PM 80), and that of preventing and mitigating the impact of socio-
environmental disasters and environmental vulnerability (PM 81). In direct relation to these five priority
measures, PM 84 calls for the use of geo-referenced sociodemographic analysis, disaggregated by specific
population groups.
