LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 209, Vol. 43 No. 4, July 2016, 29–42 DOI: 10.1177/0094582X16641264 © 2016 Latin American Perspectives 29 Society, Environment, Vulnerability, and Climate Change in Latin America Challenges of the Twenty-first Century by Jorge Rojas Hernández Translated by Mariana Ortega Breña Historically, Latin American social development has been diverse and heterogeneous. It depends on the use of natural resources (with greater or less added value and productive diversity), the influence of social movements, the role of political parties, the level of educa- tion, and the prevailing culture. Inequality and social exclusion are still prevalent in most Latin American countries. Poverty and environmental deterioration tend to be correlated. Therefore strategies for mitigation of and adaptation to climate change must consider measures for overcoming poverty and reducing inequality. El desarrollo social en América Latina es históricamente muy diverso y heterogéneo. Depende del uso de los recursos naturales — con mayor o menor valor agregado y diver- sidad productiva —, de la influencia de los movimientos sociales, del papel de los partidos políticos, del nivel educacional alcanzado y del tipo de cultura imperante en las diferentes sociedades. Aún persiste la desigualdad y altos índices de exclusión social en la mayoría de los países latinoamericanos. Pobreza y deterioro del medio ambiente suelen correlacio- narse. Los pobres por lo general viven en territorios degradados y vulnerables. Las estrate- gias de mitigación y adaptación al cambio climático deben, en consecuencia, contemplar medidas de superación de la pobreza y disminución de los niveles de desigualdad social y ambiental. Keywords: Climate change, Society, Vulnerability, Impacts You and I are living in a pivotal moment of history, what some have called a “carbon crisis”— a crucial and decisive turning point in which our thoughts and actions are of unusually great importance for the long-term future of the world. —Curt Stager, 2012 Paleoecologists and paleoclimatologists call the current era the Anthropocene; it is considered to have begun in the 1760s with the invention of the steam engine, and it signals the end of nature as an entity separate from Homo sapiens. Jorge Rojas Hernández is a full professor in the Department of Sociology and vice chancellor of institutional relations at the Universidad de Concepción, Chile. He is also a researcher at the Centro de Recursos Hídricos para la Agricultura y Minería. This article is part of the research project “Impactos sociales y ambientales del cambio climático: Sustentabilidad de la Región del Bío Bío en el siglo XXI,” Concurso ANILLOS CONICYT, Chile, 2009–2012. Mariana Ortega Breña is a translator based in Canberra, Australia. 641264LAP XX X 10.1177/0094582X16641264Latin American PerspectivesRojas / Vulnerability and Climate Change in Latin America research-article 2016