Implementing environmental policies in developing countries through decentralization: The case of protected areas in Bahia, Brazil

Governments have two apparently conflicting roles to play: promoter of economic development and protector of environmental quality. Economic development interests tend to have priority on the agenda of most developing country governments, creating obstacles to the implementation of environmental protection policies. This trend can be reversed by introducing environmental protection concerns into the mainstream development agenda by decentralizing environmental policy implementation to development-oriented agencies. In the case of the government of the Brazilian State of Bahia, the decentralized creation and administration of protected areas among several agencies at the state level primarily accounted for the ability of the state to establish a large number of protected areas.