Theoretical Articulation for Latin American Environmental Communication: Critical Overview and Convergence with Political Ecology

The starting point for this article is the Latin American Environmental Communication (Comunicación Ambiental Latinoamericana, CALat) diagnosis as an emergent, non-disciplinary, and fragmented field that can be further consolidated through its convergence with the epistemological paradigm of Latin American Political Ecology (Ecología Política Latinoamericana, EPLat). The first part offers a critical overview of CALat, examining the interpretations that characterize it as instrumental and development-oriented, as well as weighing its limited conceptual development. The second part outlines the main foundations of EPLat, highlighting its roots in Latin American critical thought, its interdisciplinary perspective, and its commitment to posicionality. Thus, the environmentalization – or eco-politicization – of communication enables a transdisciplinary configuration of CALat. It is based on the aforementioned that this article proposes three environmental communication modalities: (1) Natural-ecological, (2) Socioeconomic, and (3) Territorial-cultural. It is a theoretical articulation proposal targeted at integrating the field's diversity and strengthening collective work.