Concepts like environmental convservation, sustainability and sustainable development are not currently considered primary concerns in most of Latin-America and the Caribbean. This omission can partly be attributed to the lack of environmental history in this area. By the 1950s, the concept of environmental conservation was introduced to our legal and technical vocabulary due to influences of conservationism associated with academic-intellectual national elites. These elites formed an eco-spiritual movement closer to socialism ideology than to eco-centric ideas, as a natural outcome of the late 60s and early 70s culture. The military governments, which took power during the 70s and 80s, persecuted people associated with socialist ideologies, resulting in a dispersal of members and ideas resulting in the loss of environmental concepts and ideas for over 10 years. The economic reforms of the 1980s and the adoption of the neoliberal paradigm increased the importance of the exploitation of natural resources. These reforms increased economic development yet led to the concern regarding the environmental impacts. As a response a new institutional network was created. New institutions allowed the establishment of various institutes and centers that funded research as a response to the neoliberal economic model. Introducing ecological concepts, their main concern was the indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources. The focus was mainly on profits and environmental issues related to agriculture and mining resources (Vallejos, J.P.; 1994). During the 1990s, new intellectuals associated with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) emerged. The focus was for the promotion of democracy and social justice, rescuing their social influence from the original socialist thinking. This also meant a turning point in the collective conscience about the environment by introducing a social component, Nevertheless, environmental concern was often used according to their personal agendas. The "institutionalization" created by new intellectuals disappointed with the socialist approach and instrumentalization, adopted equality issues and development concern thus putting an end to its ideological use. However, it is acknowledged that these trends have set the overall development of the new legal institutions, which, since the return to democracy and the incorporation of highly technical professionals to high public positions and private management, led to the passing of laws such as Law on Environmental Framework Law No. 19,300 in Chile. This law marks a turning point in the development of national public policy as a model to follow in Latin-American and Caribbean, defining environment as an overall system consisting of natural and artificial nature of physical, chemical or biological ones, socio-cultural elements and their interactions, in permanent modification by human or natural causes, and conditions governing the existence and development of life in its many manifestations" (SEGPRES; 1994); a definition that includes the human being and the sociocultural environment and its interaction with the physical, chemical and biological systems, recognizing this global system as part of an underlying critical natural capital on issues of sustainability. Nevertheless, these legal framework and institutions have been not enough to solve environmental conflicts between government, industry and civil society. Nowadays, Chile has achieved variousoutcomes that are similar to those of developed countries; a high quality schooling system (although highly unequal), high life expectancies (82- year - old women vs. 78- year - old men), high per capita income of US$15.400 in 2011, as well as a growing economy which is supported mainly by mining and the agro industry. Currently our PM10 levels are 61.5 micrograms per cubic meter, several times higher than the OECD average of 22 and by far the highest level in the (OECD, 2011). Furthermore, there are several unresolved environmental conflicts throughout the country especially on sites where industrial and urban activities coexist. In fact, in the most recent Environmental Performance Index (EPI, 2011), Chile slips down to 58 in the world environmental ranking. Finally, Framework of Convention on Climate Change has encouraged the region to think about our role and commitment as developing countries to fight climate change as well as making decisions about a successful adaptation to the changing climate and adopting new approaches capable of designing protocols for implementing environmental policies. The technical characteristics of this new approach are determined by the growing relationship between industry and universities focused on implementing improvements in manufacturing processes, minimizing the impacts on the environment as well as environmental investment in promoting energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy. Moreover, additional incentives are necessary to promote and support private initiatives to resolve current environmental conflicts. These initiatives might incorporate approaches that rely on sustainability concepts related to solving problems among industry, government and communities. This tool could be the correct incentive for the promotion of accountability with focus on environmental issues and paving the scientific basis on which this knowledge generation may in turn have an effect on new public (Pohl, C.; 2008) policies based on interdisciplinary environmental science and not on ideology (Kwa, Ch.; 2008). As aforementioned, visions that have prevailed in environmental policy and its historical development have four main streams of thought: Conservationist, Ecological, Environmentalist and finally, the economical vision due toneoliberal vision explaining our current outcomes (Aldunate, C.; 2001). Nevertheless, independently or merged, these visions cannot by themselves propose a model of sustainable development. A holistic approach is thus necessary. © 2012 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. . All rights reserved.