In recent years the question of the environment has been increasingly prominent in studies and proposals on the development of the Latin American and Caribbean countries. The serious processes of ecological imbalance in the world, together with numerous disasters and the ongoing loss of natural resources, have given rise to increasing concern over these matters. To a greater or lesser extent, all the governments of the region have tried to strengthen their environmental policies through various legal, technical, institutional and economic measures. Much still needs to be done, however, to correct the existing deficits and ensure that the new measures put into effect are really efficient and effective. The problems behind the ineffectiveness observed with regard to environmental issues are much more complex than the level of political will or the degree of administrative efficiency of the environmental arrangements adopted. This article seeks to analyse the complex process of generation and application of environmental policies in the countries of the region, beginning by examining the evolution of the corresponding structures of public institutions and going on to make some recommendations aimed at promoting more novel and efficient ways of setting about new environmental policies and shaping a system of public environmental institutions which will help to generate such policies.