Climate-resilient and regenerative futures for Latin America and the Caribbean (original) (raw)
Related papers
2006
The report confirms that largely regular and predictable temperature and rainfall patterns, are changing, becoming less predictable and often more extreme. It catalogues the impact of climate change and environmental degradation ranging from drought in the Amazon to floods in Haiti and elsewhere; vanishing glaciers in Colombia to extreme cold in the Andes; and hurricanes, not only in Central America and the Caribbean, but also in southern Brazil. Across the region the capacity of natural ecosystems to act as buffers against extreme weather events and other shocks is being undermined leaving people more vulnerable. The report, with a foreword by Juan Mayr, one of the world's leading environmentalists and former Colombian Environment Minister, calls on wealthy, developed countries to take responsibility for the damage that climate change is already causing, to reduce and stabilise emissions and, critically, for a new development model for Latin America and the Caribbean that will ...
Challenges for climate change adaptation in Latin America and the Caribbean region
Frontiers in climate, 2024
The limited success of international efforts to reduce global warming at levels established in the Paris Agreement, and the increasing frequency and strength of climate impacts, highlight the urgent need of adaptation, particularly in developing countries. Unfortunately, current levels of adaptation initiatives are not enough to counteract the observed impacts and projected risks from climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In this paper, we review and highlight relevant issues that have limited the capacity to transform climate knowledge and parties' ambitions into action in the region. Current vulnerabilities and climatic impact-drivers in LAC are diverse, complex, and region-specific and their effects are expected to be exacerbated by climate change. However, the advancement of regional and domestic climate agendas has been hindered by scientific gaps, political support, institutional capacity, and financial, technical, human, and economic limitations that are common to many LAC countries. Transforming climate data into multidimensional metrics with useful thresholds for different sectors and understanding their contribution for feasible adaptation strategies are delayed by regional and local conundrums such as lack of inclusive governance, data availability, equity, justice, and transboundary issues. We discuss ways to move forward to develop local and
Climate Change: A Research Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
The objective of this research agenda is to outline the issues that need to be investigated in order to produce an informed assessment of what strategies and policies Latin America and its international organizations should pursue with respect to climate change. This report makes the three following potential contributions: i) identifying actions that could be valuable but have not been highlighted; ii) advising on actions that could be ineffective and costly, given limited resources; and iii) recommending an evaluation of what elements require further analysis before objectives are translated into action. After introducing the issues involved, the report presents a simplified model to help explain the interaction of climate change with the economy. The discussion then turns to several of the most important relevant issues in terms of the model. Finally, individual items are discussed in order to construct an agenda.
Social Implications of Climate Change in Latin America and the Caribbean
2011
Climate change is the defining development challenge of our time. More than a global environmental issue, climate change is also a threat to poverty reduction and economic growth and may unravel many of the development gains made in recent decades. Latin America and the Caribbean account for a relatively modest 12 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,1 but communities across the region are already suffering adverse consequences from climate change and variability (De la Torre, Fajnzylber, and Nash 2009). As highlighted in “Reducing Poverty, Protecting Livelihoods, and Building Assets in a Changing Climate” (Verner 2010), climate change is likely to have unprecedented social, economic, environmental, and political repercussions.
Adapting to Climate Change in the Caribbean: Existential Threat or Development Crossroads?
Caribbean Studies, 2019
The past two decades have seen a significant shift in the Caribbean's development landscape, with climate change becoming the focal point of regional policy and planning. These initiatives represent a major shift in the region's development policy arena-a shift that is premised on the transformational, if not apocalyptic, implications that anthropogenic climate change seem to pose for the Caribbean. The discourses that have shaped this policy shift and their wider implications for the region's future development trajectory are the central focus of this paper. First, we provide an overview of the current climate change science literature for the Caribbean and discuss some of the main implications for regional development. We then trace and assess the region's major policy responses to climate change, paying keen attention to the Caribbean Community's strategic approach for promoting climate-compatible development over the past two decades. We conclude by critically exploring the notion that global climate change poses an 'existential threat' to the Caribbean, amidst its potential to erode or even reverse whatever developmental gains the region has achieved since the post-independence era and the region's own state of readiness to respond effectively to such an unprecedented challenge.
Climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean: Policy options and research priorities
Climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean: Policy options and research priorities. Latin American Economic Review, Volume 24, 2015, pages 150-188 (with B. Feld). Special Issue., 2015
Although climate change is filled with uncertainties, a broad set of policies proposed to address this issue can be grouped in two categories: mitigation and adaptation. Developed countries that are better prepared to cope with climate change have stressed the importance of mitigation, which ideally requires a global agreement that is still lacking. This paper uses a theoretical framework to argue that in the absence of a binding international agreement on mitigation, Latin America should focus mainly on adaptation to cope with the consequences of climate change. This is not a recommendation that such economies indulge in free-riding. Instead, it is based on cost-benefit considerations, all else being equal. Only in the presence of a global binding agreement can the region hope to exploit its comparative advantage in the conservation and management of forests, which are a large carbon sink. The decision of which policies to implement should depend on the results of thorough cost-benefit analysis of competing projects, yet very little is known or has been carried out in this area to date. Research should be directed toward cost-benefit analysis of alternative climate change policies. Policymakers should compare other investments that are also pressing in the region, such as interventions to reduce water and air pollution, and determine which will render the greatest benefits.
Planning for resilience: an integrated approach to tackle climate change in the Caribbean
United Nations, ECLAC, 2020
The Caribbean subregion is exceptionally vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events. Vulnerability is a key multidimensional concept at the heart of resilience building, relating to each country’s multiple spatial and socioeconomic risks and conditions. In fact, due to its geographical location and concentration of population and activities in low-lying coastal areas, the Caribbean is the second most hazard-prone region in the world...Moreover, impacts of extreme weather events on Caribbean small economies are of national proportions. A new generation of Caribbean resilience planning policies will require strong institutional capacities, adjusted with effective communication and knowledge management platforms to manage information and coordination efforts. Therefore, integrated development planning methodologies must ensure availability and access to information and data for better decision-making, attracting the innovation and creative collaboration of all sectors of government and society, and enhancing innovation between technological and indigenous knowledge. Finally, it will be vital to attract investment and benefit from international exchange and best practice in climate resilient development suitable and adaptable for Caribbean SIDS.
The Climate Emergency in Latin America and the Caribbean
ECLAC Books
The text is based on research carried out by ECLAC between 2009 and 2019, forming a corpus that merits the summarized presentation offered here. The documentation built up over this long reference 4 Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) B. The impact of rising sea levels on the Caribbean and Central America .