Population, social equity and changing production patterns

Includes bibliography

Where do Latin America and the Caribbean stand in relation to the eLAC2007 Plan of Action?: evidence from available information

Includes bibliography

Convergence and divergence of transport and mobility policies in Latin America: Lack of urban co-modality

This issue of the FAL bulletin analyses transport and mobility policy in Latin America, where the lack of integrated public policies for urban mobility and the failure to take coordinated action over time make it difficult to prioritize investments and coordinate existing initiatives (both public and private).

The economics of climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean: Paradoxes and challenges of sustainable development

The robust growth of Latin American and Caribbean economies in recent years has led to an improvement in economic and social conditions in the region. It has also had collateral negative effects, however, such as more air pollution in urban areas and a serious deterioration of various natural assets, including non-renewable resources, water resources and forests. There are economies and societies within the region that are highly vulnerable to all sorts of adverse impacts of climate change, and whose production structures and consumption patterns still tend to leave a large carbon footprint. This situation has reached the point of undermining the foundations of the region’s economic buoyancy. Latin America and the Caribbean therefore needs to make the transition in the years to come towards a sustainable form of development that will preserve its economic, social and natural assets for future generations and leave them with a legacy of a more equal, more socially inclusive, low-carbon form of economic growth. Viewed from this standpoint, the climate change challenge is also a sustainable development challenge, and if it is to be addressed successfully, a global consensus that recognizes the asymmetries and paradoxes of the problem will have to be reached..

Financing for climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2014

Quantifying the resources mobilized to tackle climate change makes it possible to ascertain the region’s status in this area and the opportunities it offers. It provides countries with the detailed information they need to move forward and prepare to meet the objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). With accurate, up-to-date information on climate finance flows, countries can define their strategies for the transition to more sustainable development scenarios with a smaller environmental footprint and fiscal agents can identify gaps between supply and demand for specific financial instruments. The hope is that, rather than investment by fund providers and managers in sustainable initiatives with a smaller environmental footprint being an exception or anomaly, it will become a business model that gradually decouples economic development, investment and social inclusion from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.