An empirical analysis of technology absorption capacity of the Brazilian industry

Includes bibliography.

Questionnaire analysis special library units in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago establishment, location and orientation of units

Includes bibliography

ECLAC contributes with new workshops towards the goal of easing traffic congestion

A number of cities in Latin America played host to workshops on measures for reducing traffic congestion, as part of efforts to publicize the results of a project recently completed by ECLAC, and which received support from the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). Congestion is beginning to pose a threat to the quality of life of the cities of the region; the most obvious manifestation of this congestion is the increase in daily travel time, especially in peak hours.The workshops are a contribution to efforts to curb congestion, since they help foster awareness of the extent of the negative consequences generated by the phenomenon, and are a means of publicizing options for dealing with it. This edition of the Bulletin outlines the contents of the workshops and their results. The workshops are offered to urban authorities and other institutions interested in training staff employed in positions involving traffic management.

Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 2010

Includes bibliography

The gender perspective in economic and labour policies: state of the art in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Human rights and trafficking in persons in the Americas: summary and highlights of the Hemispheric Conference on International Migration

Includes bibliography

The macroeconomics of the Latin American economic boom

Includes bibliography

Draft biennial programme of regional and international cooperation activities of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of ECLAC, 2007-2009

Includes bibliography

Activities report of the initiative group of the working group on environmental statistics

Includes bibliography

Development of a modelling framework in support of an assessment of the economic and social impacts of climate change in the Caribbean: the ECLAC – CIAM Model

The Caribbean region remains highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In order to assess the social and economic consequences of climate change for the region, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean( ECLAC) has developed a model for this purpose. The model is referred to as the Climate Impact Assessment Model (ECLAC-CIAM) and is a tool that can simultaneously assess multiple sectoral climate impacts specific to the Caribbean as a whole and for individual countries. To achieve this goal, an Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) with a Computable General Equilibrium Core was developed comprising of three modules to be executed sequentially. The first of these modules defines the type and magnitude of economic shocks on the basis of a climate change scenario, the second module is a global Computable General Equilibrium model with a special regional and industrial classification and the third module processes the output of the CGE model to get more disaggregated results. The model has the potential to produce several economic estimates but the current default results include percentage change in real national income for individual Caribbean states which provides a simple measure of welfare impacts. With some modifications, the model can also be used to consider the effects of single sectoral shocks such as (Land, Labour, Capital and Tourism) on the percentage change in real national income. Ultimately, the model is envisioned as an evolving tool for assessing the impact of climate change in the Caribbean and as a guide to policy responses with respect to adaptation strategies.

An assessment of the economic and social impacts of climate change on the health sector in the Caribbean

Climate change affects the fundamental bases of good human health, which are clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food, and secure shelter. Climate change is known to impact health through three climate dimensions: extreme heat, natural disasters, and infections and diseases. The temporal and spatial climatic changes that will affect the biology and ecology of vectors and intermediate hosts are likely to increase the risks of disease transmission. The greatest effect of climate change on disease transmission is likely to be observed at the extremes of the range of temperatures at which transmission typically occurs. Caribbean countries are marked by unique geographical and geological features. When combined with their physical, infrastructural development, these features make them relatively more prone to negative impacts from changes in climatic conditions. The increased variability of climate associated with slow-moving tropical depressions has implications for water quality through flooding as well as hurricanes. Caribbean countries often have problems with water and sanitation. These problems are exacerbated whenever there is excess rainfall, or no rainfall. The current report aims to prepare the Caribbean to respond better to the anticipated impact of climate change on the health sector, while fostering a subregional Caribbean approach to reducing carbon emissions by 2050. It provides a major advance on the analytical and contextual issues surrounding the impact of climate change on health in the Caribbean by focusing on the vector-borne and waterborne diseases that are anticipated to be impacted directly by climate change. The ultimate goal is to quantify both the direct and indirect costs associated with each disease, and to present adaptation strategies that can address these health concerns effectively to benefit the populations of the Caribbean.

Evaluation report of the regional workshop on the measurement of poverty in the Caribbean

1. The member and associate member countries of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean/Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (ECLAC/CDCC) have committed to pursuing and achieving the Millennium Development Goals, a common set of goals and targets to bring all people up to minimum acceptable standards of human development by 2015. 2. However, in spite of various capacity-building initiatives, Caribbean countries continued to experience difficulties in addressing additional demands of monitoring and measuring progress created by the Millennium Development Goals and other Internationally Agreed Development Goals. Therefore, it was necessary to implement activities to ensure the further building/strengthening of institutional capabilities for generating reliable social, economic and environmental statistics among Caribbean States. 3. The ECLAC project entitled “Strengthening the Capacity of National Statistical Offices in the Caribbean Small Island Developing States to fulfil the Millennium Development Goals and other Internationally Agreed Development Goals” sought to build and strengthen institutional capabilities for generating and compiling reliable social, economic and environmental statistics in the Caribbean subregion, through the provision of technical support, as well as the conduct of training workshops for statisticians and policymakers. 4. Within the objectives of that project, ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean convened a regional training workshop on the measurement of poverty in the Caribbean in Port of Spain, to build the capacity of government officials and other relevant stakeholders. 5. The overall objective of the workshop was to develop and strengthen the national technical capacity of public officials in data processing, systematization and dissemination of poverty indicators and measurement in the Caribbean subregion. The workshop further sought to review and discuss the current approaches to poverty measurement and monitoring in an effort to identify methods to ensure that monitoring and reporting of the Millennium Development Goals were conducted according to internationally agreed upon methodologies. Furthermore, the workshop also intended to review different methods of poverty measurements, including the multidimensional methodology for the measurement of poverty. 6. Participants were introduced to different methods of poverty measurements and other aggregation proposals which would enable countries to better measure progress towards Goal 1 on poverty, report on it and apply evidence-based approaches to national policymaking and planning.

Evaluation of the technical meeting on the 2010 Caribbean Millennium Development Goals report

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean convened a two-day technical meeting to review the draft Caribbean report on the Millennium Development Goals, “Caribbean Millennium Development Goal Achievement and Prognosis: A 2010 Review” and provide guidance to the Consultant in the finalisation of the report. The technical meeting was convened within the framework of the United Nations Development Account-funded project “Strengthening the Capacity of National Statistical Offices in the Caribbean Small Island Developing States to fulfil the Millennium Development Goals and other Internationally Agreed Development Goals”. The meeting was held at ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on 24-25 June 2010. The Caribbean report was intended to provide an assessment of achievements and constraints in the countries of the subregion to accomplish the Goals 10 years after the Millennium Declaration in 2000. The report would also contribute to the ECLAC Latin America and Caribbean report.