GCA provides recommendations for a green and resilient recovery in Latin America
Rotterdam (15 January 2021) – A new policy paper released today by the Global Center on Adaptation and Pro-Tempore Presidency of Mexico for the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) highlighted that investing between 3 and 13 billion dollars a year in resilient infrastructure in Latin America could generate 700 billion dollars in net benefits by 2030 due to avoided climate damages. Nine of the top 20 countries with the highest climatic impacts based on GDP are in Latin America with climate change causing an estimated 11 billion dollars in damage a year.
A Green and Resilient Recovery for Latin America” presents seven recommendations to the governments of Latin America countries on how to build resilience to address the social, climatic and health crises generated by the Covid-19 pandemic. These include measures to address inequality, shovel ready jobs to build resilience, increased investment in resilient infrastructure and nature based solutions, increased regulation of the financial system to mobilize private finance towards climate resilience and the alignment of public policy and governance to address the structural challenges of climate change. The report also calls on multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank among others to increase support on adaptation and resilience in the context of recovery support packages.
Speaking at the virtual launch of the report, Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund emphasized that “Latin America must seize the opportunity of a recovery that builds resilience for the continent, in order to protect those who have contributed the least to the climate crisis.
Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the board of the Global Center for Adaptation, stated that “focusing on a resilient recovery is not a sign of giving up on climate change, but rather a way to renew our commitment to fight inequality.”
Marcelo Ebrard, Foreign Minister of Mexico, also speaking at the launch added that “climate change will bring new pandemics and deeper impacts in the future, so combating it is also undertaking a fight against social inequalities while protecting the health and lives of the most vulnerable in the region.”
Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Center for Global Adaptation; Martha Delgado, Undersecretariat for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights in Mexico; foreign ministers and ministers of foreign relations, environment, finance and CELAC member countries also attended the event and agreed on the importance of integrating resilience measures into the region’s recovery.
