The event, moderated by Catherine Ghyoot of the European Commission, focused on joint EU-Latin American regional responses to climate change.
Luis Miguel Galindo from ECLAC, presented The economics of climate change in Latin America: paradoxes and challenges of sustainable development, and pointed out that public policies must address climate impacts both now and by 2050. He mentioned that Latin America is responsible for 9% of global carbon emissions, however, these are not evenly distributed across the region.
Margarita Astrálaga of UNEP spoke of the need to incorporate climate legislation into judicial systems, and described high-level dialogue initiatives on climate change with foreign ministries and environment ministries in the Latin American region.
Victor Ingrassia, from Diario La Nación in Argentina, reported on the benefits of participating in the programme to expose journalists in the region to climate change issues. He highlighted the importance of disseminating news related to climate change in the development of Latin American and Caribbean countries.
The presentation on the capacity of the agricultural sector to mitigate and adapt to climate change was given by David Williams of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), who mentioned that agriculture is a nexus of food security, environment and climate change. It is important to foster the exchange of common competencies among regional agricultural offices, especially on the value of capacity building and dissemination of best practices. He highlighted IICA's virtual courses and workshops on risk management for the focal points of relevant ministries in Latin America.
Paulo Barbosa of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability (JRC-IES), presented opportunities for research, training and modelling through climate change scenarios in the areas of agriculture, drought and desertification. He urged strengthening regional cooperation and training; modelling additional crop varieties; and promoting dialogue with decision-makers.
Jan Karremans, Director of Technical Assistance for the EUROCLIMA Programme, presented six studies for Latin America, combining science and policy to address climate change issues. He stressed the importance of capacity building, networking, and mentioned that the policy dialogue between the EU and Latin America has been enriched and strengthened through regional meetings, interactive discussions, research and networking.
Cristóbal Reveco from Adapt-Chile, referred to a mapping tool that can be adapted to the climate change profile of each country, and mentioned in the case of Chole, that the tool will allow local municipalities to develop adaptation strategies.
Ghyoot provided perspectives for regional cooperation between the EU and Latin America. She pointed to the unfortunate situation of 60 million people in Latin America living in poverty, while the unsustainable use of resources continues unabated. Calling for regional cooperation, she highlighted collaboration, including cooperation on regional challenges; exchanging experiences and best practices; consolidating the region's capacities to address climate change; and strengthening adaptive capacity in forestry, agriculture and water management.
Participants discussed deforestation modelling practices and the management of groundwater in the region for use by the agricultural sector; the use of partnerships within the region; and the creation of spaces for open dialogue between the environmental and agricultural sectors to address historical conflicts.
View the video of the event in the European Pavilion
