With the participation of representatives from more than 30 countries in the region, the event organised by the programme gave an account of its main impacts and addressed the challenges and projections for the future.
30 September 2022. Montevideo, Uruguay-. The EUROCLIMA+ 2022 Annual Meeting is a key space where the National Focal Points of the Programme's partner countries, the European Union, the European Union Delegations and the different implementing agencies share, exchange and analyse the results obtained by the Programme.
After two years of pandemic and virtual events, this meeting was a space of great relevance, as it allowed for face-to-face exchange among the members of the programme, as well as discussion on the way forward, with a view toward the sustainable transformation of Latin America.
The meeting was inaugurated by the Minister of Environment of Uruguay, Adrián Peña, the Ambassador of the European Union in Uruguay, Paolo Berizzi, the Head of Unit Mexico, Central America, Caribbean and Regional Operations of the European Union, Felice Zaccheo and the Executive Director of the Uruguayan Agency for International Cooperation, Mariano Berro. The event also featured a virtual intervention by Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change.
In this space, Minister Peña stressed that "EUROCLIMA is a flagship programme that helps implement national policies and its flexibility has allowed us to work according to our needs and demands, and we have been able to develop policies for sustainable urban mobility, tourism, resilient livestock, care of our waterways such as the Santa Lucia basin, and support the joint work that we have been developing between the environmental and productive dimensions".
For his part, Paolo Berizzi pointed out that "it was not surprising that Uruguay wanted to organise the meeting, given the dynamism and development of initiatives adopted, and he congratulated the country for the recent issue of bonds linked to emissions and conservation, a really important step".
Lessons learned and priorities 2023-24
EUROCLIMA supports the development of tools and methodologies that enable partner governments to act consistently with their Nationally Determined Contributions and Long-Term Climate Strategies. This information has allowed addressing the challenges arising from the Glasgow COP26 decisions as well as the dissemination of best practices and opportunities to meet countries' needs.
On this point, the Annual Meeting was the opportunity to learn about some emblematic success stories from Uruguay, Guatemala and Costa Rica, through which it was possible to delve deeper into the impacts and lessons learned from EUROCLIMA's actions, a space where the consolidation of the Country Dialogue as a central methodological tool of the Programme was also highlighted. Today, EUROCLIMA has a total of 17 dialogues underway.
During the first months of 2022, the EUROCLIMA team focused on the preparation of a new phase of the Programme, with new resources, expanded objectives and fully incorporating the Caribbean countries in its action horizon until 2027. The new approaches to the Programme set out in the "Way Forward" document, including in the area of biodiversity, will guide outreach at the upcoming COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Extension of the EUROCLIMA family
This year, 2022, the Programme has welcomed the Caribbean countries to its 2022 Annual Meeting, increasing the number of partner countries from 18 to 33, which will be made official at the beginning of 2023.
The representatives of the Caribbean region shared experiences and visions for the future at a meeting during which the incorporation of the biodiversity approach in a global context characterised by the health, social and economic crisis was also underscored. In this regard, the components of the Programme highlighted the need to strengthen bi-regional coordination in order to formulate joint responses to the crisis.
"Latin America and the Caribbean share with the European Union the vision that climate and sectoral policies are the main driver of sustainable development, as they can contribute to a transformative recovery, and bi-regional cooperation programmes such as EUROCLIMA are the concrete instruments of this shared vision," said Felice Zaccheo, European Union.
For his part, Mariano Bero from AUCI highlighted that "Uruguay has things to resolve for which we need help and we can provide best practices and solutions that we have incorporated, this event puts the country in the spotlight at regional and international levels".
The 2023 Annual Meeting will take place in Guatemala during the first half of 2023.
Go to the dedicated website of the EUROCLIMA+ 2022 Annual Meeting
About EUROCLIMA
EUROCLIMA is a programme funded by the European Union and co-financed by the German federal government through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), as well as by the governments of France and Spain through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation.
The Programme's mission is to reduce the impact of climate change and its effects in 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, promoting mitigation, adaptation, resilience and climate investment. It is implemented according to the "Spirit of Team Europe" under the synergistic work of seven agencies: the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the French Development Agency (AFD); the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Expertise France (EF); the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Public Administration and Policy (FIIAPP); the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH, and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).