With its Climate Week, Latin America prepares for COP26

First modification: 14/05/2021 – 18:04

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Between May 11 and 14, the Latin American and Caribbean Climate Week was held. This space is part of the regional weeks created by the UN Convention on Climate Change with the purpose that the local begin to prepare ideas for the UN climate summit, COP26, to be held in Glasgow.

According to the UN office, more than 5,000 people attended the virtual discussions, in which governments of the region, members of the private sector and civil society leaders participated. Although the meetings were held remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Dominican Republic was the country that organized the event.

During the week they discussed from the actions that each Latin American country is taking to combat global warming to the strategies to be resilient to climate change. One of the sessions, for example, focused on financing for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

All these discussions will serve as inputs for COP26, to be held in November. This summit will be the key moment for each country to specify what their commitments will be in relation to the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement and, in addition, it will mark the beginning of the implementation of said pact.

“2021 is the year in which we approach the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the year in which we finally unleash its real power and potential, when the world needs it most,” Patricia Espinosa explained in the opening forum , Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

On the other front, Espinosa encouraged governments in Latin America and around the world to have more ambitious commitments. Otherwise, he said, the goal of reducing greenhouse gases proposed by the Paris Agreement to combat global warming will not be achieved.

“At the current rate, nations will achieve less than 1% of emission reductions by 2030, compared to 2010 levels. The IPCC proposes that this reduction be 45%. So to say that current levels are insufficient is an understatement, “he said.

The melting of Andean glaciers and deforestation in the Amazon, two faces of climate change in Latin America

In Bolivia, the people of Khapi feel global warming directly. The Illimani glacier is melting to the point that those who live below it are running out of water. Some farmers have even had to change crops due to the shortage of liquid.

In fact, all the glaciers in the Andes Mountains are melting. On average, they have lost nearly a meter in thickness of their ice every year since 2000 due to global warming. This makes the mountain range the mountainous region in the world that has lost the most ice in relation to its size.

On the Brazilian side, the crisis comes from deforestation in the Amazon, which continues to increase. According to the report of May 7 from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), deforestation in the country’s Amazon rainforest increased by almost 43% in April compared to the same month the previous year.

It is the worst April on record since monitoring on the subject began in 2015 and the worst time is still to come. Normally the rainy seasons at the beginning of the year make it difficult for loggers and ranchers to enter the forest to log. This changes with the dry seasons between May and October, when deforestation has historically skyrocketed in the Amazon.