NEGOTIATIONS
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KEY STEPS
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LATIN AMERICA
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Here are highlights of the projected impacts of climate change on the Latin America region based on the
Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC (see first box on top right of screen).
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Freshwater. Changes in rainfall patterns and the
disappearance of glaciers are expected to significantly affect water availability for drinking and
cooking, agriculture and energy generation.
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Food. In drier areas, climate change is expected to lead to
salinisation and desertification of agricultural land. Productivity of some important crops is
projected to decrease. Livestock productivity is expected to decline. These have clear implications
for food security. In temperate zones soybean yields are projected to increase.
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Ecology and biodiversity. By mid-century, increases in
temperature and associated decreases in soil water are projected to lead to gradual replacement of
tropical forest by savanna in eastern Amazonia. Semi-arid vegetation will tend to be replaced by
arid-land vegetation. There is a risk of significant biodiversity loss through species extinction
in many areas of tropical Latin America.
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Marine life and fisheries. Sea-level rise is projected to
cause increased risk of flooding in low-lying areas. Increases in sea surface temperature due to
climate change are projected to have adverse effects on Mesoamerican coral reefs, and cause shifts
in the location of south-east Pacific fish stocks.
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Amazonian biodiversity under threat
Aerial view of the Amazon Rainforest, near Manaus, the
capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Photo by Neil Palmer (CIAT).
The Amazon Basin contains the largest contiguous extent of tropical forest on
Earth, almost 5.8 million km2. It harbours perhaps 20% of the planet’s plant and animal
species. There is abundance of water resources and the Amazon River accounts for 18% of the
freshwater input to the global oceans. Over the past 30 years almost 600,000 km2 have been
deforested in Brazil alone due to the rapid development of Amazonia. The continuation of
current trends shows that over 30% of the forest may be gone by 2050. Deforestation may lead to
regional climate changes that would lead in turn to a ‘savannisation’ of Amazonia.
That factor might be greatly amplified by global warming. Synergistically, regional and global
changes may severely affect the functioning of Amazonian ecosystems, resulting in large biome
changes with catastrophic species disappearance.
More details and citations may be found at: Amazonia: a
‘hotspot’ of the Earth system, IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, 2007.
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Individual countries in Central America and South America
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For more detailed analysis of the climate change related vulnerabilities of each country in the Central
American and South American regions, click on the following. These links will take you to the country
pages of the Adaptation Learning Mechanism. The information is sourced from country assessments and
other external sources.
Central America
South America
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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for the assessment
of climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of
knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts. The UN General
Assembly endorsed the action by WMO and UNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC.
The IPCC is a scientific body. It reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and
socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change. It does
not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters.
Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC on a voluntary basis.
Review is an essential part of the IPCC process, to ensure an objective and complete assessment of
current information. IPCC aims to reflect a range of views and expertise.
The IPCC is an intergovernmental body. Currently 194 countries are members of the IPCC. Governments
participate in the review process and the plenary Sessions, where main decisions about the IPCC work
programme are taken and reports are accepted, adopted and approved.
The projected impacts and vulnerabilities for each broad region found in this section are distilled from
IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report, its latest Assessment Report,
released in 2007.
For the LATIN AMERICA section, information and citations can be found here.
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