In 2024, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded 393 natural hazard-related disasters. These events caused 16,753 fatalities and affected 167.2 million people. Economic losses totaled US$241.95 billion. The year 2024 was marked by extreme temperature events in Asia that caused thousands of deaths, severe droughts in Africa affecting over 25 …
A double-whammy of El Niño and long-term climate change hit Latin America and the Caribbean in 2023, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Drought, heat, wildfires, extreme rainfall and a record-breaking hurricane had major impacts on health, food and energy security and economic development. The …
This joint WFP and Action Against Hunger publication presents the impacts of El Niño in LAC, highlighting the emergency response and resilience activities taken to mitigate the effect of climate shocks in the region. The publication underscores the significance of adequate anticipation, preparedness, and response to climate emergencies in LAC. …
Recognizing the invaluable role of forests in the fight against climate change, countries and the international community have established a framework known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, and the role of conservation, sustainable forest management, and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+). This …
This report presents the outcomes of an IRENA workshop, held in São Paulo in March 2023, that explored potential pathways for the development of bioenergy in Latin America and issued key recommendations to facilitate the creation of a bioenergy market in the region.
The new United Nations report, Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2023, states that 6.5% of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean suffers from hunger, or 43.2 million people. Although this figure represents a slight improvement of 0.5 percentage points over the previous measurement, the prevalence of …
Latin America and the Caribbean is a region that stands out in the global energy sector. It boasts extraordinary natural resources – both fossil fuels and renewable energy – and a significant share of the world’s critical minerals. It also has a history of ambitious policy making in pursuit of …
The Social Protection Pathways to Nutrition study is a partnership between the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the World Food Programme (WFP). The overarching goal of the Social Protection Pathways to Nutrition study is to review the evidence and propose an analytical and …
This joint publication by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Food Programme (WFP) presents the state of school feeding programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) as of 2022. Amidst the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and compounding challenges, the publication highlights the critical role of …
Achieving the Paris Agreement necessitates transformative changes across all sectors globally, including significant reductions in AFOLU emissions and increased carbon sinks, particularly in Latin America where AFOLU emissions account for 46% of total emissions, mostly driven by commodity agriculture and livestock. This report analyses the status of the sector’s alignment …
Colombia can achieve its ambitious climate change goals and provide a better economic future for its people at the same time, a new World Bank Group report says. Through reforms to make its economy more resilient to climate change, the country can rapidly cut carbon emissions and protect its most …
Extreme weather and climate shocks are becoming more acute in Latin America and the Caribbean, as the long-term warming trend and sea level rise accelerate, according to this new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Temperatures over the past 30 years have warmed an average 0.2° Celsius per decade …
The researchers document that extreme heat has an economically and statistically significant negative effect on economic growth in Latin America. Because extreme heat impacts physical and cognitive performance, heat waves could have a particularly large impact on economic activity. In particular, the researchers find that the magnitude of the negative …
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) are publishing their joint Overview of Disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean 2000 – 2022 to shed light on the social and economic impact of disasters in the …
Regional Overview present the regional food security and nutrition situation, including trends of undernourishment, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition, together with other indicators that could help the understanding of the causes of hunger and malnutrition. This edition offers a regional overview of the socioeconomic state of the region; …
The Strategic Framework for Resilience and Climate for Latin America and the Caribbean took as its starting point an integrated vision of resilience, with an emphasis on reducing the impact of climate change and improving food security and nutrition. WFP's work on resilience and climate is guided by a mission …
Extreme weather and climate change impacts including mega-drought, extreme rainfall, land and marine heatwaves and glacier melt are affecting the Latin America and the Caribbean region, from the Amazon to the Andes and from Pacific and Atlantic Ocean waters to the snowy depths of Patagonia. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) …
Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations have used long-term scenarios and energy planning tools to inform national planning for decades, providing excellent examples of how governments can make strategic use of such scenarios in the context of complex clean energy transitions. When the right institutional framework is in place, they …
This report looks into the application of CLIMADA (CLIMate ADAptation), a natural catastrophe model that calculates climate risk and potential of adaptation in the Caribbean. The study marks a starting point to determine economic losses and damages as well as adaptation measures for the region which is commonly exposed to …
This working paper provides an overview of climate commitments and actions from non-state (businesses and civil society) and subnational (cities, subnational regions) actors in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region. The paper also sheds light on cooperative climate actions in the land use sector in the LAC region, …
Air quality is a major challenge globally and is the single greatest environmental risk to human health. More than 90 per cent of the world’s population lives in areas that exceed the World Health Organization guideline for healthy air. In North America, Canada and the United States of America have …
