Climate Change Assessment Reports: Implications for a Just Transition in Latin America

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) of the United Nations, the Presidency of the Commission on Land and Territory, Natural Resources and the Environment of the Senate of the Plurinational State of Bolivia (CMA Bolivia) and the Presidency of the Commission on Environment of the Federal Senate of Brazil (CMA Brazil) hold the virtual event "Climate Change Assessment Reports: Implications for a Just Transition in Latin America", which will take place on 7 July from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. (Santiago de Chile time) in totally virtual format.

The event takes place within the framework of the Parliamentary Dialogues on Just Transition, an initiative of the Parliamentary Observatory on Climate Change and Just Transition (OPCC, from its acronym in Spanish). The OPCC is an initiative to create a shared information tool on the status of environmental legislation and parliamentary treatment, aiming to promote the construction of effective legislative frameworks for the just transition to sustainable and low-carbon economies in the countries of the Latin America and the Caribbean and beyond.

In this event, Latin American parliamentary leaders of the OPCC and academics, expert authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will discuss the main findings and conclusions of the latest IPCC reports, addressing the state of the art of scientific knowledge on climate change, its future impacts and risks for Latin America, as well as options to reduce the speed at which climate change is occurring.

The purpose of the webinar is to create an opportunity to review and discuss progress and the current information on climate change from the latest IPCC reports with a specific focus on Latin America. By building a space for interaction between actors of the legislative power that are part of the OPCC and Latin American academics who are expert authors of the IPCC, it will be possible to understand more precisely the role and legislative actions that can be established to contribute to the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

The event will be attended by Senators Cecilia Requena (Commission for Land and Territory, Natural Resources and the Environment of the Senate of the Plurinational State of Bolivia) and Jaques Wagner (President of the Environment Commission of the Federal Senate of Brazil), as well as parliamentary members and partners of the OPCC.

Among the confirmed Latin American author panelists are Dr. Marcelo Barreiro (Uruguay), who will present the Latin American panorama; Dr. Mercedes Bustamante (Brazil), who will describe the panorama of the Amazon and the Cerrado; Dr. Edson Ramírez (Bolivia), who will address the Andean panorama; and Dr. Virginia Villarino (Argentina), who will address the panorama of the Southern Cone.

The mediation will be in charge of Carlos Mussi, Director of the ECLAC Office in Brazil.

The event represents an opportunity to build bridges between the legislative process and science to coordinate concrete legislative actions in the context of the global climate emergency and learn about the capacity of countries to limit further warming and protect vulnerable communities, contributing to the articulation of adaptation and mitigation legislation.