Report of the Twentieth meeting of the Executive Committee of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

Blockchain implementation opportunities and challenges in the Latin American and Caribbean logistics sector

The present edition of the FAL Bulletin analyses the potential opportunities and challenges of the implementation of blockchain technology for competitiveness in the region. The document highlights the importance of blockchain as one of the key technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, owing to its potential to redefine logistics chains and the functioning of the transport industry and logistics activities.…

From the Committee on South-South Cooperation to the Regional Conference: opportunities for renewed international development cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean. Note by the Secretariat

Report of the Fourth Meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development

Annotated provisional agenda. Extraordinary meeting of the Committee on South-South Cooperation: opportunities for renewed international development cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean

Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2021

This document examines the global and regional evolution of FDI and offers recommendations so these flows can contribute to the region’s productive development processes. The first chapter of the publication analyzes, among other things, the trends observed in the context of the international crisis prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, detailing the amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) received by each country in 2020 and providing a regional projection for 2021. The second chapter offers a historic and current overview of China’s investments in Latin America and the Caribbean, placing thes…

Global and regional perspectives on the integration of statistical and geospatial information

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has joined global efforts to promote the integration of geospatial and statistical information, and understands their value in supporting areas such as decision-making, public policies, national development strategies and the monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This article aims to provide an overview of the process, including the lines of action and activities that are being pursued at the global level and the measures to put the global proposals into practice…

Forest loss in Latin America and the Caribbean from 1990 to 2020: The statistical evidence

Forests play an important role as providers of sustenance and livelihoods for people living in forested areas and are the largest repository of terrestrial biological diversity on the planet. They play a key part in climate change mitigation and adaptation because of their capacity to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) and fix it in the form of biomass. According to the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 (FAO), the total area of forest in the world is 4.06 billion hectares, or 31% of the planet’s land surface. More than half the world’s forest area is in just five countries, with one country in …

Guide for the preparation of country reports of the Implementation of the Madrid International Plan on Ageing, 2002

Analysis of policies to support SMEs in confronting the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America

The institutions that support micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Latin America have demonstrated their capacity to react to the challenges posed by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, making unprecedented efforts to adapt support instruments and adjust their management modalities to new needs. This document summarizes the experiences of nine countries in the region (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama and Uruguay), highlighting good practices and methodological lessons learned that can be leveraged to improve the performance of t…

The Hummingbird Vol. 8 No. 8

Report of the Executive meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Revisiting constant market share analysis: An exercise applied to NAFTA

This article proposes a new formulation of constant market share (CMS) trade analysis inspired by the statistical principles supporting revealed comparative advantages (RCA). This novel approach is methodologically consistent and rooted in information theory. It also avoids the discrete-form residuals that plague traditional CMS analysis, while remaining simple to compute. The new “comparative market share analysis decomposition” (CMSD) is applied to the changes in the structure and origin of United States imports after the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It …

Latin American and Caribbean youth and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: An examination from within the United Nations system

This document reviews the progresses towards the achievement of a selection of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as they affect the youth population of Latin America and the Caribbean and defines lines for future action for the promotion of resilient, sustainable and inclusive development among the region’s young people. The analysis focuses on the challenges and opportunities in three major areas, namely: (i) inclusion, (ii) climate change and environmental protection and (iii) governance. Within this framework, the SDGs are analysed on the basis of the factors that are hindering or enhanc…

Report of the Sixtieth meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

Provisional agenda. Sixty-first meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

Provisional agenda. Extraordinary meeting of the Committee on South-South Cooperation: opportunities for renewed international development cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean

Current understanding of the potential impacts of Carbon Dioxide Removal approaches on the SDGs in selected countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Final Report

The objective of this study is to identify and select four Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) approaches that may be the most relevant to the LAC region/context, and conduct, when possible, an analysis on the potential economic, social and environmental impacts (positive and/or negative) that the introduction of those CDR approaches could have, in terms of a set of key indicators: Employment; GDP (Gross Domestic Product); costs; greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions removal; and, the achievement of specific SDGs. The analysis is focused primarily in two selected LAC countries: Argentina and Colombia; how…

Tourism in Central America and the Dominican Republic in the face of digital technologies: Challenges and opportunities for MSMEs

Tourism micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) recognize the importance of digital tools to attract tourists, showcase the company and sell products and services. However, they make basic use of these tools to communicate and promote the company, missing opportunities to improve their competitiveness, productivity and sustainability. This study analyses the state of the digital transformation of tourism MSMEs in the member States of the Central American Integration System (SICA), both their internal capacities and external conditions that affect their ability to innovate. The study …

The recovery paradox in Latin America and the Caribbean Growth amid persisting structural problems: inequality, poverty and low investment and productivity

This Special Report examines the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than a year after it first appeared, providing new growth projections for the region’s countries. The document, entitled The recovery paradox in Latin America and the Caribbean. Growth amid persisting structural problems: inequality, poverty and low investment and productivity, analyzes the performance of the region’s main economic and social indicators and presents policy proposals for achieving a transformative recovery based on the forging of a new development pattern.…