A delegation from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is currently in Marrakech, Morocco, to attend the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), where several events jointly organized by the regional commission will take place and a number of studies on global warming will be presented.
This global conference, which is taking place from 7 to 18 November, marks a watershed following the entry into force on 4 November of the Paris Agreement signed at COP 21 in December 2015. That agreement seeks to limit this century’s temperature increases to less than 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.
The ECLAC team at COP 22 is led by the Director of the Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division, Joseluis Samaniego, and the Head of the Climate Change Unit, Luis Miguel Galindo. The two officials will meet on several occasions with delegates from the region’s countries and with other organizations that work in those areas.
At the various events that are to take place, they will present the main data produced by ECLAC and the conclusions and proposals it has adopted, many of which have been included in a collection of 30 studies drawn up over the past five years under the aegis of the EUROCLIMA cooperation programme and four videos produced by ECLAC.
The first of the events jointly organized by ECLAC took place on 10 November and was focused on promoting independent assessments of the mitigation actions related to Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) undertaken pursuant to the Paris Agreement. The meeting was organized in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank.
On 12 November, ECLAC will participate at a meeting on EUROCLIMA+: Perspectives and challenges for EU regional climate change cooperation with Latin America. EUROCLIMA is a EU-funded cooperation programme within which ECLAC has been in charge of designing and establishing a series of public-policy measures for adaptation and mitigation.
A new phase in the existence of EUROCLIMA is to begin in January, as a result of which its name will change to EUROCLIMA+.
On Tuesday, 15 November, two events organized by the United Nations Regional Commissions will take place. The first of these, also involving the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will be a round-table session on Sustainable Development Goal 17: Building capacity for 2030 Agenda through climate action solutions for regional implementation.
It will be followed by a discussion of regional perspectives on the economics of climate change, with the participation of Joseluis Samaniego from ECLAC and high-level representatives from the other regional commissions: the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
On Tuesday 15, ECLAC will also participate in an event on the implementation of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. The goal of this process is to negotiate a regional agreement to promote enforcement of the right of access to information, participation and justice in environmental matters.
In addition, on Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16, ECLAC and other United Nations agencies will participate at two events dealing, respectively, with Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 2. The first will focus on the connection between climate and health, while the second will address agriculture and food security for combating hunger at a time of climate change.
Finally, a high-level interministerial dialogue will be held on 16 November to discuss opportunities for cooperation between the agricultural and environmental sectors, which several Latin American ministers are expected to attend.
