The Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena, said in a statement that the economic costs of climate change could total between 1.5 % and 5 % of the annual GDP of Latin America and the Caribbean, in the case that the temperature rises an additional 2.5 °C.
"Over the past quarter-century, the world has become more drought-prone, and droughts are projected to become more widespread, intense and frequent as a result of climate change", says the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.