Biodiversity and development: thoughts from Latin America and the Caribbean

This document examines the challenges and opportunities facing Latin America and the Caribbean in biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. While the region has abundant natural resources that have been instrumental in driving economic growth, their overexploitation has jeopardized this valuable heritage and exacerbated social inequality, and that, together with habitat loss, deforestation and climate change, threatens long-term sustainability. In that context, the development model must be reoriented towards a more sustainable one that values, preserves and regenerates the region…

The circular economy opportunities for wastewater treatment systems in Latin America and the Caribbean

There is abundant evidence of the benefits ––which include the ability to make use of by-products such as water, nutrients, biosolids and energy–– of integrating circular economy principles into drinking water supply and wastewater treatment systems. However, despite the environmental and social returns that it affords, this approach is not recognized as a profitable option for sanitation utilities. The study also highlights the importance of building water and sanitation utilities' technical, operational, policy-based and forward-planning capacities. The present challenge is therefore to…

Energy recovery from methane in wastewater treatment: case studies in El Salvador, Mexico and Panama

The study also highlights the importance of building water and sanitation utilities' technical, operational, policy-based and forward-planning capacities. The present challenge is therefore to devise ways of enhancing the sector's institutional capacities, not only for the application of circular economy principles in water management in the region but also for meeting the challenges associated with the current innovations being driven by artificial intelligence and big data solutions. Doing so will make it possible to leverage activities and projects that will make a direct contribu…

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 Life below water

Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.…

The Hummingbird Vol. 12 No. 2

Natural Resources in Latin America and the Caribbean - No.6

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development emphasizes the importance of implementing equitable and effective measures to tackle the pressing challenge of climate change. The deployment of low-carbon technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines and lithium-ion batteries, which are highly mineral-intensive, will drive a mining boom in Latin America and the Caribbean. The presence of lithium, copper, nickel and other minerals in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean presents opportunities to develop the mining sector, diversify production, add upstream and downstream value, establ…

The Hummingbird Vol. 11 No. 12

The Hummingbird Vol. 11 No. 11

Making peace with nature: Regional actions to mainstream and invest in biodiversity

The host country of the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Colombia, selected “Peace with nature” as the theme of the meeting. Peace with nature is of the utmost relevance for all regions, and its achievement is not just an environmental necessity but a socioeconomic imperative. Biodiversity underpins ecosystem services that are vital for human survival, economic prosperity and social well-being. Peace with nature requires just and transformative changes in economic, social and governance systems.…

Report on the activities of the Commission, 2023

In 2023, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary. Since its establishment in 1948, ECLAC has been a leader in generating applied knowledge and research from the perspective of the region. The Commission’s commitment has remained strong throughout these past decades, contributing to the design and implementation of public policies taking into consideration the needs and demands of member States. This report on the activities undertaken by ECLAC in 2023 highlights the Commission’s key achievements and contributions and is hereb…

SIDS 4: Now or never for small island survival

Financing for food security and nutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean

Hunger and malnutrition persist as global challenges, also affecting Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). There are different proposals about policies and interventions to address these problems jointly as a region and for each country, but they are generally not accompanied by proposals on how to finance the actions necessary to eliminate hunger and combat malnutrition. This document presents a first approach to the issue of the financing required to eradicate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms in LAC.…

Resilient growth, development and structural change in the Caribbean

The Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas: A Perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean 2023-2024

In this tenth edition of “The Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas: A Perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean”, we underscore the key importance of regional cooperation in addressing the challenges and opportunities resulting from converging crises. Within this context, strengthening regional cooperation not only fosters more sustainable, inclusive and resilient agrifood systems, but also bolsters collaborative actions in areas in which collective action, both at the national level and between countries, is the only way to make a significant difference.…

Natural Resources Outlook in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2023

This document offers an analysis of the natural resources situation in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a view to promoting discussions on the role those resources can play in the transition to a development model that is sustainable. Natural resources, both renewable and non-renewable, are crucial to the economic development of the region. Latin America and the Caribbean contains almost 20% of the world’s oil reserves, at least 25% of some strategic metals and over 30% of the world’s virgin forest area. In the region, natural resource-based economic activities account for 12% of value ad…

The Hummingbird Vol. 11 No. 4

CEPAL Review No. 142

Report of the Twenty-First Meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee

Natural Resources in Latin America and the Caribbean - No.5

On 19 December 2022, a potentially landmark agreement for multilateral environmental aspirations was reached with the adoption, under the aegis of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), of the new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (Kunming-Montreal Framework or Global Biodiversity Framework) and other accords as a transformative road map for the current decade to curb biodiversity loss and environmental degradation. The new Kunming-Montreal Framework is of the utmost importance for Latin America and the Caribbean, one of the world’s most biologically and culturally rich reg…

The Hummingbird Vol. 10 No. 12