Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS), by their very nature, are vulnerable to external shocks. Research shows that the Caribbean subregion experienced 165 natural disasters between 1990 and 2008 and the total impact of natural disasters on the subregion was estimated at US$136 billion. The impact on the social sectors was estimated at US$57 billion, or 42% of the total effect.
As small open economies, the Caribbean SIDS are also vulnerable to the vagaries of the international economic system and have experienced declines in tourism, merchandise exports receipts, remittances and capi…
The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is seeking to provide support to the Governments of Guyana, Jamaica and Barbados in researching the potential for employing renewable energy technologies to mitigate climate change. This exercise involves the study of different types of renewable technologies and mitigative strategies, with the aim of making recommendations to the governments on the development of their renewable energy sector. The recommendations may also assist in achieving their long-term objectives of reducing poverty and promoting healthy e…
This paper focuses on several key economic issues relevant to climate change. Given the fact that changes in climate are projections using the best available data, it examines the economic principles of uncertainty and the precautionary approach, and then continues to address the key drivers of climate change. Climate change is expected to result in negative impacts and, in this regard, the consequences of anticipated rising temperatures and sea levels as well as changes in precipitation that may result in flooding and/or drought are addressed. However, the situation is not all negative and, a…
El objetivo de este estudio es analizar el efecto económico que pueda tener el cambio climático en Chile en los próximos 100 años. En este marco, se evalúan económicamente los impactos potenciales del cambio climático, se estudian las opciones de adaptación, se analizan las proyecciones de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero (GEI) y las opciones de mitigación en Chile.…
El presente documento es el resultado de una investigación teórica y aplicada respecto del potencial que presentan la identificación, medición y valoración de externalidades urbanas para el crecimiento sostenido de las ciudades. En este sentido, se establece, que los mecanismos e instrumentos de internalización de externalidades son un factor clave para maximizar el potencial que generan las ciudades en términos de mayor habitabilidad y funcionalidad. La incorporación de las externalidades urbanas en el espectro de la planificación y gestión de las ciudades, es producto de la necesidad de crea…
La Evaluación Ambiental Estratégica (EAE); es un instrumento de apoyo para la incorporación de la dimensión ambiental a la toma de decisiones estratégicas, las que usualmente se identifican con políticas, estrategias, planes o programas, y como tal es un procedimiento de mejora de estos instrumentos de planificación.El propósito fundamental de esta guía es el de facilitar una estructura de apoyo para desarrollar una evaluación ambiental estratégica de planes y programas que mejore la integración de la dimensión ambiental y de sostenibilidad en planes y programas.La guía está pensada para orien…
Over the last 35 years the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has assessed major disasters in the Latin American region. Based on those exercises, which that have been conducted in a systematic manner using an evolving but comparable methodology over the years1, there is now historical evidence of the economic consequences these events have on the region's economies. This evidence-based approach sheds light on the link between economic performance, development dynamics and how disasters, as external shocks, generate lingering…
In recent years, the problem of climate change has captured an unprecedented level of attention. This has mobilized the international community to agree on mitigation actions, boosted technological innovation efforts to develop the necessary tools to address the causes of the problem and generated growing concerns about the potentially negative impacts of this phenomenon on countries' economic and social development. This issue has even been included, together with the Millennium Development Goals, on the agenda of priorities of the United Nations Secretary-General. The overriding concern…
En los últimos años, el problema del cambio climático ha captado un nivel de atención sin precedentes y ello se ha traducido en una movilización internacional para concertar acciones destinadas a mitigarlo, un mayor dinamismo en materia de innovación tecnológica para contar con herramientas que permitan paliar sus causas y una creciente preocupación por sus posibles consecuencias negativas sobre el desarrollo económico y social de los países. El tema ha pasado incluso a integrar la agenda de prioridades del Secretario General de las Naciones Unidas junto a los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milen…
Global climate change, which is associated basically with increases in the average temperature, changes in precipitation patterns, rising sea levels, the reduction of the world's ice masses and snow deposits, and the modification of extreme weather patterns, is one of the major challenges facing humankind this century. Its impacts on economic activities, populations and ecosystems are undoubtedly significant and in many cases irreversible. The challenge of simultaneously adapting to new climatic conditions and participating in an international mitigation strategy will entail costs of such…
En este documento se presenta un análisis económico agregado del cambio climático en América Latina y el Caribe basado en los estudios nacionales y subregionales de la economía del cambio climático en la región. En él se recoge una síntesis de los
resultados obtenidos y solo algunos temas se abordan con mayor detalle. Las conclusiones que se presentan son preliminares y con ellas se intenta contribuir a una mejor comprensión del fenómeno económico del cambio climático y a la búsqueda de posibles soluciones.…
In spite of various initiatives, Caribbean countries continue to have difficulties in
addressing demands of monitoring and measuring progress towards the fulfilment of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other Internationally Agreed upon Development
Goals (IADGs)1. To address this gap, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC) has received funding for a technical assistance project, Strengthening the
capacity of National Statistical Offices (NSOs) in the Caribbean Small Island Developing States
to fulfil the Millennium Development Goals and other International…
The problem of food and nutrition insecurity in the region has been widely studied in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, despite the progress achieved in the last four decades, much work remains in the effort to eliminate food and nutrition insecurity in the region. In light of the changes triggered by rising food prices and the global financial crisis, and the new challenges they present, the WFP Regional Office has asked ECLAC to begin a new line of work to strengthen analysis of the issues involved. ECLAC is to develop technical documents and venues for c…
El problema de la inseguridad alimentaria y nutricional ha sido un tema de amplio análisis en América Latina y el Caribe. Pero, ha habido avances aún hay un importante camino por recorrer para llegar a su erradicación.
Las crisis alimentaria, energética y financiera, junto al cambio climático y sus consecuencias, presentan nuevos desafíos para la región. Ante esto, la Oficina Regional del PMA solicitó a la CEPAL hacer un análisis del escenario actual, cuyo resultado es el presente documento, el que incluye una síntesis resumida del contexto socioeconómico, medioambiental y alimentario regional…
PresentaciónEn este número del Observatorio demográfico se presenta un conjunto de indicadores de distribución espacial y urbanización contenidos en la base de datos Distribución Espacial de la Población y Urbanización en América Latina y el Caribe (DEPUALC), que fueron elaborados a partir de los datos censales de los 20 países de América Latina para el período 1950-2000. Se incluye también una serie de indicadores que caracterizan a la población residente en las ciudades y los aglomerados metropolitanos de 20.000 habitantes y más, calculados a partir del procesamiento de los microdatos de la …
As the use of global and national computable general equilibrium (CGE) models has become more widespread, most policies still remain at the regional or sub-national level. This level of disparity requires an approach that bridges the gap between national results and sub-national policies. In this study we combine a general equilibrium model with geographical information to spatially map the effects of trade liberalization on the agricultural sector. This study tries to bridge this gap by merging the results of a CGE analysis with spatial geo-referenced data at the municipal level by means of G…
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are fundamentally a set of eight global goals
for the achievement of basic economic and social rights for all, with time-bound targets to be achieved
by the year 2015. In adopting the Millennium Declaration in 2000, the member States of the United
Nations pledged to “spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and
dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty.”1 The focus of this report is on the progress made by
Caribbean countries towards the achievement of Goal 1: the eradication of extreme poverty and
hunger; and Goal 3: t…
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