First of all congratulations all of you for being here in this important event.
I hope that our conversation will contribute to the current debate on the acceleration of the SDGs and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.
I would like to highlight the engagement of the representatives of the Civil Society Participation Mechanisms of Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe, as well as that of the representatives of the governments of Norway and Nepal (TBC), together with my colleagues from ESCAP and ECE. Our presence here is an example of the importance of the multi-actor and multi-level implementation o…
In Caribbean small island developing States (SIDS), electrical power outages are frequent in the aftermath of major weather events. While local service disruptions often last a few days after these events, nationwide power grid failures lasting several weeks, or months have resulted in enormous social and economic impacts. In 2017, Hurricane Maria left 90 per cent of the population of Dominica without access to electricity for over four months (Commonwealth of Dominica, 2020) and caused a systemwide collapse of Puerto Rico's power grid that took 11 months to be entirely restored (Campbell…
4 Nov 2020, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 14:26
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Over the past 50 years, the global annual production of plastics has increased dramatically, from 15 million tons in 1964 to roughly 311 million tons by 2014. This spectacular growth has occurred due to its unrivalled physical properties, which allow it to be widely applied in diverse economic production processes, at low cost. One of its main appplications has been in the packaging industry where roughly 26% of the global volume of plastics is used. More importantly, as much as 95% of plastic packaging – estimated at USD 80 – 120 billion annually - is for single-use, either as packaging or as…
1 Nov 2011, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 14:26
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Between 2008 and 2011, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) worked on a project to assess the economic impact of climate change in the Caribbean. The overall aim is to prepare the Caribbean region to better respond to climate change, while fostering a regional approach to reducing carbon emissions by 2050. This study updates the report on the impact of climate change on the macroeconomy at the regional level and will focus on 9 countries: Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Curacao, the Dominican Republic, Montserrat, Jamaica, Saint Lucia and Trinidad an…
This publication considers the fact that despite the important role of the business community in the creation and promotion of green technology and related services in Canada and in the United States, the experiences in both countries illustrate the limitations of the market in the promotion of sustainable urban growth. The two cases reviewed in this report, the most advanced and comprehensive systems of urban sustainability highlight the key role of the public sector in the design, integration, promotion and enforcement of sustainable policies for urban growth.…
1 Mar 1998, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 14:26
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Abstract One year and a half after the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) held in Istanbul, the present document aims to assess the progress made on the implementation of the Regional Plan of Action on Human Settlements for Latin America and the Caribbean. The region faces a disturbing upsurge in urban poverty and widening income inequality, notwithstanding the slower rate of population growth. A worsening of environmental problems such as air and water pollution, waste disposal and vehicle congestion is being experienced in urban centres, and the region still has both…
This side event is being organized jointly by the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN- ESCAP) to support Track 1 of the ‘Thematic Sessions of the Asia-Pacific Climate Week 2021’ with focus on National actions and economy wide approaches and fostering an assessment of the best practice in society-wide and economy-wide approaches to cutting greenhouse gases and building resilience and how broad economic packages to enable recovery from the COVID19 pandemic can support the achievement of the Paris goal. Th…
2 Ene 2023, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 14:21
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The economies of the subregion were hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly those dependent on tourism. As a result, the Caribbean has seen a reversal of the hard-won gains achieved in growing their economies and reducing unemployment and inequality. The inflation stemming from pandemic supply chain disruption, which has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, has made the sustained uptick in economic performance beyond pre-pandemic levels unlikely, notwithstanding strong growth estimates for 2021 and 2022. The last two years have taught the region that continued ‘business as usual’ is…
11 Oct 2019, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 14:26
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Flooding as an extreme event has become progressively evident in the Caribbean sub-region, as a result of an increased number of intense rainfall events, and storm surges from hurricanes. Such events in turn, have been linked to the impacts of global climate change, which has been shown to be the cause for several specific events including sea-level rise; global temperature rise, ocean warming and acidification, and the melting of glaciers. In the specific instance of the Caribbean subregion, flooding events often result in significant disruptions of economic and social life. This study uses a…
The Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Indicator Framework is endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission as the monitoring mechanism for the 169 targets and more than 230 indicators of the SDGs. Reporting of these indicators will pose a formidable challenge to the Caribbean given the statistical capacity of countries of the subregion. The results of an ECLAC survey show that only three of the eleven countries that participated reported having the capacity to produce at least 50 per cent of the indicators. The capacities of National Statistical Offices will need to be signif…
1 Oct 2014, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 14:26
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Much analysis and proposals on sustainable transport policies have been developed around the world, both at government and research institutions. It is clear that no action will provide the single solution and it is imperative to act simultaneously on: i) improvement of technology in vehicles, leading to increased energy efficiency; ii) the change in driver behavior, to use less fuel per kilometer; iii) reducing the distances traveled per vehicle; and iv) a change in the type of travels towards more sustainable modes of transport.In general, the recommendations for energy efficiency in transpo…
1 Feb 2014, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 14:24
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Guyana, like many CARICOM countries continues to depend on imported oil that fuels the electricity and transport sectors. Simultaneously, the high level of expenditure on oil reduces the financial resources available to invest in social development, environmental protection, adaptation to climate change and improving food security. The electricity sector in Guyana, in particular, offers significant opportunities for achieving reductions in fossil imports. However, fiscal and regulatory barriers to energy efficiency and renewable energy use are apparent in Guyana.
This document seeks to identif…
1 Nov 2013, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 14:26
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Belize is currently faced with several critical challenges associated with the production, distribution and use of energy. Despite an abundance of renewable energy resources, the country remains disproportionately dependent on imported fossil fuels, which exposes it to volatile and rising oil prices, limits economic development, and retards its ability to make the investments that are necessary for adapting to climate change, which pose a particularly acute threat to the small island states and low-lying coastal nations of the Caribbean.
This transition from energy consumption and supply patte…
1 Ago 2013, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 14:26
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In the midst of one of the worst economic crises the Western world has faced,
governments are focusing on macroeconomic equilibrium and failing to address
the economy-environment disconnect and the social components of development.
The ecological degradation of our planet and its implications for human well-being
necessitate a sustainable approach. Although some progress has been made since
the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, we have
yet to adopt a development path that takes account of the way that ecosystems
work or the persistent social and gender inequalit…
1 Feb 2013, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 14:19
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Climate change poses special challenges for Caribbean decision makers related to the uncertainties inherent in future climate projections and the complex linkages between climate change, physical and biological systems,
and socioeconomic sectors. At present, however, the Caribbean subregion lacks the adaptive capacity needed
to address these challenges.
The present report assesses the economic and social impacts of climate change on the coastal and
marine sector in the Caribbean until 2050. It aims both to provide Caribbean decision makers with cutting edge
information on the vulnerability to …
1 Oct 2011, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 14:25
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This paper examines the impact of inflation and its variability for eight Caribbean countries; Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The paper goes beyond the standard approach to examine the variability of relative prices (VRP) within the context of a threshold effects framework, since it was recognized that whether inflation was low or very high was significant in determining its impact on an economy. The paper employed a panel threshold effects model to capture the non-linear nature of the relationship…
28 Mar 2011, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 14:26
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This report presents the results of a regional study conducted by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the National Institute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico, in their respective roles as technical secretariat and coordinator, of the Working Group on Environmental Statistics of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of ECLAC. The objective was to carry out an in- depth study of the international statistical activities in the area of environmental statistics, with a view to strengthening coordination of those activities and optimizing their contribu…
Given the increasing difficulty of ensuring the supply of crude oil and oil products, and the sharp increase in their prices, biofuels programmes in the developed countries-particularly the United States and the European Union-represent a series of opportunities, challenges and risks for the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Thus, if biofuels production is to create economic growth without jeopardising our natural capital and social equity, it must be developed in the framework of well thought-out national policy.Biofuels public policy cannot ignore national objectives, which invol…
1 Jun 2005, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 14:26
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Jamaica has abundant renewable energy sources (RES), which have hardly been tapped in the past and could provide for large shares of the future energy requirements. In 2005, around 5% of the expected 4,020 GWh of electricity produced will be based on RES (wind and hydropower). With the new planned target of a share of 15% RES electricity by 2012, a combined renewable capacity of about 175 MW would need to be installed in that year. There is further wind potential on Jamaica, even if no exact figures can be given on the magnitude of the exploitable wind potential. Nonetheless, it seems realisti…
19 Mayo 2004, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 14:26
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The World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg, August 2002, responded to a new cycle of global meetings that began with the Millennium Summit. The main characteristic of this new cycle is that the focus of the debate has moved away from declarations of principle toward identifying objectives and areas of concrete action, with quantitative commitments and deadlines for compliance. Debates about energy held an important position in Johannesburg. The positive links between access to energy, eliminating poverty and improving People's health and quality of life were emphasi…