São Paulo, 11 April 2025
The Escazú Agreement was highlighted as a cornerstone for advancing responsible business conduct in Latin America and the Caribbean during the 9th United Nations Regional Forum on Business and Human Rights, held from 9 to 11 April 2025 in São Paulo, Brazil. Its relevance was particularly emphasized in discussions concerning environmental protection and the rights of human rights defenders.
Bringing together more than 600 participants from across the region — including government officials, business representatives, Indigenous Peoples, civil society organizations, acade…
“The world leaders gathered here in Dubai in the coming days face a historic opportunity to transform development models into more productive, inclusive and sustainable ones,” José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), stressed today during his first official activity in the framework of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which is taking place through Tuesday, December 12 in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The United Nations regional org…
As world leaders gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York this morning to officially sign the Paris Agreement on climate change – the landmark accord that sets outs a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous global warming – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Member States to move quickly to join the accord at the national level so that it can enter into force as early as possible.
“Let us never forget – climate action is not a burden; indeed, it offers many benefits,” the UN chief said as he opened the High Level Signature CeremonyThe era of consumption …
UN System official side event
3 December 2023, 1:15-2:45 horas, SE Room 2
Human Rights, and in line with findings of IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report and the Agreed Conclusions of the 66th Session of the Commission on Status of Women, and in the run up to the 30th
Anniversary of the ICPD, the event will explore how rights-based and gender-responsive approaches, including in climate litigation, lead to more effective and sustainable climate action. The event will highlight recent outcomes of intergovernmental processes regarding human rights and climate change, including the Escazú Agreement.…
Senior government authorities from Latin America, the Caribbean and other regions of the world, along with officials and experts from the United Nations System, international and regional organizations, the private sector, academia and civil society will gather at ECLAC’s headquarters in Santiago, Chile on March 31-April 4 at the eighth meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development to review the progress and challenges related to achieving the 2030 Agenda in the region – five years ahead of the deadline set for its fulfillment.
Mo…
The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, emphasized the value of the regional dimension of sustainable development as a key bridge for connecting global processes to new realities on a national level in the context of the crisis produced by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), during a high-level meeting held today with United Nations member countries and senior officials.
Bárcena participated this Friday, May 22 in a session entitled “Unleashing the UN development system’s regional assets: the path forward” during the four…
ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena, called for equalizing to grow and growing to equalize with the aim of moving toward a new, more inclusive and sustainable development model, and for forging renewed social compacts that enable changing current growth and production patterns and fighting growing inequalities in the region, in remarks she made at various high-level events dedicated to Latin America and the Caribbean that are taking place this week in Paris.
The senior United Nations official is in France to participate in the 10th International Economic Forum on Latin America and the …
During its ten years of existence, the Ibero-American Network of Climate Change Offices (RIOCC, according to its Spanish initials) has contributed to supporting the fight against climate change by promoting cooperation and coordination among its 21 member countries, senior government officials from the region said during a special event that was held on December 11 in the framework of the 20th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 20), which is taking place in Lima, Peru.
Participants in the gathering—which celebrated the RIOCC’s 10th anniv…
The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, presented today in Spain a recent special edition of the CEPAL Review, the organization’s main academic publication, published on the occasion of the Commission’s 75th anniversary (celebrated in 2023), in which he offers his vision regarding the major transformations needed for the region to move towards a more productive, inclusive and sustainable development model.
The senior United Nations official gave a keynote lecture based on his own article published in the Rev…
In the framework of his official visit to Chile, the President of the Republic of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, gave a keynote lecture today at the central headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in Santiago, urging the region’s countries to dialogue in a context of mutual respect, putting the interests that unite them first and offering a continent of peace in a troubled world, plagued by conflicts that have affected all countries due to their magnitude.
The Paraguayan leader – who took office on August 15, 2023 – was received by the United Nation…
The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, stated that cities and housing provide an opportunity to transform the region’s development model while also strengthening democracy, safeguarding human rights and maintaining peace, in accordance with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, during today’s inauguration of the IV Latin American and Caribbean Housing and Habitat Forum, which is taking place virtually through Friday, May 21.
The senior United Nations official was one of the main speakers at the event’s opening sess…
The old development paradigm is insufficient and obsolete. It is not enough to grow, we need a new paradigm that not only aims to make incomes converge but also to close the social gap with a rights-based approach while respecting the planet’s limits, Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), affirmed today.
The senior United Nations official participated in the event Sustainable Revolution: Dialogues for Recovery, Resilience and Equity, organized by the Mexico office of the World Resources Institute (WRI Mexico) in conjunction …
The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, reaffirmed today the importance and urgency of moving towards a new development paradigm that allows for preserving economic, social and environmental heritage for future generations as the only solution for tackling current global challenges.
The senior United Nations official participated in the opening session of the preparatory meeting for the Conference of the Parties, PRE COP 25, which is taking place through Thursday, October 10, in San José, Costa Rica.
As part of her partici…
In the current world context, the countries of the Caribbean must focus on closing the structural gaps they still have, particularly with regard to gender equality, financial and fiscal sustainability (due to their high debt level), and mitigating the effects of climate change, in order to meet the commitments adopted under the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its 17 Goals (SDGs). This was pointed out by Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary for the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) during an event held in New York.
The international senior official was the k…
(16 February 2011) During a two days visit to Ecuador and Peru, which concluded yesterday night, the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, called on both South American countries to further strengthen their democratic institutions and extend the benefits of development to the most disadvantaged populations, including indigenous peoples.
Officials accompanying Ban Ki-moon included the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Alicia Bárcena, and United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Oscar Fernández-Taranco, as well as other senior UN representatives.
In Quito, the UN Se…
The Executive Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of Treasury or Finance of Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic (SECOSEFIN), officials from the member countries of the Council of Ministers of Treasury or Finance of Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic (COSEFIN/SICA) and from the Subregional Headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Mexico met virtually on May 5 of this year to review a proposal to extend the implementation of the project “Disaster risk reduction and sustainable and inclusive adaptation to climate cha…
The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, called today for taking decisive climate action including to decarbonize economies, restore ecosystems and place value on their contribution to the economy and society, during a seminar organized by the Regional Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the National College of Mexico.
During her presentation on the economic perspective regarding sustainability, the senior United Nations official stressed the urgency of changing the development paradigm and model t…
The packages of measures implemented by governments to drive the post-pandemic economic reactivation are an opportunity to reorient the development pattern towards one that is more sustainable and inclusive, Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), affirmed today during the inauguration of Climate Week 2021.
The senior United Nations official was one of the main speakers at the opening session of the virtual regional gathering, which is bringing together government representatives as well as private sector and civil society lea…
Government authorities, United Nations officials and representatives of civil society urged for providing urgent support to Caribbean countries so they can advance on fulfilling the 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a context of acute financial weakness due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of natural disasters, among other factors, during a session of the fourth meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development.
The panel entitled Building forward better in the Caribbean post-COVID-19: Critical issues to keep the 2030…
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has put equality and sustainability at the center of the development of the region’s countries, convinced that another world is possible and that the post-pandemic recovery must be transformative, Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the United Nations regional commission, emphasized in a special chapter of the “ECLAC’s Horizons” multimedia program, available online as of today.
During this interview, the senior official spoke in detail about the main accomplishments of and issues addressed at ECLAC’s thirty-eighth session, …