Ecology/Environment | IndusLatin

Promoting India Latin America Collaboration

Global Financial Crisis a Bad Sign for Andean Biodiversity

October 15th, 2008 Posted in Ecology/Environment, Energy, Latin America, andean

The Andean region is rich in petroleum and natural gas deposits. There are more than 180 petroleum and natural gas fields across the
western Amazon, which comprises the five Andean countries, and 72
percent of the jungle territory of Peru is affected by plans for fossil
fuel exploitation, according to a study published in August by the
online scientific journal PLoS ONE.

According to the most recent official data from CAN, which date to 2004, production of oil and derivatives in Colombia was 686,000 barrels per day — three times the average national consumption. Colombia exported some 460,000 barrels per day.

Bolivia produces around 41 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, 35 million of which is exported to Brazil and Argentina.

This enormous sources of wealth is difficult to bring into line with environmental conservation and the standards for protected areas. It also challenges the effectiveness of international agreements ratified by the CAN nations, such as Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization, which protects the rights of indigenous peoples.

Governments and indigenous communities interpret the Convention text in different ways.
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World Conservation Congress: “Latin America is not the problem but part of the solution

October 9th, 2008 Posted in Caribbean, Ecology/Environment, Latin America

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World Bank

Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean will suffer greater than average effects of global warming, with devastating consequences for the environment and economy, and as a result are actively working to halt global warming and mitigate its effects, Pamela Cox, the World Bank’s Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, told the World Conservation Congress today.

Given the region’s central role in the global ecosystem, repercussions from these effects will be felt worldwide unless significant action is taken soon to reduce global warming and mitigate its effects, according to a preview presentation of the flagship report from the chief economist of the World Bank’s Latin America and Caribbean region.

“The region is only producing about six percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and just over 10 percent if we include deforestation. However, it is suffering already huge economic losses due to climate change,” Cox said. “Countries in the region and its citizens – and particularly the extreme poor – are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. It is cruel and ironic that those people who are the least responsible for causing the problem are also the most vulnerable and the ones with least resources to adapt,” she added.

Cox noted that the region includes five of the world’s ten most bio-diverse countries—Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru—and the single most biologically diverse area in the world—the eastern slope of the Andes. She added that more than 50 percent of the world’s tropical forests are in Latin America, along with 65 percent of tropical forest biomass.

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