The EU and the UN Environment Programme, together against climate change in Latin America
EU Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs, and the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Achim Steiner, have today signed a new contribution of almost €1 million for the EUROCLIMA programme, created in 2010 to support climate-related actions in Latin America.
The EUROCLIMA programme seeks to work with Latin America on joint climate change solutions for the region, so as to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience. EUROCLIMA has supported the preparation of guidelines, toolkits, specific software for adaptation and mitigation policies and plans of action, and studies on the social and economic impacts of climate change, including fiscal policies and public finance. Thanks to the programme, more than 700 Latin American government officials and scientists have attended regional meetings to facilitate dialogue, information exchanges and debates as well as training in innovative techniques for research on climate change scenarios and in methods to measure the socio-economic effects of climate change to help formulate public policies.
Commissioner Piebalgs said: «Thanks to specific UNEP experience in the region, EUROCLIMA will allow raising climate change solutions in the political arena and among civil society. I am glad to sign this Agreement which will provide specific support to the Latin American region in the field of climate change. This is of particular importance this year, considering the forthcoming COP20 to take place in Peru in December.»
UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner, added: «UNEP is proud to join hands with the European Commission and governments in Latin America and the Caribbean - as well as the wider development community - to help address the serious challenges posed by climate change across the LAC region. Activities under the agreement will be aligned with priorities of governments as identified by the Forum of Latin American and Caribbean Ministers of Environment. I trust EuroClima will be a pioneering step forward towards strengthening regional cooperation, which will benefit from UNEP's strengthened mandate to support environmental cooperation at the regional level worldwide.»
Climate Change is a high priority for Latin American countries and for the EU, and therefore a key issue in the strategic relations between the two regions.
Photos and video of the meeting will be available on Europe by Satellite: http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/photo/photoByDate.cfm?sitelang=en
