Linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the Latin American landmass has often been presented as one of the holy grails of development for the region. While China’s idea of a ‘Nicaraguan Canal’ has made headlines globally, another major infrastructure project is in the works further south: the Bi-Oceanic Railway. The idea has already spurred transboundary environmental cooperation, but the public is still in the dark.
Socio-environmental conflicts have increased in Latin America, in part because of extractive projects. But, how is this linked to “irregular” groups? And what strategies are needed to transform the conflicts? The article resumes some results of a recent survey.
Natural resource extraction in Latin America leads to blatant human rights violations and conflict. Dawid Danilo Bartelt, book author and Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Mexico explains in an interview with ECC why resolving commodity-related conflicts will be impossible without a strong civil society, and points to a special responsibility of European consumers.
Diplomacy has an important role to play in creating an economy compatible with the target of staying below 2°C warming, agreed in Paris in 2015. At the climate conference in Marrakech (COP22) from 7 to 18 November 2016, dubbed the “implementation conference”, many new initiatives strengthened the impression that low-carbon transformation had gone mainstream.
This brief summarises the insights of the regional workshop on Foreign Policy Contributions to Climate Economy in Latin America that was organised by adelphi, Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano (FFLA) and the German Embassy in Lima as part of the climate diplomacy initiative. It aimed to promote regional dialogue on the climate economy and brought together representatives from foreign ministries and other line ministries, civil society and the private sector from across Latin America, in particular the Andean countries.
Peru’s new president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (known as PPK), has revealed his government’s intention to prioritise mineral extraction and trade relations with China in a series of actions and public statements. Since his victory in an election run-off on June 5, Kuczynski has also declared the need for Peru to stimulate further economic activity by processing and refining minerals, in addition to simply exporting them.
Over the past decade, the number of undernourished people around the world has declined by around 167 million, to just under 800 million people. However, this positive trend glosses over a stark reality: Food insecurity is increasing in the world’s mountains. This pattern has been under-recognized by development experts and governments, a dangerous oversight with far-reaching social and environmental repercussions.
The Spanish version of the Exhibition Environment, Conflict and Cooperation (ECC) that includes a specific module on South America is currently shown in Chile in cooperation with the NGO Fundación Terram. During 9-20 May, the Exhibition was hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Chile. The launch event on 10 May was attended by over a hundred participants: foreign policy, defence and environmental decision makers from Chile, representatives of several Latin American countries, Germany and USA, as well as members of Chilean and international civil society.
To ensure that Paris will be a sustainable success, active engagement is required to fully implement the INDCs and to ratchet up ambition in the coming years. Catalyzing the climate economy will be the key to accelerate the path towards a much-needed climate-friendly trajectory.