Climate Change Will Have Great Impact on Latin America, Euroclima Says

BRUSSELS – Climate change will have a great impact on Latin America, a region with vast biodiversity and economies that are highly dependent on commodities, Horst Pilger, a Euroclima program official, said Wednesday.

Pilger told EFE that the region was dependent on agriculture and commodities, two sectors that will suffer the effects of climate change.

The European Commission official addressed the issue at a European Development Days ceremony, where Euroclima presented a progress report.

Euroclima is a European Union program that encourages environmental cooperation between the trade bloc and 18 Latin American countries.

Euroclima program manager Catherine Ghyoot said Latin America needed to expand cooperation and exchanges of knowledge with the EU and other institutions, as well as among neighboring countries in the region.

Euroclima representatives told EFE that the program had already helped countries in the region exchange good practices on climate change, which could eventually result in the reduction of poverty.

In 2016, the program will focus its third phase on boosting cooperation among nations with the aim of helping Latin America deal with climate change and promote opportunities for green growth, Euroclima said in a statement.

Euroclima, established in 2010, has received more than 16 million euros (about $17.9 million) to promote projects aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change in Latin America in the 2010-2016 period.