COP26: Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean demand respect for commitments

Costa Rica is among the good performers in terms of climate protection with almost 100% renewable energy.

AFP / Mayela Lopez

Text by: Antonella Francini Follow

3 min

This year for the COP26 in Glasgow, the countries of Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico have united to ask for help from the great powers.

These countries are among the first victims of global warming but are only responsible for 0.5% of emissions (in Mt CO2).

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With our correspondent in Mexico,

In Central America, the effects of global warming are very numerous.

The region, Mexico and the Caribbean are among the areas of the world most affected by climate change.

According to the United States, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua are among the eleven countries most at risk of natural disasters and least able to adapt to them.

Heat waves and hurricanes

Among the most violent effects are

such as the Niño phenomenon which brings cyclical heat waves from the Pacific.

By lowering agricultural production, these drastic increases in temperature have increased food insecurity in countries where half of the population lives below the poverty line and a large part lives off agriculture.

But the most devastating phenomena are the increasingly frequent and violent hurricanes that destroy infrastructure and crops.

For twenty years, the region has been affected by

and 23 have reached the maximum intensity on the Saffir Siphon scale.

The most affected countries are Cuba, Mexico and Haiti.

The latter has still not recovered from Hurricane Matthew which devastated it in 2016.

Injustice

For countries that already suffer from economic and sometimes political instability, the burden of these disasters is even heavier to bear.

These climate changes and natural disasters add to poverty and violence, factors that are behind

to the United States.

And the costs of deregulation are very high.

The UN estimates that in recent years alone, hurricanes have cost Central America and the Caribbean $ 40 billion.

This is without counting floods, land reclamation or forest fires.

These expenses force the countries to go into debt whereas in general, the Central American countries are very low polluting compared to the great powers.

They only represent 0.50% of emissions (170 Mt CO2).

It is an “ 

 ” that the Minister of the Environment of Costa Rica, Andrea Meza, will address at COP26.

The country is

but it is one of the most affected by climate change.

Enforce commitments

At the Glasgow summit, the countries concerned united to make their demands stronger.

But the leader is clearly Costa Rica, which intends to bang its fist on the table while setting an example.

He asks that the limit of 1.5 degrees of warming decided in the Paris Agreement be respected.

A figure that some great powers are starting to question.

Costa Rica also calls for 30% of land and oceans to be protected to absorb carbon and regenerate biodiversity.

The united countries will also recall that the rich countries had committed ten years ago to pay 100 billion dollars per year to the poor countries affected by the deregulation.

A promise that the G20 has not kept for the moment.

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