By Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment
When I took over as head of UN Environment in June, I knew I had no shortage of environmental challenges ahead of me. From polar to tropical, landlocked to coastal, countries and communities everywhere are asking the question: How do we protect the environment while we grow our economies?
For too long, prosperity has meant plundering the planet. No longer. This question already has answers. Our environmental challenges have solutions.
As chief of the global authority on the environment, I get to witness firsthand the experiences of nations and people around the world who are protecting our environment and making it work sustainably for our economies. Part of my job is to help share and promote what works so the entire planet benefits. Here in Latin America, there are many examples of what works. This is why I’m coming to the region on one of my first official visits.
Panama, where I’ll stop first on Monday, has established a national university network for environmental sustainability. My next stop will be Costa Rica, where last year the entirety of the country’s energy needs were met by renewable sources. Finally, I’ll visit Brazil, where centralized government action managed to reduce deforestation in the Amazon by 76%..
Efforts like these are examples to the region and the world.
Of course, this is not to say any of these countries are without problems and challenges.
Latin America and the Caribbean as a region is responsible for less than 10% of the global total of greenhouse gas emissions, yet two-thirds of the region’s farmers are highly vulnerable to the impacts of global warming. In cities, home to over 80% of the region’s population, air pollution and overcrowded transport are harming health and productivity.
I am encouraged that many countries in the region are tackling this head on.
Take emissions as an example. Despite their low proportion of the global emissions, countries here are transitioning to renewable energy. Costa Rica is but one example. All of Brazil and Uruguay’s new electricity generation tenders since 2013 have been won by solar and wind technologies. It is my hope that more governments here embrace this appetite for renewables and create a regional example for the world.
In farming, Colombia and Peru have used innovative private sector financing to help over 4,000 small farms get access to funds and technology that they can use to strengthen resilience against climate change. If expanded across the region, this approach could benefit almost 12 million smallholdings. Across the world, the benefits could be enormous. Can Latin America be the global showroom for this success?
Sharing is also a two-way street. I’m happy to see that Latin America is unafraid of adopting solutions from around the world. In Norway, around one in four vehicles sold is electric, while in China some 200 million electric bikes are in use. UN Environment is working with governments across the region to support a broader transition to electric vehicles, that will cut reliance on fossil fuels and improve liveability.
