Mexico has led the launch of a climate change adaptation fund for Latin America aimed at strengthening the resilience of regional communities in the face of disasters and extreme climate events.
"The fund is a collective effort to counter the effects of climate change, particularly in regions such as the Caribbean and Central America that are most vulnerable to disasters," Mexico's foreign minister Alicia Barcena said at an event in New York City.
Participating countries of the climate change adaptation and integrated natural disasters response fund — launched with the representatives of the Latin American and Caribbean member states (Celac) and the Latin American development bank CAF — will carry out joint climate change mitigation and disaster response projects as well as design new financial instruments that will facilitate voluntary contributions to the fund. The fund also hopes to attract financing from developed countries.
Latin America is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and Mexico has repeatedly called for increased financing from wealthier countries to meet climate change adaptation requirements across the region. As part of the 2015 Paris Agreement, rich countries committed to $100bn/yr to help developing countries to adapt to climate change by 2020 but only $83bn was reached by that year.
"This fund is a concrete example of something achieved by our region, for our region," Barcena said.
Mexico alone requires Ps1.7 trillion ($99.8bn) each year or 7pc of GDP to counter the effects of climate change and transition towards sustainable development, Mexican finance minister Rogelio Ramirez said during an event in Mexico City on 18 September.
