¡BIENVENIDOS A PANAMÁ! / WELCOME TO PANAMA!

1 October 2011

ECO thanks the government and people of Panama for hosting the final negotiation session before COP 17 in Durban. For the first time in 20+ years of negotiations, Central America is hosting a UNFCCC meeting. Delegates should know that the region is severely threatened by climate change impacts: four Central American countries are among the 10 most affected countries worldwide, according to the Global Climate Risk Index 2011 of Germanwatch. ECLAC (the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) estimates that the cumulative costs induced by climate change for Central America by 2100 will be as much as 73 billion dollars. Climate change is clearly a problem relevant to all of Latin America; the region's negotiators should do their utmost to make this meeting in Panama a success.