MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Climate change will hit Latinamerica particularly hard

Latinamerica will be particularly affected by the anticipated global climate change since the regional economy is highly dependent on natural resources according to a report by British economist Sir Nicholas Stern released this week.

A chapter of the Stern Review which is dedicated to Latinamerica warns that living conditions and subsistence opportunities for millions of people could be endangered, with maize production in the Andean region and Central America dropping on average 15% by 2055.

The report also recalls that the Amazon basin is home for almost a million people of 400 different indigenous groups and a vital source of income and pharmaceutical supplies for millions more.

Stern underlines that ignoring the climate change of the Earth could have disastrous consequences for the global economy and could create 200 million refuges.

Delaying action on climate change by even a decade or two will take us into "dangerous territory", Sir Nicholas Stern has warned.

His 700 pages review into the economics of an imbalance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been described as the most comprehensive ever carried out on this problem. In the report he suggest that global warming could shrink the global economy by 20%, but taking action could cost just 1% of global gross domestic product.

Sir Nicholas, head of the United Kingdom Government's economic service and former World Bank chief economist, said: "The task is urgent. Delaying action even by a decade or two will take us into dangerous territory. We must not let this window of opportunity close."

Nevertheless he concludes that the review is essentially optimistic. There is still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, "if we act now and act internationally".

"Government, businesses and individuals all need to work together to respond to the challenge. Strong, deliberate policy choices by governments are essential to motivate change." The report identifies elements of policy required for an effective response.

The first is carbon pricing, through taxation, emissions trading or regulation, so that people are faced with the full social costs of their actions. The aim should be to build a common global carbon price across countries and sectors.

The review finds that all countries will be affected by climate change, but it is the poorest countries that will suffer earliest and most.

Unabated climate change risks raising average temperatures by more than 5C from pre-industrial levels and such changes would transform the physical geography of the planet, as well as the human geography - how and where we live our lives.

The report, which was commissioned by Chancellor Gordon Brown July last year, was launched at the Royal Society in London.