Central America espcially vulnerable

Danilo Valladares in IPS: Having suffered the devastation of extreme weather phenomena in recent years, such as hurricanes Mitch, Stan and Agatha, the countries of Central America will head to the next global climate summit with an emphasis on their vulnerability and demand access to better conditions for dealing with climate disasters. They will make their case at the 16th Conference of Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Nov. 29-Dec. 10 in the southeastern Mexican resort city of Cancún.

"What we are most concerned about is the issue of vulnerability and adaptation, taking into account that the region contributes little to the greenhouse effect but we are very vulnerable to climate change," Carlos Mancilla, coordinator of the climate change unit at Guatemala's Environment Ministry, told IPS. All told, the countries of Central America contribute less than 0.5 percent of the total greenhouse-effect gases at the global level, according to "The Economics of Climate Change in Latin America and the Caribbean 2009," a study by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

…In Mancilla's view, Central America must be recognised as one of the world's regions most vulnerable to climate change in order to obtain financing for adaptation, capacity building, and technology transfer….