Latin American cities and climate change: challenges and options to mitigation and adaptation responses

Although urban areas in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are not major GHG emitters, they play crucial, yet understudied roles in the climate change arena. They are not only growing sources of greenhouse gases, but (in common with urban settlements in other regions) are also hotspots of vulnerability to floods, heat waves, and other hazards that climate change is expected to aggravate. This paper reviews the existing literature on the climate linkages and the relevance of urban development in LAC. It briefly describes research on existing mitigation and adaptation responses. It then explores why it is important to include a pro-poor perspective in adaptation actions. Although LAC cities have been the sources of many initiatives, policies and actions aimed at mitigating emissions and adapting to climate change, these have focused mostly on mitigation. It has been difficult to promote adaptation at the local level without the necessary support from higher levels of government and the international community. This has left a gap in the support and funding of locally determined, locally driven and necessary adaptation that serves and works with those most at risk. The best opportunities to adapt to climate change are linked with actions that address the underlying causes of vulnerability and respond to more than one problem at a time.