Extreme weather events and the impacts of climate change, such as mega-droughts, extreme rainfall, terrestrial and marine heat waves, and glacial melting, are affecting the Latin American and Caribbean region, from the Amazon to the Andes and from the waters of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans to the most remote areas of snow-covered Patagonia.
In the report of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) titled The state of the climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2021 its profound repercussions on ecosystems, food and water security, people’s health and the fight against poverty are evident.
Deforestation rates were the highest since 2009, not only harming the environment but also undermining climate change mitigation efforts. Andean glaciers have lost more than 30% of their surface in less than 50 years. And the “mega-drought” that is plaguing the central zone of Chile is the most persistent in the last millennium.
“The report shows that, unfortunately, hydrometeorological hazards – such as droughts, heat waves, cold waves, tropical cyclones and floods – have caused the loss of hundreds of lives, have caused serious damage to agricultural production and infrastructure and have led to population displacements,” said WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas.
“Increasing sea level rise and continued warming of the oceans are projected to continue to affect livelihoods, tourism, health, food, energy and water security in coastal areas, particularly in coastal areas. small islands and the countries of Central America. For many Andean cities, the melting of glaciers represents the loss of an important source of fresh water that is currently used for domestic use, irrigation and hydroelectric power generation. In South America, the continued degradation of the Amazon rainforest remains a major concern for both the region and the global climate, given the role that this type of forest plays in the carbon cycle” explained Professor Taalas.
The report was presented on July 22, 2022 in the framework of a regional technical conference for South American countries organized by the WMO in Cartagena (Colombia). This is the second year that the Organization has produced this annual regional report, which is accompanied by interactive graphics and provides decision-makers with more local information on which to base their initiatives.
“The worsening of climate change and the combined effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have not only affected the region’s biodiversity, but have also stalled decades of progress against poverty, food insecurity and the reduction of inequalities in the region,” said Dr. Mario Cimoli, of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
“Addressing these interconnected challenges and associated impacts will require coordinated action. Regardless of how it materializes, it must be based on science. The state of the climate in Latin America and the Caribbean It is the second report of its kind and is a critical source of science-based information for climate policy and decision-making. ECLAC will continue to play an active role in this dissemination of weather and climate information to foster the establishment of more partnerships, the provision of better climate services and the formulation of stronger climate policies in Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole”, he stated.
Main conclusions:
- Temperature: The warming trend in Latin America and the Caribbean continued in 2021. The average rate of increase in temperatures was approximately 0.2°C per decade between 1991 and 2021, compared to 0.1°C per decade between 1961 and 1990.
- The glaciers of the tropical Andes have lost at least 30% of their area since the 1980s, and show a negative trend in their mass balance of −0.97 m of water equivalent per year during the period of monitoring (1990-2020). Some glaciers in Peru have lost more than 50% of their surface. The retreat of the glaciers and the corresponding loss of ice mass have aggravated the risk of water scarcity for the Andean population and ecosystems.
- The sea level in the region continued to rise at a faster rate than globally, especially along the Atlantic coast of South America south of the equator (3.52 ± 0.0 mm per year, from 1993 to 2021) and in the subtropical North Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico (3.48 ± 0.1 mm per year, from 1993 to 1991). Sea level rise threatens a very significant percentage of the population concentrated in coastal areas, as it pollutes freshwater aquifers, erodes coastlines, floods low-lying areas, and increases the risk of storm surges .
- The “megadrought” that punishes the central zone of Chile continued in 2021, in its thirteenth year to date, making it the longest affecting the region in the last millennium, aggravating a trend of increasing dryness and putting Chile at the head of the water crisis of the region. In addition, a multi-year drought in the Paraná-Plata basin, the worst since 1944, affected south-central Brazil and parts of Paraguay and the Plurinational State of Bolivia.
- In the Paraná-Plata basin, the damage to agriculture caused by the drought reduced harvests, especially soybeans and corn, and this affected world agricultural markets. In South America as a whole, dry conditions led to a 2.6 percent decline in the 2020/2021 cereal harvest from the previous season.
- The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season it was the third most active on record in that basin, recording 21 named storms (including seven hurricanes), and it was the sixth consecutive above-normal Atlantic hurricane season. Some of these storms directly affected the region.
- In 2021, extreme precipitation —which accumulated unprecedented values in many places— caused floods and landslides. There were significant losses, including hundreds of fatalities, tens of thousands of homes destroyed or damaged, and hundreds of thousands displaced. Floods and landslides in the Brazilian states of Bahia and Minas Gerais caused losses estimated at US$3.1 billion.
- The deforestation in the brazilian amazon rainforest it doubled from the 2009-2018 average and reached its highest level since 2009. In 2021, 22% more forest area was lost than in 2020.
- A total of 7.7 million people in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua experienced high levels of food insecurity in 2021, contributed by factors such as the continued impact of Hurricanes Eta and Iota in late 2020 and the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The Andes, northeastern Brazil and the countries of northern Central America are some of the regions most sensitive to migration and displacement due to climatic causes, phenomena that have increased in the last eight years. Migrations and population displacements They have multiple causes. Climate change and associated extreme events are amplifying factors that aggravate social, economic and environmental problems.
- South America is one of the regions with the greatest documented need to strengthen early warning systems. Multi-hazard early warning systems are essential tools for effective adaptation in areas exposed to extreme weather, water and climate events.
Concerns and knowledge gaps
The Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows how precipitation patterns are changing, temperatures are rising, and some areas are experiencing changes in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, such as heavy rain.
The two great oceans that flank the continent (the Pacific and the Atlantic) are warming and acidifying as a result of carbon dioxide, at the same time that the sea level is also rising.
Unfortunately, worsening impacts are expected in the region as the atmosphere and ocean continue to change rapidly. The supply of food and water will be altered. Towns and cities, as well as the infrastructure needed to support them, will be exposed to increasing risks.
The health and well-being of people will be negatively affected, as will natural ecosystems. Drought conditions are likely to intensify in the Amazon, northeastern Brazil, Central America, the Caribbean, and parts of Mexico, while the effects of hurricanes could increase in Central America and the Caribbean. Climate change is threatening vital systems in the region, such as the glaciers of the Andes, the coral reefs of Central America or the Amazon rainforest, whose situation is close to being critical and are at risk of presenting irreversible damage.
In addition to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, 175 disasters occurred in the Latin American and Caribbean region during the 2020-2022 period, according to data from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). ). Of these, 88% were due to meteorological, climatological or hydrological causes. These hazards accounted for 40% of recorded disaster deaths and 71% of economic losses.
Climate services, end-to-end early warning systems, and sustainable investments are needed to reduce the adverse effects of climate-related disasters, support resource management decisions, and improve outcomes, but not yet. have been adequately deployed in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
It is of vital importance to strengthen the value chain of climate services in all its links, including observation systems, data and their management, improvement of forecasts, strengthening of meteorological services, climate scenarios, projections and climate information systems.
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