The Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region encompasses a wide range of ecological systems, including globally significant ones such as the Amazon rainforest. The region is increasingly experiencing extreme weather events such as Hurricane Iota in November 2020 which caused serious damage in Nicaragua and Honduras and devastated Colombia’s Caribbean islands, destroying nearly all the infrastructure on Providencia and causing severe damage to San Andrés and Santa Catalina. The frequency and magnitude of these types of events will only increase as temperature rises. Extreme weather events and the wider impacts of climate change jeopardize the social and economic gains that have already been achieved - with COVID-19 exacerbating the challenges in the region. In addition, the region faces political fragmentation and equity gaps.

Countries in the region have already taken steps to address climate change including, for example, through protection of forests, building multi-sector coalitions and kick-starting the energy transition. The submission of updated National Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) brings an opportunity for all countries to increase ambition and show progress in other areas, such as adaptation, contributing to sustainable development, participation and inclusiveness and transparent systems to track progress. Countries should submit their new or enhanced NDC ahead of COP 26, ideally by 30 July so they can feed into the UNFCCC final NDC Synthesis Report.

With COP26 postponed until November 2021, countries have been given a greater window to reflect on their ambition and propose stronger targets and measures. There is still opportunity for all LAC countries to reflect on regional progress, COVID-19 recovery plans, and apply lessons learned to further develop their own NDC commitments ahead of COP26.