"Low Carbon: High Growth" - report on Climate Change and Central America

Well my aims in this blog do extend further than posting 100 page reports, but upon reading this story, I felt it was worth pointing out the surprising deal of synergy between the findings and recommendations of such organizations as the UNEP and World Bank. Find the full report, entitled "Low Carbon High Growth: Latin America Response to Climate Change" here.

It lists these four major factors of concern for Latin America: "(a) the warming and eventual disabling of mountain ecosystems in the Andes; (b) the bleaching of coral reefs leading to an anticipated total collapse of the coral biome in the Caribbean basin; (c) the damage to vast stretches of wetlands and associated coastal systems in the Gulf of Mexico; and (d) the risk of forest dieback in the Amazon basin." (pg. 2)

What is encouraging is to find an organization such as the World Bank (alternative reading: "The Man") urging a move towards environmental protection. These are not granola-eating pot-smoking tie-dye-donning ideologues (what my father-in-law might call 'damned socialists'), these are capitalists through and through. They are not naive concerning the serious challenges facing us economically. But they are thoroughly convinced that the way forward must take into account the long-term health of the ecosystems upon which human flourishing depends AND will require the input of policy-makers, consumers, and producers.

Consider the following quote.

" If leaders at the national and international levels are visionary, they can avoid falling into the trap of sacrificing environmental sustainability to short-term macroeconomic necessities, and can take advantage of opportunities to address climate change concerns. In particular, policies and programs to address today’s pressing problems can be designed and implemented with a long-term horizon. Sometimes, these decisions can be win-win. But sometimes, there will be tradeoffs.  For example, private investment in, and consumption of, clean energy will be stimulated by a relative increase in the price of fossil fuels; this can be encouraged through a combination of regulations, taxes, carbon-trading schemes, and subsidies. But making firms pay to pollute and forcing households to consume more expensive, if cleaner, energy are not popular in times of economic recession. Tilting private sector activity in a sustainable fashion toward lowcarbon choices thus calls for carefully managed political compromises and sound judgment on the part of policy makers to ensure that long-term considerations are not neglected for political expediency..." (pg. x)

A few notes in response:

1. The call for leaders to think long-term is a necessary component to moving forward.

2. The relationship between private investment and government stimulus is a tender one, but a two-way street.  

3. The idea that 'the market' will simply 'fix' things without any input or stimulus is naive at best and damaging at worst.  That this report calls for "carefully managed political compromises and sound judgment on the part of policy makers to ensure that long-term considerations are not neglected for political expediency" ought to alert us to the dangers of placing the self and its desires at the center of our policy.

4. The socioeconomic well-being of peoples around the world is ultimately dependent upon the health of the ecosystems in and upon which we live.  If this seems odd, try to give up air, water, and food for a few days.

5.  Once again, the area likely to be hit the hardest, as we've already seen, is agriculture...

"Climate change is likely to also cause severe negative impacts on socioeconomic systems. Some of these socioeconomic impacts will be due to the direct effects of climate on human activities, while others will be intermediated through the impact that the climate will have on ecosystems which provide economically significant services. Among the economic sectors, the
one likely to suffer the most direct and largest impact from gradual changes in temperature and precipitation is agriculture." (pg. 8-9, italics mine)