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The policy brief analyzes the socio-economic and environmental vulnerabilities of Latin America exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It argues that traditional economic reactivation measures risk perpetuating structural crises and instead proposes a 'just and resilient recovery' based on four principles: climate action, decent employment, social inclusion, and long-term financing. The document outlines four priorities for governments: applying the 'no-regression' principle to avoid environmental deregulation, ensuring short-term measures align with long-term sustainability, maximizing investment in strategic sustainable sectors (such as renewable energy and regenerative agriculture), and increasing systemic resilience through economic diversification and new progress indicators beyond GDP.

The document outlines a project preparation request to address severe climate threats to The Bahamas' water sector, which relies on fragile groundwater lenses. It proposes a three-component strategy: establishing a national water Decision Support System (DSS) for evidence-based planning, strengthening governance through a new national water resources agency and independent regulator, and scaling up infrastructure investments on highly vulnerable islands. The project seeks to mitigate risks from sea-level rise, decreasing rainfall, and intense storms while overcoming public fiscal constraints and data gaps.

The proposal addresses the vulnerability of the Caribbean agricultural sector to climate change and its historical lack of prioritization in climate finance. It aims to increase the sector's profile by improving the collection and analysis of agricultural data, strengthening institutional capacities for GCF programming, and developing a pipeline of bankable, low-emission, and climate-resilient projects. Key activities include regional scoping studies on NDCs, the creation of a knowledge management portal, and the development of occupational competency standards for youth in climate-smart agriculture.

SEforALL has transitioned to a strategic model that combines global agenda-setting with data-driven in-country implementation. Key achievements include the launch of the Universal Energy Facility for mini-grids in Sierra Leone and Madagascar, support for Nigeria's 5 million solar connections programme, and the development of 'Recover Better' guides for the Caribbean and Southeast Asia to integrate sustainable energy into COVID-19 recovery. The organization is also leading preparations for the 2021 UN High-Level Dialogue on Energy and co-chairing the Energy Transition Council for COP26.

The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is seeking Project Preparation Facility (PPF) funding to design a programme that blends GCF and CDB resources to provide concessional loans to Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in Belize, Jamaica, and St. Lucia. These DFIs will then on-lend to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and homeowners for climate mitigation and adaptation projects. The programme aims to address financial barriers, such as high interest rates and perceived risks, while providing technical assistance to improve the capacity of both lenders and borrowers to implement bankable climate projects. Tentative targets include reducing at least 0.6 million tCO2eq and benefiting at least 375,000 people.

The study developed four regional socio-economic scenarios for the Caribbean and national storylines for four island states, linking them to global Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs). When applied to hotel water demand in Barbados using RCP 4.5, the analysis revealed a 17% difference between the highest and lowest estimated water demand based on varying socio-economic conditions.

GreenLatinos condemns the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, highlighting how fear of racial profiling prevents African Americans and Latinos from exercising outdoors or visiting public lands. The organization calls for comprehensive hate crimes legislation in Georgia, federal criminal charges from the Department of Justice, and a systemic acknowledgment of discrimination by public land administrators.

The 'Recover Better with Sustainable Energy Guide for Caribbean Countries' outlines how sustainable energy investments can drive long-term development, economic resilience, and adherence to the Paris Agreement in the Caribbean region.

The report outlines a framework for Saint Lucia to mobilise domestic and international climate finance to build resilience. It identifies key funding sources, assesses the scale and type of existing project concepts, and defines the roles of government agencies, accredited entities, and the private sector in a cyclical financing process.

The strategy outlines a framework for Saint Lucia to mobilise domestic and international public and private finance to meet its climate adaptation goals. It identifies a current funding gap, noting that while the country has successfully accessed funds from the Adaptation Fund and GCF, many of its project concept notes are small-scale and require consolidation into larger programmes to attract major international donors. The document maps the roles of government ministries, accredited entities, and the private sector in a cyclical financing process involving priority definition, project elaboration, and monitoring.

The IAI Executive Directorate's 2019-2020 report details progress in transdisciplinary research, capacity building, and open science, while noting significant disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Key achievements include the launch of the Science, Technology, and Policy (STeP) fellowship program in Argentina and the establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Organization of American States (OAS). The report also highlights efforts to align scientific agendas with human systems and the development of a flexible funding mechanism for the Americas in collaboration with the Belmont Forum.

The report addresses the vulnerability of energy infrastructure in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to extreme weather, arguing that while solar PV is a cost-effective alternative to imported fossil fuels, it requires specific engineering and policy standards to survive Category 5 hurricanes. Based on field analyses of failures from 2017–2019, the authors recommend moving away from shared top-down clips toward through-bolting and dual post piers for ground systems, and prohibiting ballasted-only rooftop systems. Implementing these resilience measures is estimated to increase engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) costs by approximately 5%, a cost offset by avoiding total system rebuilds. The report emphasizes multi-stakeholder collaboration and the integration of high-wind standards into local building codes to ensure long-term energy security.

The GEC Steering Group reviewed four strategic priorities, all of which were downgraded to 'amber' status due to the challenges and increased expectations brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The group evaluated two major programmes: 'Economics for Nature' and the 'EC dialogues programme', emphasizing the need for better governance and integration with the GEC's COVID-19 campaign. The Steering Group unanimously decided that the GEC must launch a COVID-19 intervention, focusing on structural economic reforms and societal demand for a green recovery, while noting the need for additional funding to avoid unrealistic expectations.

The report proposes a 'green stimulus' for the Caribbean focusing on distributed energy resources (DERs) to combat pandemic-related job losses and long-term economic vulnerability. It identifies solar PV, wind, electric vehicles (EVs), and energy efficiency as high-impact sectors for immediate employment. Beyond jobs, the document highlights how DERs improve resilience against hurricanes and economic shocks, while enabling economic diversification in sectors like agro-industry by lowering energy costs.

The IAI and CLARA have entered into a non-binding agreement to promote regional scientific capacities through the use of advanced networks, focusing on data management, open publications, and technological infrastructure for global change research in Latin America.

The document frames the COVID-19 pandemic as a harbinger of future climate-driven crises, noting that both involve unpredictable, compounding risks and systemic failures in political and economic management. It argues that traditional financial risk models are inadequate for the 'new normal' of climate change and calls for collective action from the financial sector to drive decarbonization. The author suggests that mitigation and resilience can be mutually reinforcing, citing examples such as solar-powered microgrids and green recovery programs, while emphasizing the need to limit global temperature rise to below 1.5°C.

The author contends that the media's ability to define reality is evident in its exhaustive coverage of COVID-19, contrasting this with the historically lower priority given to the climate crisis. The text argues that the perceived immediacy of the pandemic versus the perceived abstraction of climate change is a faulty distinction, as climate-related disasters are already impacting millions. It suggests that newsrooms should apply the same 'all-hands-on-deck' approach to climate reporting, focusing on 'flattening the curve' of greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, the document highlights how overlapping crises—such as floods in the American Midwest occurring alongside the pandemic—and the shared origins of climate and COVID-19 misinformation further underscore the need for urgent, high-profile climate journalism.

The Global Resilience Partnership (GRP) has compiled a directory of resilience-focused initiatives, categorising them into funds and financing facilities, networks and alliances, organisations, and specific programmes and projects. The mapping covers a wide array of mechanisms, from large-scale funds like the Green Climate Fund to specialised regional initiatives such as the Africa Risk Capacity and the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility. These initiatives target various sectors including agriculture, urban infrastructure, water management, and financial risk disclosure, with a strong emphasis on supporting Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and vulnerable populations.

The report evaluates global security threats under two warming scenarios: a 'Near Term' scenario (1-2°C) and a 'Medium-Long Term' scenario (2-4+°C). It concludes that even low levels of warming present high to very high risks, while higher warming levels pose catastrophic and potentially irreversible threats to global stability. The analysis is structured around U.S. Geographic Combatant Command areas, detailing how climate-induced physical shocks and social tensions act as threat multipliers that can lead to state failure, resource conflict, and the breakdown of international alliances.

The report analyzes rooftop solar PV failures following major hurricanes in the Caribbean (2017-2019) to establish engineering and installation best practices. It identifies critical failure modes, such as top-down clip failures and corner overturning, and recommends specific technical mitigations including vibration-resistant hardware, mechanical attachments over purely ballasted systems, and strict adherence to roof edge setbacks. The authors estimate that implementing these resilience measures increases engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) costs by approximately 5%.