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215 results
Disaster Risks to Infrastructure in El Salvador
The document outlines a bottom-up risk assessment of seven infrastructure categories in El Salvador, estimating an average annual loss of US$35.5 million. It identifies earthquakes and floods as the primary drivers of loss and recommends integrating these findings into local planning and climate change adaptation strategies.
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Document type: Policy brief
Acrocomia aculeata as feedstock
The study identifies significant current potential for cultivating Acrocomia aculeata in Latin America, particularly in Central America, the Caribbean, northern Colombia, Venezuela, southern Brazil, and eastern Paraguay. However, it warns that many suitable areas are already used for agriculture or have high conservation value, and that under the IPCC A2A 'business as usual' scenario, most suitable growing areas could severely decline or disappear by 2080.
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Document type: Research paper
STAND IN SOLIDARITY
A delegation of four Indigenous Lenca activists from Honduras visited Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, and Spain between April 19 and May 5, 2016. The mission sought to highlight the repression of environmental defenders in Honduras, specifically regarding the Agua Zarca hydropower project on the Gualcarque River. The activists called for the withdrawal of funding from the Dutch development bank FMO, the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation (Finnfund), and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), as well as the cessation of turbine sales by Siemens and Voith. The document highlights the 2016 assassination of Lenca leader Berta Cáceres and the broader pattern of violence against environmental activists in Honduras, which it describes as the most dangerous country in the world for such defenders between 2002 and 2014.
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Document type: Fact sheet
contribution officielle de la fédération internationale des amis de la terre à la seconde session du groupe de travail intergouvernemental
Friends of the Earth International's 2016 submission to the UN Intergovernmental Working Group advocates for a legally binding treaty to hold transnational corporations and their financiers civilly and criminally liable for human rights and environmental violations. The document proposes the creation of an international court, the primacy of human rights over investment treaties (including ISDS), and the establishment of a public monitoring center to prevent corporate capture of the regulatory process.
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Document type: Report
Les grandes sociétés et les droits humains ont une mauvaise relation
The statement highlights the disconnect between large corporations and human rights, noting that many companies lack explicit human rights policies while their operations often lead to violence and environmental degradation. It specifically cites abuses linked to palm oil in Indonesia, coal mining in South Africa, and dam construction in Honduras, while expressing solidarity with peasant movements and environmental defenders like Berta Caceres. The author advocates for a binding UN treaty to ensure corporate accountability for human rights abuses.
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Document type: Statement
To be or not to be: Has Mexico got what it takes to be an Emerging Power?
The document argues that while Mexico has the economic resources of an emerging power—ranking as the 11th-largest economy by purchasing power parity—it fails to project leadership globally or regionally. It identifies a lack of strategic foreign-policy vision, an inconsistent international identity as a 'bridge' between North and Central America, and a tendency to act as a 'status quo middle power' rather than a revisionist force. The author notes that Mexico's heavy dependence on the US and limited engagement in UN security issues and peacekeeping missions further hinder its potential to exercise the influence typical of emerging powers like the BRICS nations.
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Document type: Policy brief
Improved cookstoves in Central America: health impacts and uptake
The document examines the use of improved cookstoves in Central America, noting that while many models meet WHO emission targets in labs, they often fail to significantly reduce personal pollutant exposure in the field due to 'stove stacking' and improper use. It identifies the 'plancha' as the most common model and highlights that successful adoption depends on user-centered design, training, and cost-sharing. The report calls for standardized performance measures and national certification bodies to ensure health benefits are actually realized.
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Document type: Briefing
Using Process-Based Indicators to Help Design Effective Policies on Food Security in the Context of Climate Change
The document argues that traditional food security monitoring focuses too heavily on outputs and outcomes, which are often difficult to attribute to specific actions. It proposes 'process-based indicators' as proxies to measure the quality of decision-making, institutional capacity, and inclusivity. Using the FIPAT tool in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, the authors identify key indicators across six areas: policy vulnerability, system resilience, decision-making transparency, multistakeholder participation, lessons learned, and decentralization. The briefing emphasizes that effective food security policies require inclusive participation of vulnerable groups, empowered local decision-makers, and a shift in institutional culture to view policy review as a dynamic, non-punitive process.
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Document type: Briefing
Measuring Local Food Systems’ Resilience: Lessons learned from Honduras and Nicaragua
The document outlines a systems-based approach to measuring food system resilience, moving beyond narrow food availability metrics to include supporting infrastructure and governance. Using the CRiSTAL Food Security tool across 20 communities in Honduras and Nicaragua, the authors identify key resilience drivers such as storage, energy, transport, and water management. It argues that participatory, iterative processes for developing indicators are essential for community buy-in and that these broad indicators should complement existing food security monitoring schemes.
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Document type: Briefing
The IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report
The document outlines the observed and projected climate impacts in Latin America, emphasizing the need for integrated adaptation and low-carbon development to protect economic growth and human security.
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Document type: Executive summary
CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 User’s Manual
The CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 User’s Manual describes a Microsoft Excel-based tool used to systematically assess risks to food security posed by climate variability and change. The tool employs a food systems and resilience approach, analyzing five dimensions: food utilization and consumption, food access, food availability, supporting resources and services, and supporting organizations and policies. It guides users through a six-module process—Introduction, Context, Food System, Resilience, Indicators, and Reports—combining participatory community consultations with secondary research to identify vulnerabilities and develop SMART resilience indicators.
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Document type: Guide
Manual del Usuario de la Herramienta CRiSTAL Seguridad Alimentaria 2.0
The CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 tool is a decision-support system implemented via Microsoft Excel to analyze the resilience of community food systems against climate threats. It employs a holistic 'food system wheel' framework consisting of five dimensions: food utilization and consumption, access, availability, supporting resources and services, and supporting organizations and policies. The tool guides users through a six-module process: introduction, context analysis (community and climate), food system analysis, resilience analysis, selection of SMART indicators, and automatic report generation. It emphasizes the use of participatory rural appraisal methods, such as livelihood strategies, threat and resource mapping, and vulnerability matrices, to gather primary data from local communities, which is then triangulated with secondary scientific data. The tool aims to identify specific climate vulnerabilities and develop measurable indicators to monitor food system resilience over time.
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Document type: Guide
Food Security Indicator & Policy Analysis Tool
The FIPAT guidebook outlines a structured analytical process for national and sub-national governments to strengthen food system resilience against climate variability. The tool is divided into two main sections: Section A focuses on mapping the food system, identifying climate risks, and developing resilience indicators; Section B evaluates the capacity of specific public policies to support resilience actions, enhance actor capacity, and maintain system stability. The process emphasizes stakeholder engagement and iterative learning to identify policy gaps and develop tailored recommendations for food security.
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Document type: Guide
Manual de la FIPAT Food Security Indicator & Policy Analysis Tool (Herramienta de Análisis de Políticas e Indicadores de la Seguridad Alimentaria)
The FIPAT manual describes a structured process for enhancing food system resilience against climate variability. It guides users through two main sections: Section A, which focuses on mapping food systems, identifying climate risks, and developing resilience indicators; and Section B, which assesses how specific public policies support resilience measures, actor capacity, and overall system stability. The tool emphasizes a participatory approach involving government officials and stakeholders to ensure that policy gaps are identified and addressed through a resilience-based lens.
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Document type: Guide
Minimum Standards for local climate‐smart disaster risk reduction
The 'Minimum Standards for local climate-smart disaster risk reduction' guide establishes a framework for integrating future climate-related risks into local disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities. It provides two sets of standards: one for community-level implementation and another for civil society organizations (CSOs) or local government authorities supporting those communities. The guide emphasizes moving beyond 'business as usual' by utilizing weather forecasts, seasonal projections, and vulnerability assessments to create adaptive action plans.
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Document type: Guide
La Ruta hacia el Futuro para la Energía Renovable en Centroamérica
The report analyzes the energy landscape of Central America, noting a contradictory trend where the region leads in geothermal and hydroelectric power but faces increasing dependence on imported fossil fuels. It argues that while the region has the potential to meet 100% of its electricity needs through renewables, significant gaps in data, administrative inefficiency, and fossil fuel subsidies hinder progress. The document recommends integrating technical resource assessments with socio-economic analysis (LCOE+), simplifying bureaucratic processes through 'single-window' permitting, and strengthening regional interconnection via SIEPAC to manage variability in wind and solar power.
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Document type: Report
The Way Forward for Renewable Energy in Central America
The report analyzes the energy landscape of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, noting a growing dependence on imported fossil fuels despite significant renewable potential. It highlights that while the region leads in hydropower and geothermal energy, resources like wind and solar remain underutilized. The document identifies critical gaps in resource data, socioeconomic assessments, and administrative efficiency, while recommending a 'long, loud, and legal' policy approach to attract investment and achieve a 100 percent renewable electricity grid.
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Document type: Report
Climate Resilience and Food Security
The paper introduces a framework to analyze food system resilience to climate change, moving from the household as the locus of food security up to community and national scales. It proposes two 'spinwheel' tools: one for food security analysis and one for resilience analysis, integrating system, agent, and institutional criteria. The framework is applied through the CREFSCA project in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, utilizing the CRiSTAL tool for community-level assessments.
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Document type: Research paper
Resiliencia climática y seguridad alimentaria
The report introduces a framework for assessing climate resilience in food systems, moving from the household level up to national policy. It presents two analytical tools: 'Roulette 1' for food security analysis and 'Roulette 2' for resilience analysis. The framework emphasizes that resilience is an emergent property of system interactions and suggests specific indicators for food utilization, access, availability, and supporting infrastructure. The tools are designed to be applied through participatory processes, such as the CRiSTAL-SAN tool, to help policymakers and local practitioners identify vulnerabilities and develop long-term adaptation strategies in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
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Document type: Report
Climate change impacts on the water services in Costa Rica: a production function for the hydroenergy sector
The research uses a production function based on a sample of 40 hydroelectric plants to model the relationship between runoff and revenue in Costa Rica. Projections for 2100 under IPCC scenarios A2, A1B, and B1 indicate a significant reduction in hydropower production, estimated between 41% and 43%. These changes translate to aggregate revenue losses ranging from 41% in the sustainable B1 scenario to 49% in the A1B scenario. The study also explores technological adaptation, finding that doubling installed capacity would be required to achieve a revenue increase of 3% to 18% under these climate scenarios.
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Document type: Research paper