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The Andean Environmental Agenda for
2006-2010 provides for the formulation
and organization of the Andean
Strategy on Climate Change - EACC and
its corresponding Action Plan, so that
they can serve as a basis for
subregional coordination on the
priority themes of the countries and
of the
United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change
and the Kyoto Protocol. Also envisaged
are the creation of capacities to
evaluate the effects of climate change
on regional priority sectors/themes
and the coordination of joint
positions in international forums for
negotiation on matters of Climate
Change and the strengthening of the
participation of national delegates.
Its impact on the Andean subregion
The Andean subregion illustrates the
paradox of being an area that, despite
participating little in the global
production of greenhouse effect gases
(GEG), is at high risk for suffering
the effects of this problem, given the
fragility and vulnerability of its
population and ecosystems.
According to the University of
Leuven’s emergency database, three of
the Andean countries are among the
five countries most vulnerable to
climate-generated dangers and the
other two are among the high-risk
countries. An analysis of that
database reveals that 68% of all
emergencies are caused by dangers of
hydrometeorological origin.
Scenarios developed by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) at the level of a
subregional country indicate that El
Niño Phenomenon (ENP) may be more
frequent and more intense during the
earth’s overheating. As a recent
reference, and based on studies
conducted by the CAF, the ENP in 97/98
produced losses of 7,545 million
dollars, equivalent to 2.6% of the
subregion’s GDP, but in Ecuador’s
case, to 14% of its GDP, in that of
Bolivia, to 7%, and in that of Peru,
to 4.5%, these being the three
countries that are most strongly
affected.
The countries’ vulnerability is
enhanced by the high poverty (above
50%) and extreme poverty rates
(between 15 and 30%) in the subregion,
which limit the capacity for response
on the part of the population and of
the State and its institutions.
Furthermore, the five countries are
megadiverse and their species are
highly sensitive to changes in
temperature and their impact. In
addition, the Andean countries contain
30% of the forested area of South
America and 6.2% of the forests at the
global level and these cover
approximately 52% of its land area.
Climate change presents irrefutable
proof of its impact on the region,
causing unavoidable damage. Tropical
glaciers, 95% of which are found in
this subregion, have been drastically
reduced and some of them have even
lost 80% of their glacial areas. The
withdrawal of the glaciers has an
enormous impact on electric generation
activities (approximately 60% of the
electricity in the Andean countries is
generated by water power and depends
upon the glacial basins for its water
supply), food and the availability of
water for human and industrial
consumption.
The Andean countries are responsible
for less than 2.5% of all global
emissions, however, and most of these
are due, in countries like Bolivia,
Ecuador y Peru, to deforestation, and
in Venezuela and Colombia, to the
energy sector. The subregion’s energy
pattern shows low carbon intensity,
since about 28% of the total energy
supply is produced cleanly, from
renewable sources (with zero carbon
dioxide emissions). The subregion has
a hydroelectric potential evaluated at
267,000 MW, representing nearly 9% of
the planet’s hydroelectric potential.
Actions taken
In short, the subject of climate
change is highly important to the
Andean subregion and it is the Focal
Points of the
United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change
(UNFCCC), in each country, that have
fuelled the advances made to date.
The institutional frameworks in the
Andean Community countries in the area
of climate all follow similar
patterns, even though each country has
its own particular features.
The Andean countries have signed both
the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol,
fulfilled their commitment to deliver
their First National Communications to
the UNFCCC, and are in the process of
elaborating their Second
Communications. In addition, three of
the countries (Colombia, Ecuador and
Peru) have completed their
self-evaluations of existing
capacities for implementing the Río
Conventions (Bolvia led the process),
having identified potential synergies
and capacity-building priorities.
In order to help mitigate greenhouse
effect gas (GEG) emissions, four of
the five countries in the region
(Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru)
have appointed their National Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM) Authority
(attributed to the Environmental
Authorities). These authorities have
implemented national approval
processes that have proven to be
efficient, and they possess a great
potential for mitigation in their
project portfolios that include the
energy (renewable and non-renewable),
industrial, transportation, waste
materials and forestry sectors. To
date, 9 projects involving a total of
442.000 tons of reduction a year
(Emission Reduction Certificates -
ERCs) have been registered with the
Executive Board of the CDM, while
another 17 are in the process of
validation and one more has applied
for registration.
In the area of vulnerability and
adaptation, although there are no
scenarios for climate change and its
impact at the regional level as a
whole, evaluations have been carried
out at the level of each country that
reflect its vulnerability to climate
change. Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and
Peru are in the process of
implementing projects (2 of national
scope and 1 of subregional), financed
from the adaptation funds available in
the Global Environment Facility (GEF)
that will make it possible to evaluate
and implement pilot adaptation
proposals. This will equip them with
better tools for incorporating
considerations about impact in
(regional, national, sector and local)
development processes, governance
and/or systems for territorial
organization.
Human resources trained through work
at the different National Offices of
Climate Change and of the
Meteorological Services, academic
institutions and specialized
institutes are available in almost all
of the countries of the subregion.
However, there are not enough of these
human resources to carry out the
necessary studies and to take the
measures provided for in National
Communications, strategies and plans
and for the needs of the emerging
carbon markets.
Despite the importance the subject
should be given on national agendas,
climate change is not a priority,
being catalogued merely as an
environmental problem and not a
development problem. This is
reflected in the level of financing
that is made available to the National
Offices in charge of Climate Change
and to the national and international
Offices for the CDM. The truth is that
the Offices for Climate Change in the
subregion could not continue to exist
without outside financing.
Furthermore, their current levels of
financing fail to consider two
aspects: a) the long-term
sustainability of the financing; and
b) the implementation of the
strategic actions provided for in the
plans or strategies for mitigation,
adaptation and response measures.
On the one hand, there is a huge
potential for synergic efforts with
other CAN themes (disaster prevention,
energy, biodiversity, and continental
waters) which, if exploited, would
make it possible to catalyze the
incorporation of climate change
considerations in other processes.
This would not only permit more
efficient use of available resources,
but could also give the theme its due
importance.
In short, the communality of the
Andean countries’ vulnerability, their
great potential for generating energy
through renewable resources, the
differing degrees of implementation of
the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol (KP),
and the identified common strengths,
unexploited areas and gaps, as well as
the potential for establishing
synergies with other themes, uphold
the need to draw up an Andean Strategy
on Climate Change that would make it
possible to agree upon a common aim
for the region in managing climate
change. This need was recognized by
the Presidents of the Andean
Countries, who, through the Andean
Presidential Council (July 2004),
approved Guideline 32, which resolves
to instruct “the Andean Council of
Ministers of the Environment and
Sustainable Development, in
coordination with the Andean Council
of Foreign Ministers and the Advisory
Council of Ministers of Energy, to
formulate an Andean strategy for
contending with and mitigating the
negative effects of climate change… .”
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