Latin America more vulnerable to climate changes

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Agencia EFE endi.com Climate change could specially affect Latin America because of the great water resources of the region, said the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Ricardo Sanchez, director of UNEP for Latin America and the Caribbean, , warned in Lima that if the effects are not counteracted, it will put in risk everything the humanity has advanced in terms of “quality of life” and the fight against poverty. In declarations to Radio Programas of Peru (RPP), Sanchez explained that the environmental alteration will also have an impact in “agriculture” and will create a “problem of food security”, if we take in account that the world’s population will duplicate by 2050. “In the next few years, there is a scenario of food production problems that will sum to the power crisis, since it will increase the pressure to use products like the wheat, corn and sugar cane, among others, for fuel production”, explained. Among the main problems that the planet will face as a result of climate change is the intensity of phenomena like “El Niño”, according to Sanchez. He added that the frequency and intensity of hurricanes will also increase, rainfall will decrease by 20%, and droughts and floods in the region will increase. Sanchez attends, together with the regional coordinator of the Division of Evaluation and Early Warning of UNEP (DEWA), Salvador Sanchez, and other 30 worldwide delegates, a meeting in Lima to review the rough draft of the Report Perspectives of Environment World-Wide 4 (GEO 4). The report is expected to be published by 2007. In this meeting will also occur the beginning of the production of the GEO report for Latin America and the Caribbean (2007), with the identification of the subjects and key messages that the region will state.