Assessing the Potential Consequences of Climate Destabilization in Latin America

Estimating the potential costs of
climate destabilization is not a trivial matter. Potential
climate impacts have multiple consequences, some of which
can be monetized while others are beyond the reach of
standard economic tools. A full assessment of the
implications of climate impacts often cannot be completed
because many of the consequences are only partly known. This
report summarizes data recently made available, through the
portfolio of adaptation activities in the region, on some of
the damages induced by climate destabilization. These
include impacts from hurricane intensification, glacier
retreat, and increased exposure to tropical vector diseases,
coral bleaching, and composite costs of climate change in
the particularly vulnerable Caribbean Basin. Other costs are
becoming evident but they still cannot be estimated. Most
worrisome among these are the potential implications from
Amazon dieback which, if realized, will drastically affect
the water cycle in the region as well as environmental
services essential to economic activity in the region, with
wider global implications. The report refers to
destabilization in the title as recognition, that the region
is now facing impacts from major, destabilizing changes in
its climate.