Parliamentarians approve declaration for risk reduction and climate change adaptation

Meeting in Argentina at the 13th Meeting of the Environmental Commission last week, the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO) approved the 'Buenos Aires Declaration.' The latter emphasizes that, due to the region's high vulnerability to natural hazards, prevention and risk mitigation should be a priority. It stresses that concrete measures for the mitigation of risk and adaptation to climate change should be integrated in national development and sectoral plans.

The declaration goes on to emphasize the need for adequate financial resources for climate change adaptation, in particular for the most vulnerable of the Latin American countries, with the aim of contributing substantially to the next meetings of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EUROLAT), the United Nations Millennium Development Goals meeting and finally the UN Climate Change meeting (COP16) to be held in Mexico later this year. The declaration was attended by parliamentarians from Aruba, Antilles, Netherlands Antilles, Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and, Uruguay.