Almost 90 percent of insurance companies lack a comprehensive plan to address climate change and fewer than half of them view it as a likely source of financial losses, according to a report released today.

Only 23 of 184 insurers surveyed demonstrated a “comprehensive climate change strategy” and 88 said they consider climate change a future loss driver, Boston-based Ceres said today in a report.

La Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentación (SAGARPA) y el gobierno de Baja California Sur invertirán 93.2 millones de pesos mediante esquemas de concurrencia, así como 102 millones de pesos, a través de la Comisión Nacional de Zonas Áridas (CONAZA), para impulsar la productividad y la competitividad de los sectores agropecuario, acuícola y pesquero.

National carbon cap-and-trade measures will play a bigger role in climate-change efforts as the importance of offset mechanisms started by the United Nations wanes, the head of an emissions trading lobby said.

La Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola (USIL), de Perú, recibirá un préstamo de US$23,5 millones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) para duplicar su capacidad y ampliar el acceso a programas de enseñanza que estén al alcance de estudiantes pobres, informó la prensa local.

Antigua St. John's - In keeping with the request of Antigua & Barbuda Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer; the United Nations has officially dedicated 2014 as the International Year of Small Island Developing States.

Early warning systems and cooperation among countries are some of the measures needed to increase resilience to water-related disasters, United Nations officials stressed today.

“Preparing for the worst can save lives. That is why we need early warning systems, disaster education and resilient structures,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his remarks to the Special Thematic Session of the General Assembly on Water and Disasters.

Los gobiernos de México y de los Países Bajos fortalecerán el intercambio de experiencias y conocimientos para enriquecer la gestión en los rubros hidráulico y forestal, acordaron Juan José Guerra Abud, Secretario de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT); David Korenfeld Federman, Director General de la Comisión Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA) y el embajador Dolph Hogewoning.

Mexico’s photovoltaic capacity could treble this year driven by the richest households and the first large-scale plants, according to the head of its solar lobbying group.

In the nine months since the First Regional Dialogue on Climate Finance held in Tela (Honduas), Latin American and Caribbean governments have advanced in a continous knowledge exchange and in developing national capacities. Taking a qualitative leap in this dynamic process, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, and Peru launched on 26 February 2013, in a meeting in Bogotá, the Steering Committee for the Second Regional Dialogue. This Second Regional Dialogue, to be hosted by El Salvador from 29-31 July 2013, will become an opportunity to deepen the exchange among countries in specific thematic climate finance areas, such as the diversification of financing instruments or mechanisms for inter-institutional coordination.

El Ministro de Energía, Jorge Bunster, junto al Vicepresidente Ejecutivo de Corfo, Hernán Cheyre, presentaron oficialmente el Proyecto CSP, que da inicio al concurso internacional para apoyar la construcción de la primera planta de Concentración Solar de Potencia en América Latina. Esta tecnología permite almacenar y suministrar electricidad de forma continua, siendo una de las mayores innovaciones en energías renovables a nivel mundial.

Scholarships are now available for students from the Caribbean to develop knowledge related to climate change adaptation and water resources management that can be directed back to the region. 

República Dominicana es uno de los países más vulnerables a los efectos del cambio climático, y en este 2013 se espera mitigarlos.

Suiza destinará US$210 millonesa proyectos de cooperación con Centroamérica para los próximos cinco años, los cuales estarán enfocados principalmente a reducir la pobreza en Honduras y Nicaragua.

More than 100 groups of small-scale carbon-cutting projects have been registered under the UN's emissions Clean Development Mechanism offsetting scheme since 2007, the body revealed yesterday.

Known as Programmes of Activities (PoAs), these umbrella groups of projects can include thousands of schemes that on their own may be too small to qualify for the CDM.

 “Por primera vez, nuestro país cuenta con un documento completo que explica la historia y evolución de nuestras masas glaciares desde 1850 hasta nuestros días, lo que se constituirá en un insumo vital para la formulación de políticas públicas relacionadas con cambio climático y asociadas a estos ecosistemas de alta montaña”, aseguró Ricardo Lozano, Director General del IDEAM.