Peru hosts First Regional Latin American and Caribbean Conference on SLCPs and Air Pollution

The results of the first Integrated Assessment of SLCPs in Latin America and the Caribbean were also presented at the conference.

Latin America and Caribbean contributions toward SLCPs emissions are comparably low at the global level, however the region is highly sensitive to its effects. 80% of the region’s population lives in urban areas and there are cities at very high altitude which affects air quality. It has coastal cities vulnerable to sea level rise and many areas depend on glacial sources for water. The region is also vulnerable to changes in precipitation patterns, extreme weather events, floods and agricultural losses.  

"There is an opportunity to accelerate SLCP leadership in the region with measures that mitigate pollution and are strong drivers for sustainable, strategic, and inclusive economic growth," Graciela Raga, Senior Scientist and Chair of the Assessment, said.

The assessment outlines key sectors where SLCP reductions can be made. For example black carbon emissions can be reduced by over 80% by 2050 by modernizing cook and heating stoves, improving diesel vehicle standards to Euro VI equivalent, putting diesel particulate filters on vehicles, eliminating high emitting vehicles, and enforcing bans on agricultural open burning.

Methane emissions can also be significantly reduced by recovery and use of vented gas in oil and gas production, separation and treatment of biodegradable municipal solid waste, and recovering biogas from livestock manure using anaerobic digestion.

Helena Molin Valdés, Head of the United Nations Environment Programme hosted Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) Secretariat, outlined how SLCP reduction contributes to strong, tangible results across the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as global climate and environment goals.

Ms Molin Valdés discussed how countries can effectively limit future warming to well below 2⁰ Celsius through a ‘two target approach’ by pledging to undertake both short- and long-term mitigation measures as part of their climate plans and policies, reflected in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Such an approach would also help achieve SDGs and other benefits. 

“Reducing near-term warming is important and requires fast action to change technologies or behaviors to make deep cuts in all SLCPs, as indicated in the regional assessment,” Ms Molin Valdés said. “Such reductions would also save many lives and confer great benefits to public health, food security and the provision of sustainable, clean energy for the poor, thereby contributing to the overall sustainable development agenda.”

Key conclusions from the conference include:

• The Post-Paris Agreement offers a clear opportunity for CCAC countries to enhance interaction between climate change and air quality priorities by influencing the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), working with countries to integrate SLCPs in their NDCs, and leveraging finance through funding mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund
• The importance of strengthening collaboration between the CCAC and regional initiatives like the Regional Inter-governmental Network on Air Pollution of Latin America and the Caribbean, LEDS Initiative on Enhancing Capacity for Low Emission Development Strategies, and the Global Methane Initiative (GMI).
• Improving emission inventories across the region will support the identification of priorities for national planning.
• Countries should focus on implementing measure in the transportation sector, cookstoves and heating, bricks, solid waste management and agricultural burning due to their mitigation potential in the region.
• The need to improve links with the health community to monitor the health benefits of SLCP reduction, and to create synergies with the CCAC, World Health Organization run Breathe Life Campaign

Representatives from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Perú, República Dominicana, Uruguay, and from United States of America and the United Kingdom attended the conference. 44 types of organizations were also represented including ministries, state institutions, academia and research intitutions, and the international development community.

The two- day regional meeting was co-organized by the Ministry of Environment of Peru, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), Swisscontact, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC), It was held 5th -6th  May, 2016 in Lima, Peru. A National Workshop on the Peruvian Strategy to mitigate SLCPs was held on the margins of this meeting on 4th May with the participation of 34 representatives from 23 organizations from 7 countries.