2009

Author(s): Vergara W

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....The report thus summarizes the value of damages induced by hurricane intensification, coral mortality, glacier retreat and warming of mountain ecosystems, increased incidence of tropical vector diseases, for specific areas of Latin America. [from the Foreword]