Protecting Latin America and the Caribbean’s Future Against Climate Risks

Risk management is fundamental for Latin America and the Caribbean. Incidents of natural disasters have tripled since 1970 and with climate change, their intensity and the frequency are going to increase. But natural disasters are not the only risk these countries face. Economic shocks and abrupt swings in commodity prices can also have a devastating effect in the population, especially on the most vulnerable.

In Thursday’s conversation on Protecting Latin America and the Caribbean’s Future Against Risks, Jorge Familiar, World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean was joined by a panel of leading financial experts and policymakers including Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup Latin America; Paraguay Minister of Finance Lea Giménez; Chief Executive of the State Development Bank of Brazil BNDES, Dyogo Henrique de Oliveira; President of Mexico’s National Banking and Securities Commission CNBV, Bernardo Gonzalez; and the Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, Timothy Antoine.

During the discussion, panelists agreed that the region is much better prepared now than before, but that more innovative solutions are needed to ensure that countries and people do not lose in one day, or in one shock, what took them years to build.