Climate Change in Latin America - European Commission

1.3. Regional Ecological Footprint
The ecological footprint consists of both the impact
of human activities on an ecosystem as well as the
corrective measures taken to mitigate such impact.
Consequently this is a key indicator of sustainability.
In this report the Greenhouse Gas emmissions
(GHGs) from the 18 countries have been used as
way of evaluating the impact of human activities on
the environment. In Latin American countries, GHG
emissions have the following characteristics:
• a medium level of contribution to worldwide GHG
emissions, especially if the total GHGs (12% of
world emissions) are compared to the world's
population and the share of GDP (both equal to
8.5%);
• per capita CO 2
rates show values greater than the
averages of Annex 1 countries;
• greater CO 2
emissions due to changes in soil use
and forestry (USCUSS), which are higher than the
amount of CO 2
absorbed, in spite of the fact that
the Latin American tropical rainforests are the
planet's main "green lung";
• average CO 2
emissions from USCUSS are almost
three times the world average and greatly exceed
emissions from other sectors;
• the average CO 2
y CH 4
emissions produced
by the agricultural sector (excluding USCUSS)
represent 70% of the remaining emissions, and
the contribution of CH 4
is higher than averages in
the world and in Annex 1 countries.
Evidence for these points can be found when the data
is analysed using a CAIT (Climate Analysis Indicators
Tool). The data include the amount of CO 2
produced
by fossil fuels and the cement industry (1850-2005);
CO 2
due to change in soil usage (1950-2000), CH 4
,
N 2
O, HFCs, PFCs, and SF6 (1990, 1995, 2000, and
2005); and Houghton, R.A. 2008, for the regional
trends in changes of soil usage up to 2005 5 . The GGE
data presented in the National Communications from
the 18 countries could not be used, as there is now
way of performing temporal analyses. Many countries
only presented a GHG inventory. Only four countries
presented this for the year 2000 and only one for after
2000.
Table 2 summarises the perception of the causes of
GHG production in the different countries, according
to the information given in the questionnaires.
5 Data related to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions was drawn up
based on the data provided by the Climate Analysis Indicators
Tool website, version 6, by the World Resources Institute,
updated to 2005 (www.cait.wri.org). In order to investigate
regional trends in changes to soil usage up until 2005, data
was used from Houghton, R.A. 2008. Carbon Flux to the
Atmosphere from Land-Use Changes: 1850-2005. In: TRENDS:
A Compendium of Data on Global Change. Carbon Dioxide
Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A.
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