The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) published a report warning of the serious economic consequences that extreme weather events would cause in two of the main economic activities of the Uruguay, confirming, once again, that the effects of climate change affect the reality of all countries, especially those with fewer resources.
He Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean It is a document that is published annually through the Economic Development Division of the ECLAC. There, a summary of the regional economic performance during the year is provided, as well as some forecasts and prospects for growth (or not) for the future.
Among them are the economic consequences that would be generated by the effects of climate change in Latin American countries. A topic that still generates some controversy among groups that deny this phenomenon, but that gathers increasingly compelling evidence.
The study is based on two scenarios: the first corresponds to a base one where the growth of the region The latter follows a trend pattern, while the latter reflects what would be produced by an intensification of the effects of climate change on the economy. On the other hand, they take a period between 2025 and 2050 to make their estimates.
GDP and employment hit by climate change
The intensification of climatic phenomena in Latin America would cause, according to the report, a fall in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Latin America of 12.6% in the most catastrophic scenario, and assuming that public policies were not applied to combat it.
Meanwhile, what refers to the employment, In a baseline scenario, the number of jobs would grow by 46% between 2025 and 2050, going from 261 to 382, representing an increase of 1.5%. In a scenario marked by the increasing effects of climate change, the number would grow by only 23%, registering an average annual growth of 1.1%. In this sense, by 2050, Latin America could lose a total of 42.8 million jobs.
Alarm on agriculture and tourism
According to the study, the agricultural activities in it Uruguay represent 8% of total employment, while tourism 4%. In turn, its share of GDP corresponds to 8% for agriculture and 7.3% for tourism, both being two fundamental pillars within the country’s economy.
From this, the results of the report would become somewhat alarming not only for the Uruguayan economy but for the entire Latin America. According to the publication, in the face of a scenario of intensification of the effects of the climate change, Employment in agriculture would be affected by 26.4%, equivalent to a loss of 10.9 million jobs.
In tourism, the impact would be 19.2%, equivalent to a loss of 4.4 million jobs. In total, between both activities, 15.3 million jobs would be lost throughout Latin America.
Source: Ambito
