As global leaders shift gears from diplomacy to the implementation of the Paris climate change agreement, many Latin American mayors are preparing to pursue an agenda that some observers believe to be more ambitious than that of their national counterparts. “California and some states in the U.S. have done much more than the American federal government so far,” says Laudemar Aguiar, coordinator of international relations for Rio de Janeiro’s city government. “In the case of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, for example, does much more than the federal government in general.” The Latin American and Caribbean region is the second most urbanized on the planet, with 79% of people living in cities in 2010, according to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). “Deforestation is not the... [Log in to read more]
