Access to adequate housing is a universal human right. That is why the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has been working in Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) for many years to eliminate the housing gap through an extensive variety of options that range from direct housing construction, to support for housing social subsidies through credit lines to the development … [Read more...] about Innovative social housing and green procurement. How do they relate?
Climate change
How much is it going to cost to decarbonize the transport sector in Costa Rica?
President Carlos Alvarado together with the first lady, Claudia Dobles, recently presented the Decarbonization Plan of Costa Rica. The plan is based on the Paris Agreement that seeks to limit the increase in global temperature well below 2 ° C above pre-industrial levels. Climate science is clear; to get there we need to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero between 2050 … [Read more...] about How much is it going to cost to decarbonize the transport sector in Costa Rica?
How a bug small as a water drop can destroy 100 million trees in three years?
This is what happened in Honduras between 2013 and 2016, the pine weevil, a beetle the size of a drop of water attacked an area equivalent to 1 million soccer fields in forests (500,000 hectares). This represents 25% of the countries' pine forest. Sadly, 100 million trees were destroyed. The affected area represents the loss of coverage that would have occurred in Honduras' … [Read more...] about How a bug small as a water drop can destroy 100 million trees in three years?
Let’s call disasters by their names
Disasters are named after the natural phenomenon that caused them (in the case of tropical storms, they are named in alphabetical order, i.e. Hurricane Mitch, Katrina, etc.) or by the name of geological landmarks (the Nevado del Ruiz, the Casitas volcano or like, the Fuego volcano). Nevertheless, in the naming the most important part is not taken into account, the people … [Read more...] about Let’s call disasters by their names
Getting to net-zero emissions is possible, necessary and can bring multiple economic benefits
In 2019, the Inter-American Development Bank Group celebrated its 60th anniversary. Over the last six decades, it has played a transformative role in Latin America and the Caribbean to promote development. As we reflect upon many of these positive advances and look ahead, what will our contribution to the region be over the next decades? This deliberation must consider that … [Read more...] about Getting to net-zero emissions is possible, necessary and can bring multiple economic benefits