The Argentinean province of San Juan is a land of deserts and mountains, surrounded by the high peaks of the Andes, the birthplace of the rivers that crisscross the region. This arid province, where rainfall is scarce--hardly reaching an annual average of 3.9 inches (or 100 millimeters)--depends upon snowmelt from the Andes for its water supply; this, in turn, depends upon total annual snowfall.
El pasado Febrero estuve de visita en mi provincial natal: Córdoba Capital, Argentina. Fue un viaje fugaz y húmedo. No paró de llover durante esos días y no dejaba de llover hacía semanas. Lo que yo podía ver desde mi ventana, alguna personas lo veían desde adentro de su living. Mi provincia desgraciadamente sufrió una catástrofe: la inundación más grande en los últimos 50 años. Recuerdo como cargamos el auto con ropa, alimentos y muchas energías, y nos fuimos al centro de Villa Allende.
Moving towards the path of sustainable development is a great challenge. The Paris Agreement, the UN´s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the delivery of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (iNDCs) by 197 parties to the UN Climate Convention all require a shouldering of responsibility for addressing climate change and improving human welfare. If temperature rise is to be kept to well below 2°C by the end of this century, the time to act in now.
¿Cuál es la situación en tu ciudad? ¿Llegas al trabajo en bicicleta, caminando en transporte público o en tu propio carro? La situación de la utilización del automóvil en tu ciudad, seguro depende de cómo es el servicio de transporte público, de la cercanía al lugar del trabajo, del confort, entre muchas otras variables. Lo que estamos viendo es que, cada vez más ciudades se suman Día Mundial Sin Auto en Latinoamérica y el Caribe (LAC). Sin embargo la tendencia sigue siendo a la alza en materia de automóviles privados.
Recently I was in Jamaica attending the Coral Lifeline workshop organized by the Centre of Marine Sciences from the University of the West Indies – I learned a lot including that coral reefs are critical!:
After living in Jamaica for five years, every time I visit for work, I try to squeeze in whatever time I have to say hello to friends. On my last visit I was very fortunate to have meetings on both sides of the weekend allowing me to spend my off days in a familiar place with familiar people. My friends and I decided to take advantage of this rare opportunity and headed east to Hellshire, a popular Jamaican hang out spot along the coast known for its fresh fish and other seafood done to order.
We all agree that we want quality infrastructure, because we know that quality reduces project risks, increases availability and durability over a project’s lifecycle, improves customer experience and as such makes the infrastructure worth the investment. But how can we ensure quality? The IDB –as well as other development banks– uses a suite of safeguard policies to ensure the environmental and social quality of the infrastructure projects it finances.
It had been a while since I had really crawled around in a mangrove wetland. Once you have climbed over the roots of a red mangrove, seen the pneumatophores (the roots that stick out of the ground like breathing tubes) of white mangrove, spotted blue crabs in abundance scurrying back into their holes to avoid capture, or taken in the “sweet” aroma of decaying organic matter, - it all comes back to you in flash. My return to the mangroves was on a recent survey of the wetlands on Big Corn and Little Corn Island, two small islands off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua.
The IDB has made a strong commitment to strengthening and using country systems for both fiduciary and non-fiduciary aspects of Bank loans. While notable progress has been made in the former, the latter, which include national systems for development effectiveness and environmental and social safeguards, require different approaches. Notably, and recognizing the diversity of environmental and social governance approaches in our region, IDB’s approach for the strengthening and use of safeguard systems has been focused on country dialogue, capacity building and controlled pilot st