Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-12 (section)

=== 12.1.1 Central and South America Region ===

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Central and South America (CSA) is a highly diverse region, both culturally and biologically. It has one of the highest levels of biodiversity on the planet ( [[#Hoorn--2010|Hoorn et al., 2010]] ; [[#Zador--2015|Zador et al., 2015]] ; [[#IPBES--2018a|IPBES, 2018a]] ) (Cross-Chapter Paper [CCP] 1: Biodiversity Hotspots) and a wealth of cultural diversity resulting from more than 800 Indigenous Peoples who share the territory with European and African descendants and more recent Asian migrants ( [[#CEPAL--2014|CEPAL, 2014]] ). Moreover, it is one of the most urbanised regions in the world, with some of the most populated metropolitan areas ( [[#UNDESA--2019|UNDESA, 2019]] ). Several countries in the region have experienced sustained economic growth in recent decades, making important advances in reducing poverty in the area. Yet it is a region of substantial social inequality including the highest inequality in land tenure, where a large percentage of the population remains below the poverty line, unequally distributed between rural and urban areas and along aspects like gender and race; these groups are highly vulnerable to climate change and natural extreme events that frequently affect the region ( ''high confidence'' ) ( [[#ECLAC--2019b|ECLAC, 2019b]] ; [[#Busso--2020|Busso and Messina, 2020]] ; [[#Poveda--2020|Poveda et al., 2020]] ).

Land use changes in the region, particularly deforestation, are significant, mostly due to agricultural production for export purposes, one of the main sources of income for the area ( [[#Salazar--2016|Salazar et al., 2016]] ) (Figure 12.2c). Additional pressure on the land comes from illegal activities, pollution and induced fires. These changes exacerbate the impacts of climate change and make the region a key player in the future of the world economy and food production ( [[#IPBES--2018a|IPBES, 2018a]] ). The region boasts the largest tropical forest on the planet and other important biomes of high biodiversity on mountains, lowlands and coastal areas. It can potentially continue its agricultural expansion and development at the expense of substantially reducing the areas of natural biomes. Indigenous Peoples and smallholder families are lacking adequate climate policies combined with institutions to protect their property rights; this could result in a more sustainable process of agricultural expansion, without substantially increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the vulnerability of those populations ( ''high confidence'' ) (Sá et al., 2017).

CSA is divided into eight climatic sub-regions by Working Group (WG) I (Figure 12.1). Though the southern part of Mexico is included in the climatic sub-region South Central America (SCA) for WGI, Mexico is assessed in [[IPCC:Wg2:Chapter:Chapter-14|Chapter 14]] (North America). In this chapter, we refer to this sub-region as CA because it excludes southern Mexico. The climate-change literature for the region occasionally includes Mexico, and in those cases, our assessment makes reference to Latin America but when only southern Mexico is included, the term Mesoamerica is used. Figure 12.2 and Table SM12.1 summarise relevant characteristics of the sub-regions included in this chapter.

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'''Figure 12.1 |''' '''Sub-regions included in CSA region.''' Note that the WGI climatic sub-region SCA corresponds to CA in this chapter, as southern Mexico is included in Chapter 14. Small islands in the region are covered in [[IPCC:Wg2:Chapter:Chapter-15|Chapter 15]] in more detail.

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'''Figure 12.2 |''' '''Characterisation of the region.''' Population data from [[#ISIMIP--2021|ISIMIP (2021)]] after [[#Klein%20Goldewijk--2017|Klein Goldewijk et al. (2017)]] . Biodiversity expressed as marine and terrestrial species richness adapted from [[#Gagné--2020|Gagné et al. (2020)]] . Land cover data from [[#ESA--2018|ESA (2018)]] . Human Development Index (HDI) and its components from [[#UNDP--2020|UNDP (2020)]] . HDI and components for French Guiana from [[#Global%20Data%20Lab--2020|Global Data Lab (2020)]] .

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