Climate Law in Latin American Countries

Climate law in Latin America is in its infancy, although advancing at a steady pace. Most countries in the region have adopted soft law instruments, including climate change strategies, and, in some cases, climate change plans of action or sectoral action plans for adaptation or forestry. Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador have more coherent legal frameworks for climate change, although at the time of writing, only Brazil had adopted a substantive climate change law. This chapter finds that frameworks related to climate change mitigation are more advanced than those dealing with adaptation, even though several countries in the region identify adaptation as a key priority for their future development. It argues that policy implementation remains challenging, with mainstreaming across sectors, allocation of budget and presidential support being identified as crucial elements and recurring challenges. The chapter also finds that subnational entities are increasingly involved in the development and implementation of climate change policy tools at the local level.