In a special declaration sent to Rio+20, the eight countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA) call on the international community to recognize their region's special vulnerability to climate-related extreme events, and give them aid priority regarding adaptation.
22 June 2012: The Central American Integration System (SICA) sent a “special communiqué” regarding climate change and natural disasters to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) held from 20-22 June 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In the Declaration, Belize, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama call on the international community to, inter alia: recognize Central America as a region highly vulnerable to extreme events caused by climate variability and change; fulfill the commitments made at the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Cancun, Mexico, for financial resources, technical assistance and technology transfer in climate change adaptation; give aid priority to the Central American Fund for the Integrated Management of Disaster Risk (FOCEGIR); and put into operation as soon as possible the Green Climate Fund, and the loss and damages mechanism.
The Declaration also commits the eight countries to mainstream climate change into their national development plans, and to aid full implementation of the Regional Climate Change Strategy (ERCC) and the Central American Policy of the Integrated Management of Disaster Risk (PCGIR). [SICA Declaration to Rio+20 (in Spanish)]