Marcos Gutiérrez from Our People on Vimeo.

In Mexico, programs like Aires de Cambio help provide sustainable energy for all.

The Latin American and Caribbean region is home to 40% of the biodiversity on earth and unique ecosystems which can support and foster sustained economic growth if properly managed.

To help the region protect and use this natural capital to generate social and economic development, the Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (BES) Program supports countries by:

Integrating the value of biodiversity and ecosystem services into key economic sectors
Protecting priority regional ecosystems
Supporting effective environmental governance and policy
Creating new sustainable development business opportunities

Read more: http://iadb.org/en/topics/environment/biodiversity-platform/the-idbs-bio...

Bahia state, in northeastern Brazil, will receive a $50.8 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to further develop its tourism industry and boost employment.

The project, structured as a multiple works loan under the country’s PRODETUR Program, will invest in a tourism product and marketing strategy, focusing particularly on the state’s nautical and cultural heritage assets, institution-strengthening, improvement of basic services, and socio-environmental management at tourism destinations.

Read more: http://iadb.org/en/news/news-releases/2013-02-28/brazils-bahia-tourism-e...

In this film, ecological economist Dr Trista Patterson, lead scientist with The Nature Conservancy Dr M Sanjayan, sustainability advisor and author Tony Juniper and environmental economist Pavan Sukhdev reveal the richness of life supported by the Amazon and the hidden contribution this great forest makes in helping regulate the planets climate.

Watch the video: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130226-amazon-lungs-of-the-planet

The growing role of quinoa on the world stage has prompted the United Nations, in collaboration with native producers Peru and Bolivia, to declare February 20th as the beginning of the International Year of the Quinoa, a move meant to raise awareness about the nutritional might of the so-called Golden Grain.

Read more: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/02/19/quinoa-day-from-the-...

The World Trade Organization Secretariat (WTO) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), through the Integration and Trade Sector and its Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL) and the CARICOM Secretariat, are jointly organizing an “Regional Workshop on Trade and Environment for Caribbean Countries”, that will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel, Kingston, Jamaica, on January 15th to 17th, 2013.

Read more: http://events.iadb.org/calendar/eventDetail.aspx?lang=en&id=3954

A new study found that bicycle use as a means of transportation is growing 20 percent a year in Santiago. The study’s authors argued that, if public policies existed to guarantee the safety of and parking for cyclists, the numbers would grow even more.

Read more: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/amaxwell/latin_america_green_news_chil...

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) launched two new contingent credit facilities for Latin America and the Caribbean today, one to help countries deal beforehand with shocks caused by external financial crises and another to help nations cope with the aftermath of natural disasters.

A new Development Sustainability Contingent Credit Line (DSL) will make $6 billion available to the IDB’s 26 borrowing member countries over the 2012-2014 period, with a maximum of $2 billion per year and with unused resources from one year carrying over to the next one. The new line is designed to help countries protect its poorest citizens from sharp fluctuations in commodity prices, global liquidity crises and other exogenous factors.

Read more: http://iadb.org/en/news/news-releases/2012-10-05/credit-lines-external-s...

Ensuring that forest dwellers have rights over their land is vital for slowing the deforestation that may be causing up to a fifth of the world's emissions of greenhouse gases, according to a report released Wednesday.

The report by the Washington-based NGO Rights and Resources Initiative is aimed at encouraging next month's U.N. summit in Rio de Janeiro to tackle the politically contentious issue of land reforms.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2012/05/30/studies_show_land_rig...

Subsistence agriculture is the mainstay of the local communities, where peasant farmers grow corn and beans on infertile hillsides, and the harvests are steadily declining, due to climate phenomena.

El Salvador, and Central America in general, suffers heavy rain in winter - the rainy season - which almost inevitably leaves a trail of pain and destruction. In October, for example, the rains claimed 43 lives in the country and flooded 10 percent of the national territory.

Read more: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/energy-forests-the-feminine-art-of-re...