Climate Action for a Healthier Earth

4 Ways USAID is tackling environmental challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean

Latin America and the Caribbean is a region highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, with increasingly extreme temperatures, and more frequent and severe flooding, droughts, heat waves and hurricanes.

At the same time, the region can play a significant role in combating climate change — especially by investing in clean energy alternatives and green infrastructure, and conserving the carbon-rich Amazon rainforest, an area the size of the continental United States.

USAID works throughout the region to reduce emissions and build resilience to the impacts of climate change, supporting our partner countries on their path to sustainable and inclusive development.

Here are four ways we are taking climate action in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Left: Through its coral nursery program, community group We Are Mayreau is training coral gardeners to restore coral reefs in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Right: Staghorn coral, crucial for Caribbean ecosystems, forms dense thickets in shallow waters, providing vital habitat for reef animals and fish. / Stephanie Mikulasek, USAID

Increasing Ocean Resilience

Oceans sustain all life on Earth, regulate our climate and weather, and provide food and jobs for billions of people. USAID works toward sustainable marine conservation, while improving livelihoods and building resilience in coastal communities. In the Caribbean, hurricanes, pollution, and diseases have led to the rapid degradation of coral reefs. For coastal communities, this degradation has not only affected fishing and tourism — reducing income and threatening food security — it has also increased their exposure to storm surges and coastal erosion.

USAID and Centre for Livelihoods, Ecosystems, Energy, Adaptation, and Resilience in the Caribbean Limited (CLEAR) are working with local communities in St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) to restore coral reefs to support long-term food security and climate resilience. USAID, through CLEAR, trains community members to grow and preserve reefs while building public awareness for marine conservation.

In Mayreau, a small Grenadine island which forms part of SVG, the project has seen incredible success, with 85% of the reef fragments transplanted surviving. Currently, CLEAR is working on sites in St. Vincent, three sites in the Grenadines, and also in St. Lucia and has planted over 10,000 corals in the 14 months since the project started.

“With this coral restoration, we just hope that we can restore the diversity in the ocean, whether it’s to bring back more fishes to the coastlines and protect from heavy waves, hurricanes… .” says Nemrom Miller, local coral gardener in Layou, SVG.

IE-Tram driver Irasema López is among the first female drivers in a predominantly male workplace. / Aleck Sabah, Partnership for Net Zero Cities, USAID

Supporting Zero-Emission Transportation Options

Last year, Merida, Mexico launched a 100% electric bus fleet called IE-Tram, connecting the city center to the periphery. With USAID support under its Partnership for Net Zero Cities, this new fleet is one of the few fully electric bus rapid transit routes in Latin America, and the only one in Mexico, making it a shining model for the country’s 243.6 million monthly public transport users.

USAID’s involvement in Merida’s public transit modernization extends beyond zero-emissions mobility — encompassing connectivity, social inclusion, sustainable urban design, security, road safety, and gender equality as fundamental components in advancing quality transportation services for the community.

This work isn’t just good for the planet, it’s good for people — it means people breathing cleaner air as a result of less dirty air pollution from exhaust fumes.

“I’m proud to work here. I enjoy the job. It’s a 100% eco-friendly vehicle, beneficial for the environment, and offers comfort to clients of all backgrounds,” said Irasema López, one of the first women hired to drive the electric buses.

More than 65 young leaders analyzed the common environmental problems they are facing and shared their ideas for conservation of the Ecuadorian Amazon at the First Encounter of Diverse Youth in Sucumbio province, Ecuador. / Cecilia Vallejo, USAID

Empowering Indigenous Communities to Reduce Deforestation

Indigenous Peoples and local communities are climate leaders in the region, and USAID supports their efforts to preserve their cultures and protect and manage their environments and other natural resources in a sustainable manner.

In the Ecuadorian Amazon, USAID’s Sustainable Environment and Livelihoods for a Vital Amazon (SELVA) project works closely with the Siona, Siekopai, Quichua, and Shuar Indigenous Peoples and local communities to reduce deforestation and increase understanding of their rights so they can take on greater decision-making roles and manage their own land. We also help these communities develop profitable and sustainable livelihoods.

Through SELVA, USAID organized the First Encounter of Diverse Youth for Conservation in Sucumbios, which brought together young people from Indigenous communities and mestizo populations in the Northern Amazon of Ecuador. The participants developed and delivered a document detailing their proposals for conservation of the Amazon to the Provincial Government of Sucumbios.

This is the beginning of a process aimed to strengthen the involvement of diverse young people in the governance and decision-making of natural resources management in the Sucumbios province.

Participants from 28 organizations attended this two-day event, which was a celebration of diversity, inclusion, and unity for conservation.

USAID through the Reciclar para Crecer project improves solid waste collectors ability to increase incomes, reduce waste in the environment. / USAID/Honduras

Reducing Plastics in the Environment

Plastic products contribute to greenhouse gas emissions at all stages of their life cycle — from production, transportation, refining, and conversion of fossil fuels into plastic products to incineration, and leakage into the environment. Beyond its environmental benefits, recycling plastics also presents a significant opportunity to create jobs and improve the livelihoods of many families.

In Honduras, USAID’s Reciclar Para Crecer, or Recycle to Grow project aims to increase plastic recycling in targeted Honduran cities while generating jobs and reducing pollution generated through irregular solid waste disposal.

The program helps connect waste collectors and markets, providing them with resources and equipment to improve their collection efforts, which benefits the community.

Reciclar para Crecer also empowers local stakeholders to create self-reliant, sustainable Solid Waste Management systems which creates jobs and strengthens local government services. By promoting a recycling culture across Honduras, USAID hopes to foster a circular economy that generates employment, cuts costs, and benefits the environment.

About the Author

Megan Bordi is a Senior Communications Advisor in USAID’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean.