A Fragmented Continent ─ Latin America and the Global Politics of Climate Change

Latin American countries have increased their influence at the United Nations climate change negotiations and offered potential solutions on coping with global warming. But in the face of competing priorities, sometimes these climate policies are jettisoned, undermined, or simply ignored.

A Fragmented Continent focuses on Latin America's three major blocs at the U.N. climate negotiations and how they attempt to balance climate action with building prosperity. Brazil has reduced its deforestation but continues its drive for economic growth and global recognition. A leftist group led by Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador decries the injustice of climate change but is highly dependent on the export of fossil fuels. A new group, including Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru and supported by Mexico, offers sharp reductions in their carbon emissions in return for greater action by others; these countries now have to deliver on their promises. Weaving together issues of politics and economy, trade, foreign policy, civil society, and environmental protection,A Fragmented Continent offers a long-missing perspective on one of this century's greatest challenges and neglected regions.

Guy Edwards is Research Fellow at the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society and Codirector of the Climate and Development Lab and cofounder of Intercambio Climatico. J. Timmons Roberts is Ittleson Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at Brown University and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is the coauthor of A Climate of Injustice (MIT Press) and Trouble in Paradise: Globalization and Environmental Crises in Latin America.