GIA Webinar “Post-COVID19: a green and inclusive recovery to Latin America”

Post-COVID19: a green and inclusive recovery for Latin America 

According to CEPAL, the effects of COVID-19 on Latin America and the Caribbean may include the most severe recession since 1930 and ruthless unemployment, poverty and inequality.  As commodity prices and international trade plummet, the crisis is also revealing vulnerabilities of highly fragmented global trade networks.

There is an urgent need for international financial resources to address this public health and economic crisis.  At the same time, the region’s model of participation in international markets and options for reactivation needs to be reconsidered in light of these structural changes                (https://www.cepal.org/es/publicaciones/45445-dimensionar-efectos-covid-19-pensar-la-reactivacion).

The purpose of this webinar is to exchange ideas on how responses to the immediate public health and economic challenges could also incorporate considerations and actions on structural economic changes that re-evaluate current development models towards more just and sustainable development alternatives. 

Greening the economy:  Are there scenarios and opportunities to channel investments towards green research and development, low carbon energy, ecosystem restoration, and community enterprises?  How can we minimize ecosystem perturbations that facilitate the spread of zoonotic disease?  

Infrastructure needs: The COVID crisis has revealed major social infrastructure deficits. Hospitals, water & sanitation, internet connectivity, etc. may have increasing importance in a post-COVID context.  What are priorities for infrastructure development post-COVID to address those needs? 

Key actors: Who are the key actors who will be funding post-COVID infrastructure and how can we engage with them? How can international financing safeguards be applied or improved to stimulate investments in social and green infrastructure sectors?

Panelists:

Gabriel Quijandría Acosta is the Vice Minister of Strategic Development, Natural Resources and the Environment in Peru. Acosta is a recognized expert in public policies and environmental management, with an extensive experience in public and non-profit organizations aiming to promote the development of the Latin American region, the conservation of biodiversity and climate change mitigation. 

Monica de Bolle is a renowned Brazilian economist and adjunct lecturer and former director for Latin American studies and emerging markets at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Named as “Honored Economist” in 2014 by the Order of Brazilian Economists for her contributions to the Brazilian policy debate, de Bolle focuses on macroeconomics, foreign exchange policy, monetary and fiscal policy, trade and inequality, financial regulation, and capital markets.

Gustavo Fonseca is the Programs Director of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Master in Latin American Studies and a Ph.D. in Forest Management and Conservation from the University of Florida, Fonseca responsibilities at GEF include overseeing the portfolio of investments in biodiversity, climate change mitigation and adaptation, forests and REDD+, transboundary marine and freshwater conservation, chemicals and sustainable land management.

Esteban Pérez Caldentey is the Chief of the Financing for Development Unit within the Economic Development Division at the Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL-UN). A specialist in in macroeconomics and finance, Caldentey holds a PhD in Economics from the New School for Social Research In New York and is the co-editor of the Review of Keynesian Economics and The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. 

Moderated by:

Susan Paulson is a Professor in the Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida. In recent years, Paulson she has been collaborating with international interdisciplinary teams on rural territorial dynamics in Latin America and on the emerging paradigm of degrowth.

Her research also explores ways in which gender, class, and ethnoracial systems interact with biophysical environments, including bodies and landscapes. With vast experience in working and teaching in Latin America universities, for 7 years Paulson was the Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at the Miami University. 

For a version of the flyer in Spanish go here and for one in Portuguese click here .