scale producers, who suffered due to the lack of food and were forced to migrate (CEPAL, 2002).

          Hurricanes and tropical storms also have a devastating effect in the region. Central America and the Caribbean are the regions hardest hit by these climatic events. In these regions, 18 hurricanes and tropical storms were detected from 1960 to 2001 (Cepredenac, 2007). Hurricane Mitch, in 1998, is considered the most devastating hurricane to hit the Central American region (Pielke et al., 2003), causing total damages amounting to US$6 billion, half resulting from losses in agriculture (Ceprenedac, 2007).

          It has been said that carbon dioxide has a fertilizing effect that could benefit agriculture, increasing crop yields. Nonetheless, studies in Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, based on climate change models and crop models, predict reductions in the yields of several crops (e.g., maize, potato, soybean and wheat), even taking into consideration fertilization with carbon dioxide and moderate adaptations by producers (IPCC, 2001a).

          The projected climate changes may also have a negative impact on productive activities through their effect on human health. For example, the projected increase in temperature and precipitation could expand the range of vectortransmitted diseases (e.g., malaria, dengue, leishmaniasis, Chagas’ disease) and infectious diseases (e.g., cholera), making it possible for them to become established to the south of their current range and at higher elevations (WHO, 1996). Box 1-4 illustrates the relationship between changes in agriculture (which are often governed by climate changes) and the emergence of infectious diseases.

          The effects of the increase in the sea level include a greater risk of flooding in the coastal zones of Central America

South America and the Caribbean and the possible loss of land area. Although the loss in land area could represent a small proportion of the national territory (except in the Caribbean), it may have a major impact in areas where large populations, tourist centers and infrastructure are located (e.g., ports) (IPCC, 2001b).

          The IPCC (2001b) concluded that the alterations resulting from climate change have a high potential to negatively affect the ways of life of subsistence farmers and pastoralists who live in the high Andean planes and tropical and subtropical forests. Despite the grave socioeconomic impacts associated with climate change in the region, the governments have done very little to reduce the emissions of gases that contribute to climate change, or to implement risk management strategies and promote adaptive systems to cushion the negative effects on productive activities in the region. In Brazil, drought forecast systems have been implemented that have succeeded in reducing the negative impacts of droughts. There are also experiences in Central America involving the resistance of agroecological systems to the impacts of tropical storms (Holt-Giménez, 2002; Box 1-5).

1.5.6 Cultural context
Latin America and the Caribbean are characterized by three major cultural influences, the indigenous, the African and the European (mainly Spanish and Portuguese). The word “agriculture” emphasizes the overarching role of culture in this type of production. All the cultures, both those existing and those already lost, have affected the region’s production systems to a greater or lesser extent. Nonetheless, the agriculture practiced by most small-scale producers in the