Introduction
The Latin America and the Caribbean region is advancing in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda by establishing interinstitutional coordination mechanisms, aligning the National Development Plans with the SDGs while formulating national visions towards 2030. New and/or updated institutional arrangements are in place in at least eighteen countries for the coordinated implementation of the 2030 Agenda. In some countries, the national environmental institutions have been granted participation in such mechanisms, implying a clear change in their contribution and role especially when compared to the process adopted for the implementation of the MDGs. However, still only eleven (out of eighteen) national mechanisms ensure the direct participation of the Ministries of Environment, and not always at the highest level (UNEP and Cepei 2018). Additionally, to different extents, the region reveals a deficit in the production and management of data and statistics and related disaggregated information, including environmental indicators. As a result, the systematic use of environmental information in conjunction with social and economic data to support coherent policy and decision making is still limited to a few cases in the region. In general, the inclusion of the environmental dimension across the SDGs planning, implementation, and monitoring is yet to be fully achieved as shown by the VNRs presented so far at the High-Level Political Forum (UNEP 2018b).
Statistical availability and capacity
The economic and technical heterogeneity of the region is well reflected in the existing differences in observation capacity, and related data and statistics production. While some countries have developed sustained and systematic mechanisms for data collection, validation, and processing, others are struggling with structural data gaps and weak capacities. The most critical areas for which serious data gaps currently exist include SDG 11 (Cities and Communities), SDG 6 (Water), and SDG 14 (Oceans). For many countries, the costs incurred to establish and maintain effective data infrastructures are often not congruent with the limited budget available to central and local governments. This lack of resources poses important limitations in the capacity of countries to monitor and report on the implementation of the environmental dimension of Agenda 2030. Feasible solutions to mitigate or limit the existing gaps in frequency and spatial coverage of data are currently being explored in the region, including use of non-conventional data (e.g. crowdsourced data (citizen science) and remote sensing) though legal aspects and capacities for their use are still important barriers for their full exploitation. The region has benefitted from the presence of a significant number of Space Agencies and related internationally-recognised Earth observation
Sustainable Development Goal
programmes. The assimilation of these capacities within the usual data production workflows must be considered to ensure systematic and sustained monitoring of the environment (e.g. land use changes, forest cover, water management, etc.).
Weak data coordination is another important limiting factor for sustained SDGs indicators production. In many countries, lack of data sharing policies along with commercial and legal constraints on data use hamper the effective monitoring of the environment. The relationship between the environment and the social and economic dimensions of development, amplify the need to share data. Countries of the region are working in the framework of the Latin American and Caribbean Initiative for Sustainable Development to advance their capacity to produce data and indicators.
Progress and gaps
Most of the progress of the region so far is related to setting the scene for the 2030 Agenda including establishing institutional arrangements, advancing national planning, and consulting with development stakeholders. In terms of substantive advances, the region is building in its long-term commitment with the Sustainable Development Summits. During the last decades, committed and innovative social actors from civil society, communities, governments, and the private sector have successfully put sustainable development initiatives into practice at different scales, including initiatives related to food insecurity, resilience to climate change,
Coffee plantation in Latin America (Parra 2017). 29
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