LIST OF PANELS

There is great diversity across Latin American countries; however, the IPCC has identified critical risks for the region that include: food insecurity due to frequent and/or extreme droughts; risk to life and infrastructure due to floods and landslides; risk of water insecurity; risk of severe health effects due to increasing epidemics (in particular vector-borne diseases); and risks to coastal socio-ecological systems due to sea level rise. Current levels of exposure and vulnerability to these risks are related to factors such as deep inequalities, volatile politics and policies, and economies dependent on external capitals and deeply anchored in the extraction of their vast natural resources (Sánchez & Montero, 2019; Spikin & Hernández, 2016; Steinberg, 2012). These and other characteristics configure multiple opportunities for responding to climate change with measures that tackle diversity and inequality in appropriate manners.
Localization is a term increasingly used in the climate policy and international development communities that refers to the processes of formulating and implementing global climate and development goals on the local-level scale (Fischer et al., 2022; Medina, 2019; Stuhldreher, 2020). Local initiatives for mitigation and adaptation to climate change are regarded as the next frontier for advancing the global goals collected in Agenda 2030 (Oosterhof, 2018). However, national and supranational level policies and actions have been deemed insufficient to generate enough progress towards reducing emissions and supporting adaptive measures, albeit the current situation could be worse without them (Sharma, 2022). In this scenario, local climate action emerges as an urgent task for communities, governments, and other actors engaged in the politics and policy of climate change at different scales.
Multiple theoretical and practical questions about how to achieve localization remain unsolved. Locally-relevant actions face numerous challenges in mobilizing political and citizen support and resources and ensuring that they address problems at relevant scales (Sippel & Jenssen, 2009). Some of these issues relate to the well-known challenges of decentralization, such as the devolution of responsibilities to scales of government with limited administrative and policy capacity (Freigedo et al., 2020). Other challenges, such as combining scientific, local, and indigenous knowledge for effective adaptation measures, emerge as specific to the localization of climate actions (Blancas et al., 2020; Kronik & Verner, 2010).

This panel aims to examine, assess, and discuss current trends in the study and practice of local climate action in Latin American countries, and to create a lively forum for discussion and reflection on the strengths and weaknesses of localization. 

This panel is motivated by the desire to ensure that climate action is rooted in locally relevant definitions of the problems, ensures inclusion and equity, and contributes toward the broader sustainable development goals while also welcoming critique of those goals. The panel seeks to explore local climate actions as a necessary means to respond to the current climate crisis and to build on the progress made thus far.
We seek contributions about Latin America that relate to three overarching themes of Climate Action: types, facilitators, and impacts (Tosun, 2022). Some of the relevant questions for this panel deal with:
Types:
● How do interactions between the sub-national, local, and other scales shape localization processes and outcomes?
● How have interactions across governance scales changed over time?
● To what extent and how do local climate initiatives improve national policies for climate action?
● What types of institutional arrangements have emerged to implement climate policies at the local level?

● In which sectors and why is local action likely to succeed, or conversely, to fail?

● How are non-governmental organizations promoting localization across scales?

● How is organized civil society influencing decisions that affect localization processes?

● What types of governance arrangements are emerging to deal with issues of equity, transparency, and accountability in local climate initiatives?

Facilitators:

● Which factors determine whether and how local authorities and organizations engage in climate actions?

● What types of support do local climate initiatives receive from developed countries?

● How are North-South and South-South cooperation supporting local climate initiatives?

● What types of participatory mechanisms have been put in place to formulate and design local climate policies?

● How do indigenous perspectives and knowledge contribute to local climate initiatives, and which are the main barriers to integrating them?

● How are anti-climate action agendas limiting local climate initiatives? How are these agendas changing over time, and how do they relate to global trends in climate change denialism?

Impacts:

● To what extent are localization processes producing behavioral change?

● Which groups benefit from localization initiatives, which ones receive burdens, and how is this related to climate justice debates?

● What types of unintended (positive and negative) consequences emerge from localization?

● What comparisons can be made between Latin America and other regions regarding localization initiatives?

● What lessons were drawn from the COVID-19 pandemic for the localization of climate action?

References
• Blancas, N. I., Isch, E., Panario, D., Gutiérrez, O., & C., Á. Z. (2020). El cambio climático y los conocimientos tradicionales, miradas desde Sudamérica. Terra. Nueva Etapa, XXXVI(59).
• Fischer, M., Cisneros, P., Duval, J., Gonzales-Iwanciw, J., & Cordero, S. (2022). Sustainable development and water: cross-sectoral, transboundary and multi-level governance arrangements in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Switzerland. In L. Partzch (Ed.), The environmental in global sustainability governance. Bristol University Press.
• Freigedo, M., Milanesi, A., & Ferreira, C. (2020). RIA: aplicación de una metodología para el seguimiento de la localización de los ODS. Cuadernos Del CLAEH, 112, 119–132. https://doi.org/10.29192/claeh.39.2.8
• Kronik, J., & Verner, D. (2010). The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Crafting Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies for Climate Change in Latin America. In R. Meems & A. Norton (Eds.), Social Dimensions of Climate Change: Equity and Vulnerability in a Warming World (pp. 145–172). The World Bank.
• Medina, T. O. (2019). Localization of the Sustainable Development Goals in border areas and cross-border South-South cooperation in Latin America. Aldea Mundo, 24(47), 27–38.
• Oosterhof, P. D. (2018). Localizing the Sustainable Development Goals to Accelerate Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Governance Brief, 33.
• Sánchez, F., & Montero, M. G. (Eds.). (2019). Los ciclos políticos y económicos de América Latina y el boom de las materias primas. tecnos.
• Sharma, M. T. R. H. A. (2022). Climate action after COP26. IPPR Progressive Review, 28(4), 317–323. https://doi.org/10.1111/newe.12286
Sippel, M., & Jenssen, T. (2009). What About Local Climate Governance? A Review of Promise and Problems. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1514334
• Spikin, A. S., & Hernández, J. R. (2016). Introduction. Climate Change in Latin America: Inequality, Conflicts and Social Movements of Adaptation. Latin American Perspectives, 43(4), 4–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582x16644916
• Steinberg, P. F. (2012). Welcome to the Jungle: Policy Theory and Political Instability (P. F. Steinberg & S. D. VanDeveer, Eds.; pp. 255–312). The MIT Press.
• Stuhldreher, A. M. (2020). Avanços e desafios do desenvolvimento sustentável no Uruguai y suas implicações territoriais: Um olhar a localização dos ODS em Tacuarembó. Redes (St. Cruz Online), 25(4), 1652–1675. https://doi.org/10.17058/redes.v25i4.14555
• Tosun, J. (2022). Addressing climate change through climate action. Climate Action, 1(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44168-022-00003-8