To coordinate the participation of your country, or for any questions, please contact the Forum Secretariat at unep-rolac-forumofministers@un.org.

History of the Forum

The Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean (the Forum) is the region’s longest standing and most important space for political dialogue and collaboration on environmental matters. It was established in 1982. That year, UNEP´s Governing Council, through resolution 5, section 3, recommended to the Governments of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) that they periodically convoke an intergovernmental regional meeting on the environment to establish policies and a strategy in this field. It also requested the Executive Director of UNEP to lend the support of UNEP´s LAC Office as the Permanent Secretariat.

The Forum has been composed of the 33 countries of the region since its creation.

The twenty-three meetings held to date have consolidated the Forum as the most representative and important political gathering on environmental policies and responses with broad consensus at the regional level.

The meeting of the Forum is held every two years and intersessional meetings with the Bureau of the Forum and the High Level Officers are held in-between.

Introduction to the Forum

Video about some recent achievements of the Forum

Mandates

UNEP Governing Council resolution 5, section 3, of 1982 “recommending to the Governments of Latin America and the Caribbean that they periodically convoke an intergovernmental regional meeting on the environment in Latin America and the Caribbean in order to establish policies and a strategy for the region in this field and requesting the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme to lend the support of the Permanent Secretariat for these intergovernmental regional meetings, through the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean.”

UNEA Resolution 2/2, 2016: Role and functions of the regional forums of ministers of environment and environment authorities

“Welcoming the progress and achievements of regional forums of environment ministers to which the United Nations Environment Programme provides support and recognizing those forums as important platforms for strengthening the engagement of countries in the preparation of and follow-up to sessions of the United Nations Environment Assembly …

… 1. Requests the Executive Director, within the mandate of the United Nations Environment Programme, and in accordance with the programme of work and budget to support and to facilitate convening and/or strengthening the existing regional forums of ministers of environment and environment authorities”.

Functions

The main role of the Forum is to provide a space for the Ministers of Environment of the region to set the priorities for environmental action and to collaborate in the implementation of programmes, projects and approaches to address those priorities.

The Forum also serves as the regional gathering for discussion and preparation of consolidated views and inputs from Latin America and the Caribbean to the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA Resolution 2/2), and the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development. These connect the regional and global environmental agendas.

The Forum has also been able to channel international cooperation activities and financing into environmental areas in the region.

Structure

The Forum is composed of the thirty-three (33) Ministers of Environment of the LAC region or their designated representatives. This is the decision-making body.

The Forum elects eight (8) members to compose its Bureau, two from each sub-region: Mexico and Central America, Andean countries, Southern Cone, and Caribbean. The Bureau members serve for 2 years, between meetings of the Forum, and they elect one country to serve as President for the same term. The Presidency rotates between the four sub-regions.

The Forum may also establish Working Groups and Networks to deliver on specific mandates and tasks. Some Working Groups are of temporary nature, while others have a long trajectory. They meet regularly according to work plans established by the groups themselves.

The High-Level Officers (HLOs), who are representatives of the Ministers, also meet regularly to provide feedback and guidance to the work of the Working Groups and support the activities around the meetings of the Forum. They meet regularly to discuss progress.

Furthermore, the work of the Forum is strengthened through the collaboration with other international organizations which make up the Interagency Technical Committee (ITC).

UNEP, through the Latin America and the Caribbean Office, acts as the Secretariat to the Forum and supports the activities of all Working Groups, the Bureau, and the HLO meetings.

Presidency

The current President of the Forum is the Minister of Environment of Peru, Mr. Juan Castro Vargas, who is holding this role until the end of the of the XXIV Meeting of the Forum, which will be held in 2025. 

Minister Juan Castro Vargas

Bureau

The current Bureau of the Forum is composed by the following countries:

Dominica           Chile            Peru                    Costa Rica

Belize                 Brazil          Colombia            El Salvador

Secretariat

The Latin America and Caribbean Office of UNEP acts as the permanent secretariat to the Forum and its different bodies.

Located in Panama City, Panama, the office leads UNEP´s engagement with the countries of the region on environmental issues, in close collaboration with other United Nations entities, international development organizations and local stakeholders.

Sub-regions

Voluntary contributions to the Environment Fund

LAC countries are invited to voluntarily contribute to the Environment Fund to support environmental action in the region. The following document summarizes the relevant information regarding the importance of these contributions.

The information on the suggested voluntary contribution for each country is available in the following webpage, in the column "VISC" (Voluntary Indicative Scale of Contributions).

Quick access: Most recent Declaration and Decisions of the Forum

Key information

The meetings of the Forum are generally held prior to the United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA) to discuss regional priorities and prepare regional positions and inputs. The goal is for the results of the Meeting of the Forum to be presented at and reflected in the outcome of UNEA.

Also during the meeting, an account of the activities carried out and the results achieved in compliance with the decisions of the prior meeting of the Forum and during the intersessional period is given. The topics chosen for the agenda are agreed by the Bureau in consultation with the countries of the region.

In the usual face-to-face format, UNEP usually covers the participation of two persons per country.  In addition, members of accredited observer organizations, the Interagency Technical Committee, and other organizations as relevant may participate.

The Meeting of the Forum usually lasts 3 or 4 days and consists of a segment of Experts/High-Level Officers (2 or 3 days) in which a technical representative of each ministry of the environment (Advisors, Directors of International Cooperation, Chef de Cabinet etc.) participate. In this segment, the declaration and the decisions that are then proposed to the ministerial segment are finalized. The ministerial segment (1 or 2 days), where participation at the Minister or Vice-Minister level is expected, sees a  political dialogue, and the decisions proposed by the technical segment are presented for adoption.

          Ministers and Heads of Delegation at the 23rd Meeting of the Forum, 2023

List of Meetings of the Forum

	I Ministerial Meeting on Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean	Mexico City, Mexico 1982
	II Ministerial Meeting on Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean	Buenos Aires, Argentina 1983
	III Ministerial Meeting on Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean	Lima, Peru 1984
	IV Ministerial Meeting on Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean	Cancún, México 1985
	V Ministerial Meeting on Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean	Montevideo, Uruguay 1987
	VI Ministerial Meeting on Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean Report-Declaration-Decisions	Brasilia, Brazil 27 - 31 March 1989
	VII Ministerial Meeting on Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean	Puerto España, Trinidad and Tobago 17 - 23 October 1990
	VIII Ministerial Meeting on Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean	Santiago, Chile 12 - 15 March 1993
	IX Ministerial Meeting on Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean Report-Declaration-Decisions	La Habana, Cuba 21 - 26 September 1995
	X Ministerial Meeting on Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean	Buenos Aires, Argentina 31 October - 2 November 1996 (Experts) and 11 - 12 November 1996 (Ministers)
	XI Ministerial Meeting on Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean	Lima, Peru 10 - 13 March 1998
	XII Ministerial Meeting on Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean Report-Declaration-Decisions (in Spanish)	Bridgetown, Barbados 2 - 7 March 2000
	XIII Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 21 - 23 October 2001
	XIV Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean Declaration (in Spanish)	Panama City, Panama 20 - 25 November 2003
	XV Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean	Caracas, Venezuela 31 October - 4 November 2005
	XVI Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean Report-Declaration-Decisions	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic January 2008
	XVII Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean Report-Declaration-Decisions	Panama City, Panama 26 - 30 April 2010
	XVIII Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean Report-Declaration-Decisions	Quito, Ecuador 31 January - 3 February 2012
	XIX Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean Reporte - Declaration (in Spanish) - Decisions	Los Cabos, Mexico 11 - 14 March 2014
	XX Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean	Cartagena, Colombia 28 - 31 March 2016
	XXI Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean	Buenos Aires, Argentina 9 - 12 October 2018
	XXII Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean	Bridgetown, Barbados (virtual) 1 - 2 de febrero de 2021
	XXIII Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean	Panama City, Panama 24 - 26 October 2023

Access to documentation of meetings of the Meetings of the Forum

For the years from 2012 onwards, please click on the link provided in the title of the meeting in the table above to access all documentation.

For years previous to 2012, please use the following links:

9th Meeting, 1995

12th Meeting, 2000 (in Spanish only)

16th Meeting, 2008

17th Meeting, 2010

The Forum has established Working Groups and Networks to fulfill specific mandates or activities. In addition, the Interagency Technical Committee (ITC) provides additional support for Forum activities.

Below you can find information related to the creation of each Working Group and Network, as well as links to the web page of each Group (when it exists).

List and access to the Working Groups

Currently, the Forum has eleven (11) Working Groups and Networks, plus the Interagency Technical Committee (ITC). Not all groups have a dedicated webpage, in which case, you may contact the group coordinator to obtain information.

The eleven Working Groups and Networks are:

1. Intergovernmental Network on Chemicals and Waste for LAC (contact: Jordi Pon; jordi.pon@un.org)
2. Voluntary coalition for the closure of landfills in LAC (contact: Jordi Pon; jordi.pon@un.org)
3. Working Group on Marine Litter and Microplastics (contact: Jordi Pon; jordi.pon@un.org)
4. LAC Intergovernmental Network on Air Pollution (contact: Jordi Pon; jordi.pon@un.org)
5. Regional Council of Government Experts on Sustainable Consumption and Production (contact: Beatriz Martins Carneiro; beatriz.carneiro@un.org)
6. Biodiversity Working Group (contact: unep-rolac-forumofministers@un.org)
7. Regional Environmental Information Network (REIN) (contact: Francesco Gaetani; francesco.gaetani@un.org)
8. Environmental Education Network (contact: Beatriz Martins Carneiro; beatriz.carneiro@un.org)
9. Gender and Environment Working Group (contact: Maria Elena Zúñiga; maria.zuniga@un.org)
10. Environment and Emergency Preparedness Network for LAC (contact: Jordi Pon; jordi.pon@un.org)
11. Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Working Group (contact: Vincent Sweeney; vincent.sweeney@un.org)

12. Oceans Working Group (contact: Andrea Brusco; andrea.brusco@un.org)

Reference information about the Working Groups and Networks

Interagency Technical Committee (ITC)

International institutions have come together to support the work of the Forum as part of its Interagency Technical Committee (ITC).

The current members of the ITC are:

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)	World Bank Group (WB)
Interamerican Development Bank (IDB)	Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
United Nations Programme for Food and Agriculture	Panamerican Health Organization

Otras instituciones están en proceso de incorporarse al ITC y están colaborando con él.

Other institutions are in the process of joining ITC and are collaborating with it.

The Forum agreed to establish the CTI at its XI Meeting held in Lima, Peru, from March 10 to 13, 1998. The CTI was created with the purpose of providing technical and operational advice and facilitating the mobilization of financing for the implementation of its agenda. .

The mandate derives from the decision on “Parallel Regional Coordination Mechanisms” (Decision 8), which defines the relationship between the Forum and the CTI, describes the Committee's raison d'être and establishes its link with the regional environmental plan. The most important points of the Decision are:

1- Establish an Interagency Technical Committee under the coordination of UNEP as recommended in the document "Proposal for Strengthening the Forum of Ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean and the preparation and implementation of a Regional Environmental Action Plan" (UNEP/LAC- IGWG.XI/4).

2- Make the composition of the Inter-Institutional Technical Committee more flexible to facilitate the technical coordination of the programs carried out by these organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean, and thus respond effectively to the priorities agreed upon by the Forum of Ministers.

Subsequently, through Decision 3 of the XVI Meeting of the Forum in 2008, the mandate of the Committee was renewed and a request made for coordination among members and other organizations.

Finally, during the XXIII Meeting of the Forum in October 2023, FAO and PAHO were included in the Committee.

Schedule of meetings for 2024

Schedule of meetings for 2023

Schedule of meetings for 2022

Background

UNEP recognizes the importance of engaging Majors Groups and other Stakeholders as partners and appreciates the perspectives they bring to the table, the valuable research and advocacy functions they perform, and their role in helping foster long-term, broad-based support for UNEP’s mission.

Intergovernmental decisions will have stronger and broader recognition and support by the public if governments take Major Groups and other Stakeholders views into account as early as possible in policy-making and decision-making processes. Major Groups and other Stakeholders also play a direct role in the formation of policy as researchers, think-tanks, and watchdogs, or through advocacy.

UNEP´s Latin America and Caribbean Office organizes regularly the Regional Forum of Civil Society and Major Groups for Latin American and the Caribbean, which allows the representatives from civil society and other groups to provide their inputs to the Forum of Ministers of Environment and to the UN Environmental Assembly (UNEA).

Regional Civil Society Facilitators

• Mauro Pereira, Regional Civil Society Facilitator, mauropereira@defensoresdoplaneta.org.br
• Yarivith Gonzalez, Regional Civil Society Facilitator, yarivithg@gmail.com

List of accredited organizations

You can search UNEP´s database by filtering for the Latin America and Caribbean region:

SEARCH HERE

Past Forums of Civil Society and Major Groups

Report of the Regional Forum of Major Groups and Civil Society in 2021

Regional Consultative Meeting for Major Groups and Stakeholders of Latin America and the Caribbean, November 23, 2020

Reports of other regional consultations

First Regional Consultation for LAC - The Road to UNEA, UNEP@50 and Stockholm+50: what young people expect from governments, 18-19 October 2021

For more information, please contact: unep-latinamerica-news@un.org

XXIII Meeting of the Forum, October 2023

https://www.unep.org/es/noticias-y-reportajes/comunicado-de-prensa/paises-de-america-latina-y-el-caribe-dialogan-sobre-las

https://www.unep.org/es/blogs/2023-10/las-crisis-ambientales-de-nuestra-region-traves-del-dialogo-y-la-cooperacion

24/10/2023 AFP: Comienza en Panamá un cónclave latinoamericano sobre el clima previo a la COP28

26/10/2023 AFP: América Latina sella propuesta común para la COP28 sobre cambio climático

26/10/2023 SwissInfo: Ministros de Medio Ambiente de Latinoamérica buscan un enfoque común a la crisis climática

27/10/2023 ANPanamá: Países de América Latina y el Caribe dialogan sobre las soluciones y el futuro medioambiental de la región

26/10/2023 Infobae (varios países - efe) Ministros de Medio Ambiente de Latinoamérica buscan un enfoque común a la crisis climática

27/10/2023 Andina: Perú asume presidencia del Foro de Ministros de Medio Ambiente para el periodo 2024-2026

Press releases

Meeting of the Bureau, 4 May 2023 (in Spanish)

LAC - EU Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Climate Change, 5 May 2023

Meeting of the Bureau, 20 October 2022 (in Spanish)

XXII Forum of Ministers, 1-2 February 2021

Latin American, Caribbean ministers commit to build back better and greeners

Latin America and the Caribbean region launches 10-year Action Plan to restore ecosystems

Circular Economy Coalition launched for Latin America and the Caribbean

Videos

Video messages by Ministers, recorded sessions and digital content can be found in the YouTube account of the Forum of Ministers.