The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a project to support El Salvador in providing training and technical education on geothermal energy development to advance the potential of geothermal energy generation in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Energy and Climate Partnership for the Americas (ECPA) held a Workshop on Energy Efficiency Strengthening in Social and Low-Income Housing which included presentations on Chilean and Mexican policies and an exchange of information and discussion about national experiences and policies regarding energy efficiency in housing.

This workshop is part of an effort of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to assist Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay in developing a common set of indicators to guide energy efficiency policy, using lessons learned and best practice from Europe.

The Latin American Development Bank (CAF) will work with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to prepare a feasibility study on fishing gear and the marine ecosystem. The study is hoped to pave the way for a financing scheme to help Ecuador's fishermen replace craft and gear in order to reduce by-catch of sea turtles, marine mammals and sharks.

In Honduras, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE) gave the "Bio Award" to two cooperatives of small coffee growers. In Costa Rica, the Award went to the Pérez Zeledón Cooperative of Savings and Credit and Multiple Services Alliance, a financial institution that delivers credits to sectors including organic agriculture and sustainably managed forestry.

Responding to a mandate from Heads of State, three Central American Integration System (SICA) institutions jointly convened a workshop on mainstreaming gender into national and regional policies, programmes and instruments on climate change and disaster risk management policies that will result in a regional "roadmap" on the issue.

A study summarized in the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean's (ECLAC) "CEPAL Review" suggests, in order to promote sustainable development, Latin America requires economic and industrial structural changes focusing on improving productivity and promoting more sustainable consumption while growing.

The informal ministerial meeting included: a presentation by Appio Claudio Acquarone, Ambassador of Brazil to Barbados, on Brazil’s views on the Rio outcome, noting it should incorporate, inter alia: poverty eradication and a clear framework for multilateral institutions on sustainable development; closed, high-level meetings to address SIDS' priorities for Rio+20 and proposed Third Global Conference in 2014; and a plenary discussion on expectations for Rio+20.

The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security were negotiated over the course of three years, and will be adapted and implemented by individual governments. The new guidelines aim to promote food security and sustainable development by improving access to resources and protecting stakeholders' rights.

The World Bank presented the results of the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) project, a programme that designed an insurance facility to allow countries to receive rapid access to emergency financing based on the occurrence of severe weather events, rather than on measuring damages.