More than a global environmental issue, climate change is also a threat to poverty reduction and economic growth and may unravel many of the development gains made in recent decades. Latin America and the Caribbean account for a relatively modest 12 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but communities across the region are already suffering adverse consequences from climate change and variability. This article looks at the likely implications of climate change projections in Latin America and the Caribean, such as * extreme weather events, floods, threats to coral reefs and fish stocks in the Caribean * major warming, changes in rainfall pattern, rapid tropical glacier retreat, and impacts on mountain wetlands in the Andean countries * the replacement of tropical forest by savannah in the Amazon region The article concludes that the overall effects of climate change will be negative in the LAC region and makes policy recommendations for the way forward.