This regional Global Environment Outlook (GEO) report, the fourth for Latin America and the Caribbean (with theprevious GEO regional assessment for LAC published in 2010), places emphasis on identifying some of the most worrying and persistent threats to the region through an environmental lens, but also on the achievements, success stories and opportunities in the region. The future of the region's economies, as well as the ability of countries to fight poverty and reverse inequality, depends heavily on harnessing the region's natural capital sustainably while mitigating and adapting to climate change, and decoupling economic growth from resource consumption.