were among the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the region and globally. The expansion of fossil fuel extraction and projects that involve the burning of gas associated with the extraction of crude oil (gas flaring) in the region, as well as the maintenance of fossil fuel subsidies, threatened the global climate goals set in the Paris Agreement. Governments of the region failed to commit to rapidly and equitably phasing out the use and production of all fossil fuels and all types of fossil fuel subsidies. Authorities must urgently address the effects of the climate crisis on human rights by developing region-wide climate action. Industrialized and other high-emitting countries in the region must take the lead in climate mitigation, including by stopping the expansion of fossil fuel production and subsidies. Governments must also ensure protection for Indigenous Peoples and human rights defenders campaigning for climate justice and environmental rights. Developed countries in the region must also urgently scale up climate finance to support lower-income, developing countries’ mitigation and adaptation strategies, and commit to providing additional dedicated funding for loss and damage. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS Poverty and extreme poverty rates in the region, which increased significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic, returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, but countries continued to fail to take the necessary steps to meet the target to end poverty by 2030. Nearly 30% of the population in Latin America (183 million people) continued to live in poverty and 11.4% (72 million) in extreme poverty. Inequality remained the main challenge for countries to be able to promote inclusive growth and development, with 34% of total income in Latin America concentrated in the richest 10% of the population. States must take robust measures – fiscal and budgetary – to tackle poverty and inequality and to ensure they meet their human rights obligations regarding the rights to health, education, housing and social security and access to essential services and goods. 40 The State of the World’s Human Rights