Changes proposed to official and supplementary indicators between 1990 and 2005 in regard to MDG7 show a situation of concern. During the period of the analysis most MDG 7 supplementary and official indicators for Latin America and the Caribbean show significant environmental deteriorations both in terms of natural habitat as in areas constructed.

All countries show great heterogeneity in the pattern exhibited by their indicators. Thus it is very important to keep the analysis at a national scale in consideration as all policies and programs aiming to resume the right track -and even achieve the goals proposed for the Millennium, will be subsequently undertaken by the countries and their institutions. Nevertheless, and while the countries show different patterns and behaviors when compared to the average or when compared to the regional aggregation for Latin America and the Caribbean, countries show in most cases changes and trends in the same direction than the aggregated variable at regional level.

The following is an aggregated regional analysis of the behavior of MDG7 indicators,, including both official and supplementary indicators, for 1990 - 2005, after 56% of the time designated to achieve all MDGs has lapsed. For the Latin America and Caribbean natural environment the alarming and increasingly faster rate of loss in forest cover and area is (7.1) a reason of concern, reaching -8.5% of cumulated variation for 1990 - 2005, altogether loss of habitat and decrease in biodiversity. Also, the degree of land degradation continues to be very high in several countries, reaching 81% as aggregated of the area of 19 countries.

Another indicator showing a positive behavior is the energy intensity indicator of GDP (Ex I27) which has decreased in a cumulated 3.1% for the period.

As supplementary indicators, a steady increase in the intensity of fertilizers and pesticides used has been observed. The supplementary indicator for fertilizer use intensity shows, for instance, an obvious increase which is an eight-fold growth in the region from 1962 to 2002. In 1990 - 2002 the increase amounts to 60%. Intensity of use for certain types of pesticides as herbicides, and fungicides has not been determined for the region due to lack of statistics.

In regard to pollution with greenhouse effect and depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer, the situation is as follows. For the indicator of CO2 emissions per capita (I7.2) the level has been steady at 2.4 for the 1990 - 2003 period (increasing to 3.1 in 2000), while the supplementary indicator showing LAC contribution to world emissions kept the same low trend with a slight increase from 4.6% in 1990 to 5.3% in 2002. The supplementary indicator for CFC consumption (Ex I28b) shows a drop equaling 141% for the 1990 - 2004 period while the supplementary indicator showing LAC contribution to world emissions is still relatively low with a slight increase from 11.4% in 1990 to 16.1% in 2003.

Air pollution and the growth of vulnerable, precarious settlements are the main issues in regard with built environment.

In terms of use of solid fuels (Ex I29), the proxy per capita consumption of biomass (wood, cane products, and other primary products) has been alternatively used for the Latin American and Caribbean region as a whole. This indicator shows a cumulated decrease of 7.9% for 1990 - 2005, i.e. 0.96 to 0.89 equivalent tons of oil for every inhabitant, which shows great progress in terms of environmental sustainability. Below is the sub-regional breakdown of the indicator: The Caribbean sub-region shows a decrease of 80.5%, while Central America shows a reduction of 16%, both for the same period of time.

It has not been possible to build the supplementary indicator for PM 10 concentration using historical series. Thus it is not possible to determine the evolution the region has experienced in time. There are existing official statistics to study the progress in some urban centers of the region. However, using the statistics available, and based on data compiled by PAHO, there is clear evidence showing that several cities in the region exceed their own maximum standard for PM 10 concentration.

With respect to the supplementary indicator for motorization rate, there is also a clear increase in the number of vehicles per capita in the region, with a cumulative increase of 32% between 1990 and 2000, and the further pressure on emissions from mobile sources.

In regard to potential indicators for Target 7a, integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs, no official indicators have been proposed as of yet and has not been possible to build Latin American supplementary indicators mainly due to lack of official statistical series for computation purposes. These elements are addressed in detail in the study. Findings from pilot studies conducted on environmental public expenditure with respect to GDP are shown albeit not comparable, and they exhibit values below 1% for all cases, which are by all means considered insufficient.

In general, official indicators associated to target 10 -reduce the proportion of the population who has no access to water and sanitation- show a positive evolution. Indicator for coverage of safe drinking water (I7.8), though the territory aggregation still shows high disparities in terms of coverage and access to both water and sanitation in Latin American and Caribbean countries. There is also a positive change in indicators for coverage of sanitation (I7.9), for national and urban and rural areas, however with a certain degree of progress which is lesser than progress made in terms of coverage for water.

With respect to target 11 which proposes a reduction in the number and proportion of people living in slums, the regional analysis shows that the value for the indicator, i.e. proportion of the population sill living in slums (I7.10 proxy), has a positive trend regardless an increase of 18 million people living in slums.