Originally published by Carin Zissis at www.as-coa.org

California and Arizona combined could fit into the amount of forest cut down in Brazil over the past four decades. Since 1970, glaciers in Peru have irretrievably lost a third of their surface area. Central American countries together contribute just 0.5 percent of global greenhouse gases, but Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua were among the world’s 10 countries most affected by extreme weather and climate variability from 1994 through 2013.

So it may come as little surprise that Latin America—more than any other region in the world per a Pew Research Center report—considers climate change a top global risk. With leaders converging in Paris for COP21 climate talks, we take a look at just how vulnerable Latin American countries are to climate change.