HAVANA, July 5 (Reuters) - Extreme weather is wreaking havoc across Latin America, racking up billions worth of damage and unleashing a vicious cycle that leads to higher demand for fossil fuels and more climate change, the World Meteorological Organization said on Wednesday. Temperatures have warmed an average 0.2 degree Celsius per decade over the past 30 years – the highest rate on record, according to the State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2022 report. As temperatures rise, extreme weather events become more common, with often unexpected consequences that stoke climate change, the report said. “Many of the extreme events were influenced by the long-running La Nina but also bore the hallmark of human-induced climate change," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. "We are facing increasingly strong impacts from climate change, but the decisions adopted in climate negotiations for the implementation of the Paris Agreement do not advance at the same rate," she said.

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Persons: Petteri Taalas, Daniel Becerril, Elba Rosa Perez, Nelson Acosta, Dave Sherwood, Marguerita Choy Organizations: World Meteorological Organization, stoke, Nina, REUTERS, El Nino, for Research, Meteorological Institute, Environment, Development, Thomson Locations: HAVANA, America, Latin America, Caribbean, South America, Monterrey, Mexico, El, Havana, China, Cuba, Paris