WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - The World Bank on Wednesday urged Latin America not to sacrifice efforts to tackle climate change in the face of a world financial crisis squeezing government resources.

A World Bank report titled, "Low Carbon, High Growth: Latin American Responses to Climate Change", acknowledged that dealing with the global economic crisis and longer-term threats from climate change would not be easy.

"The challenge clearly is to find common ground and to identify and pursue many policies that can deliver progress on both fronts simultaneously," said Augusto de la Torre, chief economist for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Less private investment and fluctuating oil prices are testing the willingness of governments to launch projects to fight climate change or push ahead with greenhouse gas cuts.

"The expectation that a low relative price of fossil fuels is here to stay might not only deter investment in low carbon technology, it could also induce substitution in consumption in favor of cheaper but dirtier energy," de la Torre said.

The report said the region, which includes Brazil and Mexico, was experiencing effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and extreme weather patterns including fiercer storms in the Caribbean.

The World Bank said it was particularly concerned with melting Andean glaciers, which would affect water supply, the bleaching of coral reefs critical for marine animals, damage to the Gulf Coast wetlands in Mexico, and the shrinking Amazon Rainforest.

The report said that although the region is not a major polluter compared with others, producing 6 percent of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, its carbon emissions were increasing. Based on current trends, it is projected that from 2005 to 2030 per capita carbon energy emissions in the region will grow 33 percent, higher than the world average of 24 percent.

De la Torre said the region should set an example by reducing carbon emissions from deforestation, improving energy efficiency and transforming urban transport. He said it should play a role in finding a global solution through U.N.-led talks on a new climate treaty that includes compensation from rich industrialized nations to developing countries that protect their forests. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Toni Reinhold)

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