The President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, participated this Monday, January 25, in the opening session of the Climate Adaptation Summit (CAS), which seeks to accelerate, innovate and expand the world’s efforts to adapt to the inevitable effects of the climate change.
The activity was organized by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, the Global Commission for Adaptation, and the Global Adaptation Center to address the current situation, dramatically altered by COVID-19, and providing a response that helps stakeholders society’s key to building climate resilience in the most effective ways to move forward.
In his presentation, the Costa Rican president referred to several of the guidelines and actions in climate adaptation to which Costa Rica committed itself in the recent update of its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), in compliance with the commitments assumed after the ratification of the Agreement. of Paris on Climate Change.
After commenting that climate change is a human rights issue, he underlined how the 2020 hurricane season once again showed the serious social, labor, and health impacts that the climate crisis will continue to bring if we do not transform our mentality towards new paradigms of development and social, green and inclusive contracts.
Highlighting the Tico effort
After his speech, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, highlighted the role and leadership of our country on the environmental issue. “Costa Rica is one of the most friendly countries with the climate and the environment,” he said, noting that, despite its size, it has been capable of generating great impacts and indicating that we have the authority to speak on the subject.
The Summit also featured presentations by the co-chair of the Global Adaptation Commission Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the French President Emmanuel Macron, the European Commissioner Frans Timmermans, and Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, who will exchange experiences and ideas on measures to adapt the planet to a changing climate.
The intervention of President Alvarado
The President of Costa Rica participated in the panel of “Leaders in Communities and Associations” together with the Prime Minister of Aruba, Evelyn Wever-Croes; the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi; and the president of Korea, Moon Jae-In.
Among other actions undertaken by Costa Rica in the strategy against climate change, he highlighted the Plan-A project, an initiative that involves current and future climate risk assessments for the 82 cantons of the country. He also referred to the advances in national planning for adaptation, by providing technical guidelines, assistance, and training to local governments to incorporate strategic adaptation actions into their and territorial planning processes.
In the spirit of article 2.1.c of the Paris Agreement and climate finance, a process coordinated by the Department of Sustainable Development and Environment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Costa Rican President mentioned the design of a financing strategy to expand adaptation actions on the ground. This includes new financing mechanisms through the Payment for Environmental Services Program and other carbon pricing, fiscal and tariff instruments, as well as the inclusion of adaptation criteria in national financing and planning instruments and nature-based solutions as adaptation alternatives.
