The President will return to Costa Rica after participating in COP26

Alvarado concluded his four-day participation at COP26 on Thursday, which began last Sunday and will conclude on the 15th, with the closing speech of the Ashden Awards, an award received by leading organizations from the UK and the low-income countries in which they work. To reduce carbon emissions and build a fairer world.

The president called for positive environmental changes to be implemented from the local level, and respect for women and indigenous communities.

He noted that more than 40 thousand years ago, humans drew their hands in caves, and today, after many generations, it is up to this generation to preserve the legacy “and it is in our hands.”

He stressed that this is why it is so inspiring to see what the winners do tonight, not only with their hands, but also with their minds, hearts, souls and efforts.

After insisting on the need to achieve the 1.5°C (global warming) target, Alvarado specified that to do so, implementation must begin locally, respecting, working with and empowering women and indigenous communities.

During that final day at COP26, the President of Costa Rica attended the signing of an agreement with the LEAF Alliance, in which Costa Rica will receive $10 million for the contribution of its forests to the fight against climate change.

Similarly, Costa Rica will sign a bilateral agreement with Norway next week to receive another $10 million, in recognition of the efforts the Costa Rican forestry sector made between 2017 and 2021, during which the country captured a total of 5.2 billion tons of carbon. dioxide.

Alvarado explained that the two agreements operate under a pay-for-results scheme, which means that the work that Costa Rica does in environmental matters is recognized, without transferring emissions reductions to the buying state or company.

For her part, Minister of Environment and Energy Andrea Mesa noted that as forests grow, they trap and store carbon dioxide, one of the main greenhouse gases.

Thus, he explained, deforestation and forest degradation is an important cause of the climate crisis, so protecting current forests is a vital measure to avoid worst-case scenarios.

jha / ale