In webinar for Latin American journalists
"They offer us $5 per ton of carbon for conserving forests. It is an insult what they pay us. We are the owners of the planet's carbon banks," Costa Rica's Minister of Environment and Energy, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, told Latin American journalists in a webinar organized on Monday, May 27, to discuss Latin America's role in increasing climate action in the run-up to COP25.
The webinar was organized by LEDS LAC, LatinClima, ConexiónCOP and UN Climate Changewith the support of Dragonflythe Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica and the Spanish Cooperation and more than 120 people from various countries in the region participated.
Rodriguez also announced that the Pre-COP in Costa Rica will take place from October 8-10. He also stressed that both the Pre-COP and COP25 will be spaces in which relevant negotiations will indeed take place; for example, those related to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement Rule Book, but they must be oriented towards implementation: "stop talking and focus more on action", he emphasized.
According to the hierarch, to increase climate action in Latin America there is a lack of ambition in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), in addition to the "unacceptable" levels of deforestation and the lack of involvement of more areas of government, as is the case of the Ministries of Finance.
In this regard, he also highlighted the financial analysis that countries should undertake to look at the costs that are avoided when climate actions are taken. He emphasized that taking measures that help communities to better adapt to extreme weather events is ultimately cheaper than dealing with subsequent damages.
He also emphasized the need to invest in adaptation, especially in a region such as Latin America, which is suffering the impacts of climate change. In this regard, he encouraged countries to plan and design measures that do not necessarily depend on international cooperation, but rather take advantage of the sources of financing that nations already have.
He also stressed that better informed and aware societies are those that can give continuity to climate action, regardless of who wins the elections in the countries. In this sense, the role of journalists and the media in informing and exercising political control is considered fundamental by Rodríguez.