A virtual event held on November 10 brought together 22 municipalities and the national coordinators of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) in Costa Rica to present the results and progress made in climate actions developed in 2020.
Regarding current environmental challenges, the Vice-Rector of the National University, Marianela Rojas, reminded us that “today we are in a race against time” to avoid climate changes and their effects on cities. “Recently, and very sensitized, we have once again witnessed the deeply felt impacts in communities in our country and especially the suffering of the population due to the devastating consequences of this phenomenon,” Rojas highlighted.
From this perspective, the President of the Union of Local Governments (UNGL), Johnny Araya, believes that day by day we have more evidence of the catastrophic consequences that climate change is causing in the world and the dangers it poses to human life on the planet. In this scenario, Araya recalls that the central goal of the GCoM is to empower mayors and cities in climate actions and that the work of governments is central. “It is an effort in which we understand that local governments are vital protagonists in achieving these goals. We need to build a solid agenda on various environmental issues,” Araya argued, who is also the mayor of San José, President of the Latin American Federation of Cities, Municipalities, and Local Government Associations (FLACMA), and co-President of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).
GCoM Results in Costa Rica
In Costa Rica, the GCoM has provided training and technical assistance for local governments to develop their Climate Action Plans (SECAPs). The process that benefited the country began in 2018 and will end in November 2020. The main results of the project in 2020 are summarized in the creation of 3 products: a portfolio that collects the experience of Costa Rican cantons in adaptation, a virtual course on basic adaptation aspects to improve technicians’ knowledge on the topic, and support to 6 municipalities to integrate their climate action plans, selecting those municipalities with the greatest progress, including having their Greenhouse Gas inventory, as part of their participation in the Canton Carbon Neutrality Country Program (PPCNC) and with actions related to adaptation.
The National Coordinators are the organizations through which cities can engage in the GCoM; in Costa Rica, the coordination is carried out by the Union of Local Governments (UNGL), the Directorate of Climate Change (DCC-MINAE), and the National University. In this process, the municipalities reviewed the results obtained for the PPCNC, conducted a basic assessment of climate hazards and vulnerabilities, and identified actions related to adaptation carried out by different areas of the municipality, outlining actions and goals to monitor and control progress reports. Each action is accompanied by information about the responsible parties for execution, the timeline, its relation to the canton’s instruments, and its funding. These 6 municipalities have also committed to updating these plans in 2021-2022 when the Plan A – Resilient Territories Program publishes a series of tools to complete local adaptation planning.
In Costa Rica, Belén and San José received medals for the 2019 report. It is expected that in 2020 the number of medals will increase, while more municipalities have signed their commitment, made significant progress, and submitted their reports. There are now 22 municipalities members of the Global Covenant of Mayors in Costa Rica:
