Sunday 15. of February 2009

By: goat

In fact, it has been three nights in San José but it was equally as mind bending. Picking up René Eckert, the director of the Breathe documentary and assistant, Mirko Fritzsche, at midnight from the San José Airport, we were thrown the next morning straight into a three-hour seminar put on by the World Bank branch of Latin America, the Ministry MINAET  and the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) examining the predicted effects of Global Warming in the Central American region. Sadly, yet with little surprise, the predictions are dire, and real, actionable solutions are thin – or as the presenters put it – “complicated”.

Having just watched Zeitgeist Addendum and with the panel consisting of John Nash (Economist, World Bank), Augusto de la Tore (Economist, World Bank Latin America and the Caribbean), Pamela Cox (Vice President, World Bank Latin America and the Caribbean), Dr. Roberto Dobles (Minister MINAET), Lidieth Carbello, (VP Minister MINAET), Grethel Aguilar (Regional Director IUCN), Sergio Jenlinek (Director of Communications World Bank Latin America and the Caribbean), there were a lot of questions we wanted to ask. Unfortunately, the whole seminar being held in Spanish make it hard to completely understand the information delivered and held us back a little in question time.

While the majority of the speakers left directly after the event, we were able to grab an amicable and talkative Dr. Roberto Dobles for a couple of questions regarding the planned international treaty following expiration of the Kyoto Treaty as a result of the discussion at the Bali Climate Summit and the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Summit. He expressed hope of the world ratifying a new and stronger treaty in Copenhagen, but admitted a treaty without the US would be weakened in the same manner as the Kyoto. He felt positive work was achieved in Bali, but the Copenhagen Summit would be the make or break meeting for a further treaty.

But the highlight was definitely an interview with Martin Callisaya Coaquive, the Bolivian Ambassador, who asked the most poignant questions during the open session. He stressed, “We are facing a social and political crisis because of the distribution of wealth. When 80% of the World’s energy is consumed by 20% of the World’s population, or in other worlds when 80% of the World’s population is consuming only 20% of the energy, it is hard to see how the Climate crisis can be addressed by asking poorer nations to restrict their carbon footprint.” We hope to meet with the Ambassador for a longer interview later in the trip.

In the afternoon we met with Hector González, the Director General of AECO, a federation of over 60 environmental and social associations and had a in depth discussion on the difficulties and political obstacles in Costa Rica to the development of sustainable development. The AECO, as an organization, pools the scientific, social and ecological wealth of its members into several Think tanks that helps to disseminate the collective knowledge and directly advises and or lobbies the Government over various acts being introduced to the Costa Rican parliament, or those that should. His view on the present Administrations track record on environmental issues is marginal to say the least. While he was quick to point out the difficulties, he was also able to give us invaluable insight to organizations working on highly effective and positive projects.

The next morning we visited the Latin America and Caribbean Headquarters of IUCN to meet an extremely helpful Grettel Montero, assistant in Communication. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature was founded in 1948 when the newly formed United Nations, through UNESCO and a renowned group of scientists formed the organization convinced that the correct and sustainable use of the World’s natural resources should be part of the culture of the World’s people. It is now the largest conservation organization in the world with over 1000 affiliated oranizations. Grettel took us for a tour of the offices and presented many of the 70 associated organizations and affiliates in the Latin American region.

While still at the IUCN offices, Noel Payne, a twenty year veteran in ecological and social programs, originally starting in documentaries before moving to the Swiss head offices of IUCN, before an extended period directly in Costa Rica (eventually becoming a naturalized Costa Rican citizen). Noel has been an invaluable source of information, historical evaluation and contacts before and particularly since we arrived. She has served on Ecological and Social programs, before starting her own consultancy company focused on the above issues. More recently she has gone back to University and has assisted in the creation of a newly formed Organic Food association. We had incredibly interesting historical summery from Noel that created depth to the reasons for the present situation in Costa Rica.

Lastly, on our whirlwind tour, we visited the offices of MarViva (Living Ocean) a group that is focused on Marine biology and protection of Marine Protected areas on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica and other Marine reserves in Panama and Columbia. Their programs include Education, both local and international, social programs, enforcement and policy consultancy. In a pulsating office, we reviewed their latest, and outstanding, documentary focus on the issues in the Osa, which we hope to screen at the “Water Issues” day at Breathe  in about 10 days time.

Hooking up with a friendly taxi driver, we toured San José until the sun had set, almost seamlessly moving between suburbs of the have’s and have nots – in most cases separated by only a single street. This is Central America, and while Costa Rica may have less of an evident separation between the two than many of it’s neighbours – it is definitely still there – alongside the smells and sounds that make this part of the world truly amazing.

With the first major shoot finished, we are packing up to catch the bus for the 7 hour ride back to the Nicoya, the jungle, the beach and the final preparations for Breathe….