By Alina Haddad
28 July 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Costa Rica is working to alleviate the global energy crisis by implementing environmental friendly plans at the national level. “ Over 85 percent of the electric energy in Costa Rica comes from renewable sources. The government is implementing an energetic plan in all its state institutions to reduce the consumption and to educate people on the value of energy,” Permanent Representative of Costa Rica, Jorge Urbina, told MediaGlobal.
Costa Rica has also decided to join the Petrocaribe Initiative, a Venezuelan-led initiative that provides Latin American and Caribbean countries with favorable financing on oil imports. Under the initiative, Venezuela will sell oil to member countries with flexible credit terms. The beneficiaries are allowed to pay half price for oil before paying the other half in a span of 17 to 25 years, with annual interest of one to five percent a year.
Additionally, an effort has been made to limit dependency on fuel. “In order to contribute to stop the excessive fuel consumption, we have also implemented a driving restrictions program in the capital, San José, at peak hours (13-hour period). These restrictions consist of limiting the amount of vehicles in the capital city,” said Urbina.
At the local level, the government is proposing the use of alternative transportation as a way to locally curb fuel consumption. Consequently, new bike routes will be paved in towns around the country.
By consciously decreasing energy and fuel usage, Costa Rica is not only countering the current energy crisis, but offsetting the major causes of the global food crisis. “The energy crisis has a double effect on the food crisis: on one hand, the increase of the transportation costs bears upon the cost of the food supplies and on the other hand, the production of biofuels has a strong impact on the prices of agricultural products,” Urbina added.
Costa Rica is also focused on improving the Global Food Crisis, which affects more than 854 million people, mostly located in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). “The government is working on a two-year plan in order to increase the production of basic grains and deal with a possible national food crisis. The governmental initiatives, based on economic aid, will be especially targeted to small and middle farmers who are the ones in charge of producing 60 percent of rice, beans and corn, the basic grains which this plan will address,” explained Urbina.
In May 2008, the Government of Costa Rica presented USD$88 million to Congress to deal with the food crisis. This money was to be used to increase agricultural production and provide assistance for the most vulnerable sectors of society.
Costa Rica’s proposed solution to the Global Food Crisis is one defined by “solidarity”, as described by Permanent Representative of Costa Rica, Jorge Urbina, at the 62nd session of the General Assembly focused on the Global Food and Energy Crisis. Urbina on Costa Rica’s perspective: “We think that this challenge compels humanity to design and undertake innovative actions that should be marked with the symbol of solidarity. Since the extension of the arable land around the world has almost reached its limits, we should place our hope on increasing productivity, attaching more value to agricultural work and greater solidarity as innovative ways to resolve the new dilemma of the 21st century.”