Page 36 - Supplemento 2-2016 (ENG)

rené castro salazar

countries, the largest number ever, gathered in New York, after gathering in Paris.
In Paris they established “Intended Nationally Determined Contributions”,

intended because they were not sure. But in New York, on April 22nd, they drop-
ped the “I” and instead of the intended they promised “nationally determined
contributions”. All 175 countries will ratify their commitments and work in
domestic and international finance for the so-called dual goal. They will also work
on technology transfer, capacity-building and on engaging the private sector in
this context. Some companies, for example, are already committing to planting
trees, managing forests better and to producing only from certified wood. So we
can use forests in a sustainable way but we have to teach people how to do it.

Within the so-called “Latin American compromise”, the smarter countries,
like Mexico, Colombia and Argentina said they would cut emissions by 20% at
their own cost, but if given additional money and technology transfer, they would
cut emissions further to 40%. Can a country do this because it is self-convenient?
Bringing my country’s example, in Costa Rica we have the ambitious target of
becoming carbon-neutral, hence even beyond the scientists’ advice. Is that possi-
ble? Some may think this is too big a sacrifice. In Costa Rica we said that for every

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