The national debate intensified as a result of two incidents that were high on the agenda in the recent weeks: the unusual heavy rains and the farmers’ protests that expose the impacts of free trade agreements on local production.

Isaac Rojas, member of COECOCeiba and coordinator of the Forest and Biodiversity Program of Friends of the Earth International, says that the Costa Rican government is promoting so called solutions to issues like climate change, food insecurity and fiscal deficit.
“In our country and in this past month we have seen at least a couple of traps disguised as solutions”, said the activist.

He mentioned the example of rice producers who report losses because “the industrial sector refuses to buy their harvest” since they find it cheaper to import rice from other countries. Rojas said that these situations are motivated by free trade policies promoted by the Executive Branch.

“The solution is still being negotiated but it has been announced: increasing the production quota. That is to say, that only part of the rice harvest produced in the country will be bought by the industrial sector, and the rest will be imported from other countries thanks to the existing free trade mechanisms. Food sovereignty, the right to harvest our own food, is left aside. There is no solution here”, said Rojas.

Costa Rica has a longstanding experience in the implementation of programs of payment for environmental services and there are proposals like Neutral Carbon being implemented with carbon markets funds.

In response to these policies, COECOCeiba reports that these measures do not solve the causes of climate change and that instead they are greenwashing practices to promote the expansion of economic activities such as pineapple monoculture plantations and mining.