Costa Rica. By Maddie and Emily

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1 Costa Rica By Maddie and Emily

2 Climate Change in Costa Rica According to Science Daily, Climate will mostly likely have a major impact on the environment of Costa Rica. This will ruin mountain forest ecosystems and cause a decrease in plant and animal species in a region extremely rich in biodiversity. Regional climate models predict that the area will become warmer and drier as climate change accelerates.

3 Costa Rica s Ecosystems

4 Evidence of Past Climate Change Average temperatures in Costa Rica warmed by 0.9 to 1.8 F from 1901 to 2000, and the number of warm days has risen by about 2.5 percent each decade since the 1970s. Rising temperatures have occurred along with an increase in infestations of the coffee berry borer, a pest that causes annual losses of about $500 million US$ and affects the income of more than 20 million households globally. Since 2000, yields of Costa Rican coffee crops have plummeted by 39 percent, and coffee production has plunged by 44 percent. Mid-range scenarios for future emissions of heattrapping gases primarily from the burning of oil, gas, and trees project a warming of 3.2 to 9 F (1.8 to 5 C) by 2100 That will likely worsen environmental challenges already straining Costa Rican coffee growers. - According to Climate Hot Map

5 Climate Alteration by Human CO2 Most of the CO2 produced is from the coffee industry. The continuous use of industries that produce excess amount of CO2 will hurt the coffee business in the end. Rising temperatures from the CO2 will ultimately stunt growth of coffee beans.

6 Acceptable CO2 Levels The acceptable CO2 levels were last seen in the 60s, when coffee bean production and farming were sustainable.

7 Political Crisis The most prevalent political crisis in Costa Rica is the fiscal deficit. It has been the main concerns of politicians since the economic crash in the 80s. Many people are also against the Broad Front leftist party of Costa Rica.

8 Political Crisis (Cont d) These are the most concerning political crisis because the strain to produce more and more products to get out of fiscal deficit greatly increases carbon emissions. The leftist party is also a main supporter of fixing Climate Change, but their voices are not heard.

9 Greenhouse Emissions Costa Rica ranks about 113 on the scale of which countries produce the most greenhouse emissions. It produces 6.8 million tonnes a year.

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11 Wealth of the Country Currency :Colon (CRC) = 100 Centimos Rate of exchange (Sept.2004) : 1 Euro = 538 Colon (CRC) GDP (Gross Domestic Product), 2002 :16.9 billion dollars GDP per capita, 2002 :3903 dollars GNP (Gross National Product), 2005 :19.87 billion dollars GNP per capita: 4598 dollarsapita, 2005 :4589 dollars

12 Climate Change Impact Climate change will primarily stunt the growth of coffee beans, Costa Rica s main form of economic success. Also, there will be an immense loss of biodiversity.

13 Decision Guidelines Agencies should consider the following when addressing climate change: (1) the potential effects of a proposed action on climate change as indicated by its GHG emissions; and (2) the implications of climate change for the environmental effects of a proposed action.

14 Decision Guidelines This guidance: Discusses direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts analysis of a proposed action s reasonably foreseeable emissions and effects; Highlights the consideration of reasonable alternatives and points to the need to consider the short-term and long-term effects and benefits in the alternatives analysis and mitigation to lower emissions; Recommends that agencies use a reference point to determine when GHG emissions warrant a quantitative analysis taking into account available GHG quantification tools and data that are appropriate for proposed agency actions; Recommends that an agency select the appropriate level of action for NEPA review at which to assess the effects of GHG emissions and climate change, either at a broad programmatic or landscape-scale level or at a project- or site-specific level, and that the agency set forth a reasoned explanation for its approach; Counsels agencies to use the information developed during the NEPA review to consider alternatives that are more resilient to the effects of a changing climate; and actions. Advises agencies to use existing information and tools when assessing future proposed

15 Who decides? In Costa Rica, we are striving to create a Carbon Emissions council that would include an array of economic experts, Scientists specifying in climate change, biologists, ecologists, and chemists. We believe that this should be made up of these experts because they will be most likely to find a solution and a reasonable level for the benefit of the environment, not themselves, like some politicians would. Costa Rica is found best off with zero carbon emissions, which as a country has pledged to achieve by 2021.

16 Costa Rica s Pledge Pledge Costa Rica aims to become carbon-neutral by 2021, but made this target conditional on external support. It intends to reduce its fossil fuel emissions and increase its carbon sinks, to reach net zero total emissions. Use of offsets in other countries is not planned. We would rate Costa Rica a Role Model if its pledge were unconditional. Costa Rica communicated to the UNFCCC that it will implement a long-term economy-wide transformational effort to enable carbon neutrality that will help the country to significantly deviate from business-as-usual GHG emissions projections from now until 2021 and beyond (Republic of Costa Rica, 2010).

17 Industrialized Nation s Costs Costa Rica has been affected by Brazil, the United States, China, and Australia.

18 Benefits of Being an LDC You see roads getting better. New highways being built. Many industries use old technology so a lot of new tech selling business thrives. The industries that propelled the developed world into prosperity are polluting so they can't function there anymore. Developing countries give you a HUGE playground to set up industries. They are mostly overpopulated so there is a big market for many products and services.

19 Lower Quality of Living? We do believe that reducing carbon emissions will make it hard to raise the quality of living because so much new technology is the main reason for carbon emissions. However, stopping climate change will save the coffee beans and save thousands of steady jobs.

20 Works Cited