Costa Rica offers to host COP25 after Brazil withdraws

President Carlos Alvarado announced that Costa Rica will throw its hat in the ring to host the COP25 Climate Change Conference in 2019.

On Dec. 1, when Costa Rica celebrated 70 years without an army, Alvarado wrote:

“The fight against climate change calls on us to take a step forward, like we did 70 years ago when we abolished our army. Our convictions for a better planet are enormous and that’s why Costa Rica announces its consent as a host for the climate change conference.”

President Alvarado has also stated he’d like Costa Rica to become the first carbon-neutral nation by 2021.

La lucha contra el cambio climático nos convoca hoy a dar un paso adelante, así como hace 70 años cuando abolimos nuestro ejército. Nuestras convicciones por un mejor planeta son enormes y por ello Costa Rica anuncia su anuencia como sede para la conferencia climática #COP25

— Carlos Alvarado Quesada (@CarlosAlvQ) December 1, 2018

The location for the conference, which takes place Nov. 11-22, is now unknown after Brazil withdrew its candidacy in late November. Brazilian news site O Globo obtained the official statement announcing Brazil’s withdrawal from the UN climate conference. It stated budgetary concerns and the presidential transition, which takes place Jan. 1, 2019, as reasons for not hosting the event.

Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s president-elect, has hinted that he’d withdraw Brazil from the Paris Accords and stated that international efforts to protect the Amazon would infringe on Brazilian sovereignty. Bolsonaro has also said he won’t let conservation impede Brazilian development.

Thanks for reading The Tico Times. We strive to keep you up to date about everything that’s been happening in Costa Rica. We work hard to keep our reporting independent and groundbreaking, but we need your help. The Tico Times is partly funded by you and every little bit helps. If all our readers chipped in a buck a month we’d be set for years.