This is what the National Union of Agricultural Producers (UNAG-Via Campesina), COECOCEIBA Friends of the Earth, the National Peasant Group and the Front against Mining in Balbina Torres, are demanding.

As part of the international mobilization under the theme “Thousands of Cancuns for Climate Justice” held on Tuesday, December 7th, these organizations made reference to the negotiations in Cancun and the effects of the climate crisis on the population and local communities.

“We suffer the impacts of the crisis on our daily lives, because many harvests have been lost due to droughts or heavy rains. At the same time, we propose solutions related to food sovereignty to avoid bringing our food from other countries when we can produce them here”, said Lorenzo Cambronero from the National Union of Agricultural Producers (UNAG).

Mariana Porras, from the environmentalist organization COECOCEIBA said that the main demand of Friends of the Earth International is that countries reduce their emissions without carbon credits.

Meanwhile, Jeannette Rojas, member of the Front against Mining in Balbina Torres said that open-pit mining causes serious environmental and climate impacts in Costa Rica, and said that the communities are willing to defend the victory obtained in the Costa Rican courts when open-pit mining was banned and the national interest declarations were revoked.

“We strengthen food sovereignty, we promote the community management of forests, we´ve fought for over 17 years against mining and we´ve managed to have the concession and the public interest declaration annulled”, she said.

COECOCEIBA also remembered the lives of Oscar Fallas, Maria del Mar Cordero, Jaime Bustamante and David Maradiaga, who lost their lives 16 years ago in unclear circumstances. “To end with impunity in Costa Rica”, said the organization in the framework of the “Thousands of Cancuns for Climate Justice”.

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