New horizons for climate and biodiversity action in Central America and the Caribbean

What happens when you bring together over 100 people who share a vision of making a meaningful contribution to sustainable regional development? That’s what we discovered at the IKI Workshop for Central America and the Caribbean 2024! 

Representatives from organizations, partners, and beneficiaries of 24 cooperation projects funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German government, met in Costa Rica to exchange achievements, good practices, and build strong connections to replicate stories of success across the region. 

A detailed version of the event’s agenda can be accessed here.

Building a network

Multiple networking spaces encouraged participants to learn about their commitment to the environment, find similarities with others, and pitch their ideas on how to strengthen IKI’s role in Central America and the Caribbean. 

The workshop allowed for constructive dialogue with delegates from the Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV), the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and the IKI Office at Zukunft-Umwelt-Gesellschaft (ZUG), as participants provided feedback on what challenges projects face today and what can be done to expand IKI’s efforts in the region. 

Whether it be gaps in funding of marine conservation or political shifts that may affect implementation, participants went beyond identifying challenges and proposed solutions such as establishing triangular cooperation projects and establishing mechanisms to gather data on scientific advances and policy to ease project implementation. 

Diving into technical discussions 

For the first time, the regional IKI workshop empowered projects to be protagonists in building spaces to favour discussions on the following topics:

1. Aligning Financial Flows with Investor Actions for Nature: Perspectives and Strategies within the TNFD Framework (UNDP)
2. Monitoring and Evaluation in IKI projects: Challenges, Best Practices, and Needs (ACCIÓN Clima and IKI Office)
3. Psychological Resilience for Biodiversity Crisis (Raising Coral Costa Rica)
4. Blended finance for technological transition (NDC Action)
5. Gender, Biodiversity, and Climate Change: Challenges, Best Practices, and Needs of IKI Projects (ACCION Clima and EbA LAC)
6. Land - Sea Interconnection: Highlighting the Link Between Marine and Terrestrial Ecosystems (Transforma-Innova)

The presentations used in these panels can be accessed here. 

Joining efforts to put sustainability into practice

This year, the workshop received a certification as a sustainable event following an effort to comply with Costa Rica’s Ecological Blue Flag Program in its category of Sustainable Events. The organizing team coordinated with the venue to guarantee proper waste, water, and energy management, created a vegetarian menu, and significantly increased recycling and reusing of materials, among others.  

Learning from others in the field 

After a session of discussion and networking, the IKI Workshop participants joined projects in Costa Rica in the field to learn about their experiences, good practices, and lessons learned.

Ecosystem-based adaptation solutions to protect water resources

In the Sarapiquí canton in Costa Rica, EbA-LAC showed how it provides technical support to the local Integrated Water and Sewage Systems Administrator (ASADA) and how via tariffs, it raises funds to finance conservation efforts through local projects. 

The visit to the northern region of the country also brought projects closer to EbA-LAC’s experience with providing seed capital to business ventures to strengthen financial sustainability for initiatives that promote land restoration and ecotourism, conservation of bromeliads and orchids, and sustainable dairy practices. 

Using technology to grow coffee sustainably 

In the outskirts of the Los Santos region in Costa Rica, TRANSFORMA-Innova shared how it promotes innovative and sustainable practices in coffee farms through funding granted via the Innova-Verde Coffee Edition Idea Competition. 

The field trip included a visit to three winning farmers to learn about the use of agroforestry systems and organic fertilizer, AI-supported technology including sensors to measure weather conditions, and the creation of a bioinsecticide to combat the coffee mealybug (cochinilla). 

If you want to relive the IKI Workshop in Central America and the Caribbean, you can find this year’s video here.