Previous perspectives

By Jeremy Browne

The U.N. summit taking place this November in Durban, South Africa, promises to be a pivotal moment in the world’s understanding of, and action to prevent, climate change.

If we are going to have any impact in improving the world for future generations, we must act now, building on last year’s successes in Cancún, to achieve a legally binding global deal. Costa Rica is one of the U.K.’s key partners in this, and we are working together to achieve the results we want.

Costa Rica’s leadership on environmental protection and low-carbon initiatives sets an example for other countries to follow, and we applaud and support your goal of attaining carbon neutrality by 2021.

 Through our embassy here in San José, for example, we have run a successful program to help push “green” Costa Rican ministries and public institutions. As we say in the U.K., “If you want people to follow you, you have to lead by example.” Action on climate change starts in your home, at school and in the workplace, and we can all make a difference.

 The British Embassy is the only embassy in Costa Rica to have been awarded a four-star Blue Flag award for climate change mitigation. 

Together with other British embassies in Central America, we have reduced our total carbon emission figures by 42 percent in the last year, an achievement we are very proud of.

 The U.K. is on track to exceed its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 percent over the period 2008-2012. And we now have over 17,000 companies active in the environmental goods and services sector, employing over 400,000 people. This is going to grow and there are many opportunities for our countries to work even closer together in these industries.

Yet we believe that children have traditionally been left out of the global climate change debate, which is shocking considering how much of an impact changes to our environment could have on them in the years to come.

It was with this in mind that the British Embassy in San José helped to produce Odyssey 2050, a film specifically aimed at young people and with the purpose of both educating and motivating them to make a difference – not just in Costa Rica but also all over the world.

Costa Rica’s strong conservation system and its commitment to clean energy made it the ideal choice to base this project. By helping to create the film, local children are learning about the challenges the world will face as they grow into adults.

Through our partnership, the U.K. and Costa Rica are helping the youth of today to craft future global policy. And most importantly they’re having fun while they do it.

The project was recently declared to be of public interest by the Costa Rican government. I am delighted to be taking part in the world premier of the film’s first module at an event at the Colegio de Periodistas later today.

Odyssey 2050 has been presented at two Costa Rican TEDx conferences, which feature cutting edge developments in technology, entertainment and design. This project shows that the U.K. can be Costa Rica’s partner of choice in developing its growing digital animation and film sectors.  

 We have dedicated considerable resources to Odyssey 2050 since it started back in 2009. Thanks to valuable support from the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Culture and Youth, the CRUSA Foundation, ASE Global, the Bank of Costa Rica and others, we have achieved a lot.

We know that the environment matters. Now we want to involve young people more in their own futures.

A successful response to climate change is one of the U.K.’s main foreign policy objectives. It underpins the prosperity and security of every country in the world. You cannot have food, water, or energy security without climate security. They are interconnected and inseparable.

We must all take responsibility for this threat and take robust action. But we must also be clear-headed about the difficulties of reaching agreement and not lose heart when the going gets tough. Durban is a great opportunity for us to make a difference, and we must succeed.

Odyssey 2050 is a shining example of innovation in action that is helping the voices of young people be heard on climate change. We need to listen to what they are telling us and to feed this back to the decision makers of today. Only by doing this can we really affect the future. 

For more, see: www.odyssey2050the movie.org.

Jeremy Browne is a Member of the British Parliament and the Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.