Salabery tango show
To benefit the Belén Unit of Paliative Care, 7 p.m., Rumba, 500 m. south, 200 m. east of Panasonic, San Antonio de Belén. Info: 2239-4847.

Dark swans
Free dance show, 8 p.m., Eugene O'Neill Theater, Costa Rica-North American Cultural Center, Barrio Dent.

Mentados in concert
8 p.m., Bar Terrazas, Santa Ana-Belén road. Info: 2239-4847. Info: 2293-9709

Climate change could dramatically alter Costa Rica's weather, habitats and animal and plant diversity, according to a new study by the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, United States.

Particularly at risk are the country's high altitude cloud forest habitats, home to the iconic resplendent quetzal and myriad other birds, said doctoral candidate Ambarish Karmalkar, one of the heads of the study.

“Our focus is to look at what the temperature change is going to be,” Karmalkar said. “Temperature is going to get warmer. For species to find an ecosystem, they're going to have to move upslope. For species that are already at the top of the mountains, they will have no place to go.”

Any environmental change faces a backlash from the natural world. The question is how well the plants and animals will respond to the rapid changes created by global warming, the study noted.

“You're destroying the natural habitat,” Karmalkar said. “Any migration that happens too fast is detrimental. The current change is too fast.”

The computer model anticipates a change of three Kelvins or about five and a half degrees. The most drastic temperature changes will occur at higher elevations, compounding the problems for the cloud forests, Karmalkar said.

And the projection is likely to err on the side of caution as it is currently warmer than the projection anticipated, Karmalkar explained.

But hotter temperatures are not the only change the research uncovered. According to projections, Costa Rican ecosystems will also face a drastic change in precipitation.

“What we are really seeing in Central America is that the region is going to dry out,” Karmalkar said. “What the model shows is that there will be up to 60 percent less precipitation. You look over the region and you see that there is going to be less precipitation everywhere.”

Higher temperatures usually result in more rain, but because of the unique topography and wind patterns of the land bridge between North and South America, there will be a decrease.

During the dry season, moisture is carried by the wind from the Caribbean to the Pacific. Clouds form at high elevations on the west coast and keep the environments that require high amounts of water verdant.

“Since the temperature is going to be higher, the clouds will form at much higher elevations, especially on the Pacific,” Karmalkar said.

Karmalkar figures that the 60 percent figure the study found for decrease in precipitation is likely more than will be experienced by the area because current forecasts show less precipitation than real results. Regardless, there will be a substantial loss, he warned.

President Oscar Arias' administration yesterday authorized the Foreign Ministry to formally request Costa Rica's incorporation into the Venezuela-led Petrocaribe initiative as soon as possible.

“We have to see if it will be necessary to wait until the next [Petrocaribe] presidents' meeting in December, or if instead we can benefit from this help as soon as possible, even if we are not full members of Petrocaribe,” Arias said in a press release.

Once accepted, Costa Rica will become the group's 18th member. Despite sour relations between the United States and Venezuela, three members of the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) – the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua – are members of the grouping.

Costa Rica imports 95 percent of its crude oil from Venezuela, but must pay it in full within seven days of receiving it. As a Petrocaribe member, if the price of oil is more than $100 per barrel, Costa Rican will be able to finance 60 percent of the cost of their oil over 25 years, paying 1 percent interest a year and will have 90 days to pay the remainder. If the price reaches $150 per barrel, it will be able to finance 70 percent of the cost of their oil over 25 years, paying 1 percent interest a year with a two-year grace period.

“What we have to do is talk with authorities within the government of Venezuela and, if necessary, I would call [Venezuelan] President Hugo Chávez,” whose actions Arias has criticized in the past on repeated occasions.

Arias also met with the leaders of the main legislative factions to discuss eliminating the tax on diesel. Given that most cargo and public transportation vehicles use diesel, an elimination of the tax would be expected to slow the rate of increase in the cost of living, according to the wire service EFE.

Arias said legislators were receptive to the idea. “It has been a very important first step,” Arias said. “We can now say there is nearly unanimous agreement that it is necessary to eliminate the tax on diesel.”

The tax on fuels is used to fund social programs and road maintenance. Arias said that the agreement to eliminate the diesel tax would lead to a “second phase” of conversations with legislators aimed at determining how the government would compensate for the loss of funds caused by the elimination of the tax.

The government currently collects some $200 million each year from the tax.

The Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery (RECOPE) estimates that the country's oil import tab is expected to reach $2.8 billion this year, twice its size in 2007 and an amount equal to roughly a quarter of the country's exports.

President Oscar Arias announced recently that he intends to eliminate the tolls on the main highways leading to and from San José, the daily La Nación reported.

The four tolls in question are on the General Cañas (between San José and Alajuela), Própero Fernández (between San José and Santa Ana), Florencia del Castillo (between San José and Cartago), and Bernardo Soto (between San José and Naranjo) highways.

“Since I have seen there are less cars in San José, I made the decision to eliminate the tolls,” Arias said during a cabinet meeting last Friday in Alvarado de Cartago. “This will cost the Finance Ministry some 4.50 billion colones (about $8.62 million). The treasury will lose, but I told doña Karla (González, the Public Works and Transportation minister) that the money will be compensated.”

Traffic in San José has dropped in recent weeks as a result of driving restrictions imposed during rush hours. These restrictions were expanded last Thursday to 13 hours a day between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Arias did not say how the lost revenues would be compensated or when he would sign a presidential decree eliminating the tolls.

Arias also stated he is considering activating the inter-sectoral bus routes through a decree. Said routes would directly link several of the metropolitan area's outlying districts and nearby suburbs. The original June 6 launch of the routes was jettisoned after the Transport Administrative Tribunal ruled that transport officials acted “irrationally” in awarding contracts for the plan to MPT S.A., a consortium made up of 34 companies.