Sonámbulo in concert
Self-described as “Psychotropical” style, part of the Mundoloco concert series, 9:30 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro, Tel. 2253-8933, www.jazzcafecostarica.com.

María Pretiz in concert
Singer-songwriter, pianist, 9 p.m., Jazz Café, Escazú, 2288-4740, www.jazzcafecostarica.com.

Free orchestra concert in Nicoya
By the SINEM (National System of Musical Education) Symphony Orchestra Dec. 21 and 26, 7 p.m., Iglesia Colonial, Nicoya, Guanacaste.

National Theater goes on vacation
San José's house of culture closed until February.

The United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark ended this weekend with a non-binding accord that failed to garner consensus from all nations present at the negotiations.

Delegates from the 193 nations “took note” of the new document, which did not set specific emissions targets, and they agreed to push towards a firm agreement at climate talks at the next summit in Mexico in November 2010, although no one made any guarantees.

The “Copenhagen Accord” left even some of the most modest expectations unmet and environmental groups across the globe began to express their discontent with the outcome after talks concluded on Saturday.

But the agreement did propose $100 billion in annual aid for developing nations by 2020, meeting one of Costa Rica's demands heading into the conference.

During a speech on Thursday at the Copenhagen summit, Costa Rican Environment Minster Jorge Rodríguez touted the country's reforestation achievements, but scolded developed countries for not having assisted with the carbon sequestration initiatives.

“It's a fundamental error that our country has had to continue financing forest conservation with its own resources, especially at a time when our external debt is increasing,” Rodriguez said after talking up Costa Rica's payment for environmental services program, an initiative which has been accredited with helping reforest 30 percent of the country's national land in the past two decades.

Costa Rican delegates estimate the country will need a total of $7 billion for climate change mitigation projects.

The Copenhagen text did not detail where the money would come from, nor did it say which countries would be the donation's greatest benefactors or beneficiaries.

United States President Barack Obama said his government will contribute to the $100 billion dollars in aid “if and only if” all nations agree to an accord that requires “mitigation, transparency and financing.”

But without a legally binding treaty, many critics are skeptical that countries will voluntarily spend billions of dollars in climate change aid to developing nations.

Costa Rica's Health Ministry confirmed that a further six people died from the H1N1 flu virus last week, bringing the total number of deaths to 47.

A 56-year-old man and two women, ages 30 and 50, were among the latest victims.

Health Minister María Luisa Avila said that the ministry was still waiting for confirmation regarding the remaining three.

They were all believed to have suffered from obesity and high-blood pressure, although it was the AH1N1 virus that killed them.

Avila advised that the public continues with strict hygiene measures to avoid further contraction.

Although the illness had slid largely off the radar, last week the popular Festival Imperial joined a list of public gatherings that have been canceled due to concerns over a new wave of the H1N1 virus.

Keeping pace with the downward economic trend for the year, the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER) announced that Costa Rican exports fell 11 percent in comparison to the first 11 months of the year in 2008.

According to PROCOMER, exports have generated $7.98 billion in sales this year, which is $998 million less than the January-November the timeframe in 2008.

Though the 11 percent decline in export sales was disheartening, the market began to show small signs of recovery as exports in November were 2.8 percent greater than in November 2008. Last year, Costa Rican export revenues topped $9.5 billion, the highest amount generated by exports in the country's history.

“These results regarding national exports are evidence that the demand of local goods and services has improved during the second half of the year in the principal export markets,” said Emmanuel Hess, the general manager of PROCOMER.

According to PROCOMER, the industrial sector accounts for 76 percent of export revenue, followed by the agriculture sector (21 percent) and livestock and fish sector (2 percent).

Some of the significant increases in export demand have been seen in medicines (7.2 percent), milk (20 percent), pork (82 percent) and pineapple (1.2 percent). Costa Rica is the world's leader in pineapple exports.

The exports that have experienced the most significant drops in demand were seen in the manufacturing industry (15 percent), fish (3.8 percent) and coffee and bananas. No exact figures are yet available for the percentage decreases in coffee and bananas.

The biggest demand for Costa Rican goods and services remains in the U.S., which accounts for 38.6 percent of all local exports. Asia and the European Union each receive over 17 percent of the total Costa Rican export market.