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A multiparty agreement agreed in 2010 was the one that allowed the State policy to continue throughout the governments and is the main reason why the country today is the second in the world with more energy sources such as the sun and the wind. Other initiatives that show how to take care of the planet are the Agua Tica fund, in Costa Rica; and the protection of the indigenous Maya in Guatemala. Here we show you the keys.
Uruguay managed to replace fossil fuels with clean energy. Between 2017 and 2021, 94% of its electricity generation was from renewable sources such as wind and sun, positioning it as the second country in the world with the highest share of renewable energies, according to the report. REN21, which is a community that brings together scientists, politicians, activists and entrepreneurs around renewable energy. Above was only Denmark.
The path of the South American country in this matter began in 2010, when the different political parties signed a multiparty agreement to make the energy transition a long-term State policy, in which ideological differences did not interfere. For this reason, the pact was respected by both the left-wing governments of José Mujica (the initial promoter) and Tabaré Vásquez, as well as the right-wing administration of Luis Lacalle Pou.
Once they reached an agreement, they proceeded with studies on the wind maps, and then invited foreign companies to invest. But the key was always in political consensus, as Gerardo Amarilla, undersecretary of the Uruguayan Ministry of the Environment, explained to France 24.
Agua Tica, an example of a public-private partnership
In addition to consensus, another of the points that Amarilla considered key were the alliances between the public and private sectors. And that is the essence of one of the most successful water funds in the region.
Agua Tica helps protect the sub-basins of the Grande and Virilla rivers in Costa Rica. The particularity is that both feed what is the most polluted river in Central America: the great one of Tárcoles. But the work of this fund has helped to recover a good part of the water to guarantee it in the Greater Metropolitan Area, where 60% of the country’s population lives.
The determining factor of the project is science, as Manuel Guerrero, technical secretary of Agua Tica, pointed out to this outlet. The right knowledge is the one that allows them to determine, for example, which specific point to intervene and how to do it. The water fund has multiple plans in progress. With just one of them, they have managed to restore around 650,000 cubic meters of water a year, which is enough for more than 2,700 families of four members. The calculation arises by taking into account that the average daily consumption of a person is 200 liters of water, according to the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers.
The voice of the indigenous women of Guatemala in environmental defense
Another of the secrets for environmental initiatives to prosper is the active participation of local communities. In Guatemala, that protection passes through the indigenous people. A part of the Maya, for example, are settled in forests and are the guardians of these, as explained by Rosa Chávez, a woman from the K’iche’ and Kaqchiquel peoples.
She is a poet and activist. In other interviews, she has explained that environmental defenders are strategic to find points of convergence and that is why she has worked as a program coordinator in the Jass organization, which is dedicated to amplifying the voice of women and their collective power.
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