EARTH, SEGIB and Costa Rican government introduce ECOIN

Gathering for Intergenerational Joint-Responsibility for Climate Change

• Meeting will be held on April 9 and 10 of 2014 on EARTH’s La Flor campus

• Initiative will bring together young professionals and the world’s current decision-makers

November 2012 – EARTH University, in conjunction with the Costa Rican government and the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), will lead a discussion on climate change in 2014. With the mission of strengthening current responses to climate change, the meeting will bring together two generations: current decision-makers and Latin America’s young professionals.

ECOIN’s organizers announced the project this past November 27 at an event at the Presidential Palace in Costa Rica in which ambassadors, consulates, representatives of organizations for international cooperation, young professionals and media attended.

“Young people were born with the problem of climate change, and we want to hear their voices and recommendations,” commented José Zaglul, EARTH University president.

Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla also participated in the event, affirming that young people are Latin America’s greatest asset. Enthusiasm for ECOIN, she said, will catch, benefitting the entire region. In the same way, Enrique V. Iglesias, Ibero-American General Secretary, agreed that young people must be involved in the issue, as they are the ones who will experience climate change’s effects.

In addition to EARTH, SEGIB and the Costa Rican government’s participation, the project has an Honor Committee made up of representatives from the Inter-American Development Bank, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, the United Nations (U.N.) Development Program, the Ibero-American Youth Organization, the U.N. Population Fund, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the U.N. Environment Program, the National Bank of Costa Rica and the young people’s groups CO² , Water Movement and Youth.

Meeting Phases
ECOIN is structured into three phases. In the first phase, social media and an online contest to be launched in March 2013 will identify young Latin American leaders’ 100 most successful experiences in addressing climate change.

The second stage will bring the finalists to EARTH University’s campus, located in Guácimo, Limón, Costa Rica, to discuss their ideas and begin developing the proposals they will take to ECOIN. Finally, on April 9 and 10 of 2014, the meeting between government leaders and young professionals in Latin America will take place on EARTH University’s campus in Liberia, Guanacaste.

Another project expected to materialize for the meeting is the creation of a Solidarity Bank to help young people start their sustainability projects. In addition, during the meeting in April, the ECOIN Expo will be held, an exposition where the best examples of sustainable practices will be presented.

For more information about the project, please visit the website www.ecoin2014.org or email ecoindireccion@earth.ac.cr.