British Embassy and CATIE look for common ground

• Ambassador and Director of Climate Change Policy of the Embassy held a meeting with CATIE's technical team and the Director General to learn about the Centre's research, outreach and education work.

31 August 2022. The meeting opened with an exchange of information in which Muhammad Ibrahim, Director General of CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre), presented an overview of the work being done in research, scholarships for students from the region in the Graduate School and projects that are implemented in different areas to promote Inclusive Green Development. The meeting was also attended by the coordinators of the Forestry and Biodiversity and Climate Action Units, Ben Lyster-Binns, the British Ambassador for Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and Ivonne Lopez, Director of Climate Change Policy at the British Embassy, as well as the Dean of the Graduate School.

Ibrahim explained how the work of the units complement each other to generate a greater impact.

Ambassador Lyster-Binns highlighted the Embassy's interest in promoting climate change initiatives and supporting countries' climate change policies.

In order to demonstrate in the field the research work with coffee and cacao hybrids, the international collections at CATIE were visited, and practices were highlighted that can be adopted by producers in the region and that improve the characteristics of the crops, improving their adaptation to climate change, their resistance to diseases and generating better results at an economic level, benefiting producers and final consumers.

The work carried out by the forest seed bank was shown, as well as its products, such as "Specialty Coffee" and "La Lola" chocolate, the two brands promoted by CATIE with high quality products.

During the visit to the farm and dairy, the technical team of the Livestock and Environment Unit explained the practices used to improve milk productivity, reduce carbon emissions, and reuse waste.

They also visited the “Gran Bretaña” building where the Orton Memorial Library of IICA and CATIE is located, a space open to the community where anyone who wishes can make use of the resources of the library and study space.

As part of the closing ceremony, researcher Francisco Guánchez gave an exhibition on orchids as part of his research work implemented in CATIE's Botanical Garden.

The ambassador highlighted "there is a really amazing amount of things happening here, wonderful people investing in our future, preserving, conserving, researching; improving the seeds, the resources, and the supply chain so that people can actually grow them. This is linked to livelihoods for economic growth and for a better world".

It is hoped to continue the relationship to seek points of joint synergy that will promote positive outcomes in both countries where the organisations carry out their work.