World Bank approves $350M loan for disaster resilience in Costa Rica

The World Bank has approved a $350 million loan for Costa Rica to fund infrastructure and climate and disaster resilience projects, the lender said.

The program is to fund investments in critical infrastructure for flood control and slope stabilization, as well as the reconstruction of bridges and roads damaged by weather-related disasters.

Costa Rica "remains highly exposed to extreme weather events and natural hazards, which inc rease the impact of these risks," the country's finance minister, Nogui Acosta, said in a statement from the World Bank on Friday.

"This project is aligned with the country's strategy for mitigating and adapting to climate change and will support our priority of investing in resilient infrastructure and services to protect people living in the most vulnerable areas," Acosta added.

Climate crisis

Coata Rica has been a victim of climate crisis.

"Near-ground cloud cover forms when the humidity saturation is above 90 percent with temperatures between 14 and 18 degrees Celsius (57 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit)," researcher Ana Maria Duran of the University of Costa Rica have said.

Rising temperatures mean lower humidity and more sun. The mosses have dried on the tree trunks, the rivers are no more than streams, and the amphibians here have been the first victims of climate crisis.

But this "dispiriting scenario" can still be avoided, she said.

"Ecosystems are resilient. If we make efforts to stop climate change it is possible that cloud forests will recover not during our lifetime but perhaps for the next generations".