Embajada de Costa Rica en Kenia

1 month ago

On June 8th, 2024, the Embassy of Costa Rica in Kenya participated in the 9th Nairobi International Cultural Festival hosted at the National Museums of Kenya (NMK). The theme was ‘The World at a Glance’, committed to foster cultural understanding and global cooperation through the arts and as a way to appreciate cultural diversity, promoting unity and global cooperation. It featured traditional music, dance, and storytelling from various cultures, as well as arts, crafts, and artifacts representing global heritage, together with interactive sessions on traditional crafts, cooking, and dance and culinary delights from different countries.



The Embassy showcased some items from Costa Rica, including the térrabas and borucas masks, maps of Costa Rica, coffee, leaflets showing the touristic features in Costa Rica, biodiversity and forest coverage. Many inquiries from the public regarding Costa Rica and travel plans were attended.



The festival attracted thousands of visitors, including senior government officials, diplomats, scholars, industry executives and students. Embassies of Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Somalia and Thailand also participated. ... See MoreSee Less

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Embajada de Costa Rica en Kenia is with Giovanna Valverde Stark.

1 month ago

𝐄𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐣𝐚𝐝𝐚 𝐝𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐚 𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐞𝐧 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨 “𝐃𝐢𝐚́𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐨𝐬 𝐀𝐳𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬” (𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐬), 𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐎𝐜𝐞́𝐚𝐧𝐨 𝐝𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐚.

El pasado 7 de junio, las Embajadas de Costa Rica y Francia en Kenia, en el marco del Festival del Océano de Mombasa, coorganizaron la mesa redonda titulada “Diálogos Azules (Blue Talks): Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Océano 2025 - Reforzar el papel de la ciencia y los científicos en la elaboración de políticas y la toma de decisiones relacionadas con el medio ambiente”, con vistas precisamente a la Tercera Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Océano (2025) que copresidirán Costa Rica y Francia.

La Embajadora Giovanna Valverde Stark compartió información sobre la importancia del uso de datos científicos en la gobernanza de los océanos y subrayó el papel crucial del “océano global”, que Costa Rica reconoce desde el punto de vista medioambiental como una única masa de agua interconectada, que une, sostiene y conecta ecosistemas, personas, comunidades y países. Reafirmando el compromiso de Costa Rica con el Objetivo de Desarrollo Sostenible 14, hizo un llamado a la necesidad de cambiar nuestra relación con el océano a través de la comprensión de la conexión entre las actividades humanas y la salud de los océanos, así como la promoción de una transformación efectiva hacia una economía azul sostenible y soluciones basadas en la naturaleza, y enfoques basados en los ecosistemas. También informó sobre la resolución 6/18 presentada por Costa Rica y la Unión Europea en la UNEA6 en febrero del presente año, llamada "Fortalecer la gobernanza marina para abordar el cambio climático, la pérdida de biodiversidad marina y la contaminación" y la Estrategia Nacional de Carbono Azul lanzada el año pasado. La restauración y conservación del ambito marino-costero representa no solo seguridad alimentaria para las comunidades costeras, sino un enorme aporte a la mitigación, adaptación y resiliencia al cambio climático.


Acompañaron el evento los embajadores de Alemania, Sebastian Groth; Francia, Arnaud Suquet; y la Unión Europea, Henriette Geiger. También estuvieron presentes el gobernador de Lamu, Issa Timamy; y el director del Instituto de Investigación Marina y Pesquera de Kenia, Prof. James Njiru.


El Festival del Océano de Mombasa es un proyecto de EUNIC (Institutos Nacionales de la Unión Europea para la Cultura) y comprende una serie de actividades culturales y educativas destinadas a informar al público y técnicos sobre el impacto de la acción humana en el océano. ... See MoreSee Less

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Embajada de Costa Rica en Kenia is with Giovanna Valverde Stark.

2 months ago

... See MoreSee Less

Embajada de Costa Rica en Kenia is with Giovanna Valverde Stark.

2 months ago

On May 31, 2024, Ambassador Giovanna Valverde Stark participated at the Aga Khan Junior School Primary Years Programme exhibition as the guest of honour. The Student lead exhibition engaged learners in identifying, investigating and formulating solutions to real life issues or problems. It was the culminating project of the international Baccalaureates’s (IB) Primary Years Programme, which takes place all over the world during the final year of all the Primary Years Programme in all PYP schools. The exhibition displayed various students’ projects that they undertook to address various issues affecting the globe that were centered on the UN Sustainable Development goals (SDGS).

Ambassador Giovanna Valverde Stark engaged the students on the 17 SDGS and highlighted their importance and daily solutions that each person can contribute in simple ways. She shared best practices from Costa Rica e.g. abolition of the army that has seen the funds diverted to environment services and in provision of universal health and public education. She mentioned that in the late 70s Costa Rica had 80% deforestation which was reversed to 52% forest coverage with a vision to attain 60% forest cover by 2030. On climate action, she called for a holistic approach from agricultural activities e.g livestock emit methane gases as they exhale, vehicles pollution that can be reduced by using electric vehicles, walking, carpooling and biking. Called for proper waste management by separating the materials and with emphasized on plastic pollution that ends up in the oceans affecting the marine life. She taught the students on four Rs to address the plastic pollution, reduce, reuse, recycle and refuse. She also taught the students the importance of biodiversity. ... See MoreSee Less

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Embajada de Costa Rica en Kenia is with Giovanna Valverde Stark.

2 months ago

Ambassador Giovanna Valverde Stark coordinated a visit of the Earth Alumni based in Kenya for a visit at World Agro-Forestry. This was the first reunion of Earth Alumni who graduated at different times where they have to share their experiences and the different sectors where they are currently working.

The visit started by a brief of CIFOR/ICRAF whose network reinforce and advance shared aim to unlock the potential of trees and forests to combat global crises. They are the leading global movement on sustainable landscapes. They major at five interconnected areas where trees can make a difference which include biodiversity, climate, value chains, food and equity. They connect science with action, creating solutions from the ground up through inclusive partnerships, transdisciplinary research, and demand-driven innovation. They deliver solutions in response to global and national challenges and opportunities through transformative partnership platforms, engagement landscapes, and flagship products that provide action-oriented insights into key global issue.

Then the delegation was taken through various laboratories to get firsthand information from the researchers:
Geo spatial lab- they work on geospatial data collection, land health monitoring and mapping, monitoring and decision support systems, capacity building, geospatial data management and data dissemination. They use Land degradation Surveillance framework (LDSF) to provide technical support for various online resources such as the Landscape Portal and geospatial data portals that support GIS work in various locations as well as the apps that support agroforestry and tree planting research e.g regreening app which can be accessed and utilized by the public. If well utilized it can be used to compute the biomass.

Soil testing Spectral Diagnostics Laboratory – the team emphasized on importance of health soils. They informed that poor soil health is recognized as a major cause of decline in agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa. Developing low cost tools for measurement of soil nutrient is important for increasing smallholder farm productivity and improved management of natural resources through reliable measurement of soils, plants and agro inputs.

Infrared spectroscopy lab- they informed that they focus on the living component of soil to see how the soil biota which include earthworms, termites, fungi and bacteria can restore and sustain ecological functions. The biota play major roles in maintaining and improving soil fertility. The presence of trees is associated with a higher abundance of beneficial soil organisms across a range of agroforestry systems compared with adjacent monocrops.

Trees Lab- the Scientists informed that they have Agroforestry Tree Field Genebanks in in 19countries, 49 genebank sites and over 82 tree species leveraging nearly five decades of trusted science on the role of forests and trees in solving critical global challenges. They informed that they advocate for the right tree, right place, right time and right purpose. They help look at what trees, forests and forest-dependent communities have to say in order to address climate change issues and the effects of forest use and climate change on biodiversity and ecosystems and generate knowledge and data on how climate and ecological processes impacted trees in the past, and how they are doing so now, to characterize how trees will respond under future climate conditions, and how sustainable their future ecosystems will be which is crucial to minimize risk and avoid undesirable effects of increasingly frequent and severe droughts, floods and heat waves on trees and forest ecosystems, and on people’s livelihoods.

African crops consortium- the final visit was to the lab where the reserachers informed that they work to address malnutrition, especially hidden hunger, in Africa through nutritious local food crops. They help in integration of orphan crops into African food systems and to facilitate their genetic improvement whose aim is to ensure that the improved varieties and cultivars of orphan crops developed with the support of genomic information are released to farmers for cultivation. Making reference to the baobab tree that originated from West Africa then moved to South Africa then come to East Africa.

Special thanks to;
Dr. Eliane Éliane Ubalijoro, Chief Executive Officer, CIFOR-ICRAF/ Director General, World Agroforestry
Dr. Wanjira Mathai, Director/Founder Green Belt Movement
Faith Mukami, Head of Programmes Green financing and carbon credits, Office of the First Lady of the Republic of Kenya_ MaMa Doing Good
Aloyce Gonzaga Lekuton-Regional Director, Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), Nanyuki, Kenya.
John Awiel Diing- Admission Coordinator, EARTH University, Costa Rica
Bishar Mohamed, Program Coordinator, World Bank Climate Action in the De-risking, Inclusion and Value Enhancement of Pastoral Economies in the Horn of Africa (DRIVE)
Luis Fernando Ceciliano, Minister Counsellor & Deputy, Embassy of Costa Rica
Brian Musau, Administrative Assistant, Embassy of Costa Rica
Michela Natali, Administrative Assistant, Embassy of Costa Rica
Sarah Gatonye, Administrative Assistant, Embassy of Costa Rica ... See MoreSee Less

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