Step-by-step guide to facilitate the transition to a circular economy from local governments

The Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) and the Institute for Municipal Development and Advisory (IFAM), presented on September 16, to the national and international community, the launch of the “Step by Step Guide to Facilitate the Transition to a Circular Economy from Local Governments”, which was supported with resources from Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), with the execution of part of CATIE and with the technical support of the Secretariat of Sectoral Planning of Environment (SEPLASA) and the Directorate of Climate Change, directions of MINAE.

Its objective is to disseminate the circular economy approach and provide governments and other local stakeholders with practical guidelines on how to materialize their interest in moving towards a local circular economy through actions at different levels. This will help them to improve the social welfare of their population, reduce their CO2 emissions by migrating to environmentally friendly consumption and production patterns and reduce resource extraction.

The guide was born from the inter-institutional coordination process carried out by the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) together with the Institute for Municipal Development and Advisory Services (IFAM) in order to influence local territorial development processes and economic reactivation, plus the interest expressed by the Municipality of Turrialba to support CE processes at the cantonal level. It represents an innovative and multilevel effort between Ministries, Institutions, Municipalities, and Academia, from which all the Municipalities of the country can benefit.

This guide was developed based on documentary research that allowed the study of the accumulated knowledge or “state of the art” on CE and local governments, for the period 2016 to 2020. In order to ensure that the Guide responds to the needs of local governments, it underwent a consultation and validation process in which representatives of government institutions at the local and national level, as well as experts on the subject, participated.

We recommend that you access the document at the following link: http://repositorio.bibliotecaorton.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/11166