Costa Rica is struggling to ratify a groundbreaking environmental accord it helped broker, highlighting a long road ahead for the treaty despite its implementation last month. The Escazú Agreement, named for the Costa Rican town where it was adopted in 2018, took effect on April 22 after Argentina and Mexico became the 11th and 12th signatories to ratify it, crossing the 11-nation threshold needed for implementation. The first regional treaty on environmental matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, it aims to improve protection for Latin American and Caribbean green advocates as well as public access to environmental information and decision-making. But Costa Rican lawmakers have questioned the accord, and Chile, a key nation that led the push for the treaty’s adoption, has yet to sign and ratify it. Honduras and Guatemala, among the world’s most dangerous nations for environmental and human rights advocates, still haven’t signed it... [Log in to read more]