In the Guatemala Green Building Council (GGBC) there is a lot of enthusiasm after returning from its participation in the Regional Forum of Sustainable Constructions, held in Panama.
Since the end of 2012, a possible alliance of Central America and the Caribbean within the different Sustainable Construction Councils (GBC) had been analyzed. Some of these countries are already part of the Americas Regional Network of the World Green Building Council (WGBC), but they identified the need to form a smaller-scale alliance within this network due to the similarities in their markets, climate and socioeconomic conditions, which separate us from the Latin American macroregions.
According to Ruby Cole, executive director of the GGBC, for that reason the Central American and Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Development (Accades) was signed within the framework of this forum. The signatories were the Green Building Councils of Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica and El Salvador. Honduras was present at the activity, because it is forming its council and Nicaragua has shown interest in starting the process.
Along with Panama, Guatemala is a leader in the region and helps others move forward, explains José Pablo Labbé, president of the GGBC. Both have more than two years with "established" status within the World Green Building Council.
Proof of the above is that, when choosing the leaders of Accades, the engineer Roberto Forte of Panama GBC was elected as president, and the architect Ruby Cole of Guatemala GBC, as vice president.
The activity also included a regional trade mission, which was convened by the Trade Office of the Embassy of Canada. It is made up of Canadian companies looking for counterparts in the Central American region to promote their green and sustainable products, technologies and services for the construction sector, and entrepreneurs from Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama in search of opportunities for new businesses and innovative products.
