René Castro Salazar (b. Saint Louis, Missouri, United States of America, August 25, 1957), was FAO's Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department Assistant-Director General and a former Costa Rican politician.

[4] During his tenure as Forestry ADG, Castro advocated for a stronger fight against desertification and illegal timber trade, the recuperation of forest coverage, and their adequate monitoring.

He promoted projects with the European Union to combat illegal timber trade,[5] actively spoke in support of the relevance and need for adequate finance for Africas’ Green Wall.

He served as a private consultant offering direct advice to the Governments of Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, El Salvador, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, Croatia and Montenegro, and Macedonia, mainly on issues related to Climate Change and Sustainable Development.

This mechanism based on a tax on fossil fuels has allowed Costa Rica to go from an 8% annual rate of deforestation (one of the highest in the world), to grow again in its forest cover in net terms.

[12] In his role, as well as in other professional activities, Castro has promoted the payment of environmental services in Costa Rica; he and made the first post Kyoto Protocol CO2 transaction in the world.

Under his management, reforms were pushed to move the telecommunications sector to the Ministry of Science and Technology and to expand MINAE's responsibility for blue policies.

The developments provoked the exit of the at the time president of the Costa Rican National Oil Refinery (RECOPE) Jorge Villalobos.

[13] On the other hand, Castro requested a complete set of studies from the Costa Rican public universities to ensure transparency and thorough review of the proposal.

[14] On 2 March 2010, president-elect Laura Chinchilla informed the media that Castro would serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship from 8 May 2010 (inauguration day).

Castro was summoned by the Legislative Fraction of the Citizens' Action Party (Costa Rica), which reproached him for allegedly making appointments in the foreign service based on political criteria and not on professional suitability.

[18] On December 19, 2011, the Attorney General's Office forwarded the AEP-AR-009-2011 report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating there were no irregularities in the professional appointments during his tenure.

Critics pointed out that granting favourable treatment to the Catholic Church is inherently unfair and anti-democratic, given the large minority presence of other Christian denominations in Costa Rica.

According to some critics, the policy of appeasement followed by Castro Salazar provoked an aggressive behaviour of the president of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega, who ordered to militarily take the territory in dispute.

[22] Under the direction of Foreign Minister Castro, a team of specialists in international law was formed, denouncing the invasion of Nicaragua before the International Court of Justice based in The Hague, obtaining a diplomatic victory in November 2013 [23] when this court issued precautionary measures against Nicaragua, ordering the departure of civilians and soldiers who were illegally occupying the area within a period of no more than two weeks.

The modernization of the rural guard began, including a regime of mutuality and protection, and the National Commission for the fight against illegal drug trafficking was organized.