In conclusion, with the introduction of a variety of forest incentives in recent years, Costa Rica has slowed the rapid pace of deforestation witnessed in the 1970s and 1980s. In terms of overall land cover, the gross area of deforestation has been counterbalanced by regrowth in 75% of the previously deforested areas, including the establishment of forest plantations and spontaneous regeneration of abandoned pasture on poor terrain especially in the Pacific slopes. While this regrowth may provide valuable environmental and economic services, it should be noted that, in terms of biodiversity values, it is not equivalent to lost primary forest.
A World Bank review of deforestation in Costa Rica carried out in the early 1990s identified three principal types of forest intervention in Costa Rica:
(c) exploitation by owners of pasture areas that contain patches of forest.
The study confirmed that clear-cutting and selective logging are driven by economic interests. While loggers do play an important role, the main motivation for these processes comes from landowners who wish to obtain revenue from the sale of timber or who wish to use the land for agriculture, or both. Environmental concerns tend not to be taken into account by the owners when they are not related to on-site productivity. Hence, the introduction of economic incentives is required where the maintenance of forest ecosystems is considered of importance for the country.
The experience of projects throughout the MBC with buffer zone communities indicates the importance of:
(a) clearly defining the roles of the project and the communities in project administration, fund management, decision-making, and implementation in order to avoid creating false expectations or leaving ambiguities which cause implementation delays;
(b) providing for a strong administrative and coordination capacity supported by adequate technical assistance and, initially, close implementation supervision; and
(c) establishing clear linkages between conservation and development activities.
Phase 2: project summary
Project aims
The next phase of the project will be supported by GEF (World Bank). It aims to increase the production of environmental services in Costa Rica by supporting the development of markets and private sector providers for services supplied by privately owned forests, including protection of biological diversity, greenhouse gas mitigation and provision of hydrological services. As such, the project will support the implementation of environmental policies in the forest sector and contribute to sustainable human development.
Additionally, the project will strengthen offices within the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) as well as local and regional non-governmental organizations (especially women’s organizations) responsible for the execution, promotion, supervision and monitoring of the forest conservation programme.
Costa Rica’s pioneering efforts to achieve environmental goals through the sustainable use of forest ecosystems entails developing commercially viable activities, which are based upon the environmental services provided from the nation’s forests. The project will assist in developing markets, attracting financing and investment and consolidating the institutional framework for:
(a) marketing global environmental services relating to the conservation of biodiversity in privately owned buffer zones surrounding protected areas, thereby protecting the Costa Rican portion of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor;
(b) marketing global environmental services relating to the mitigation of greenhouse gases, through the development of forestry projects promoting carbon sequestration;
(c) marketing local environmental services provided by forest ecosystems relating to protection of water quality and dry season stream flows in watersheds where hydroelectric projects are presently operating or planned.
Key policy and institutional reforms to be sought
The project will assist in mainstreaming Costa Rica’s environmental policies into the forestry sector. With respect to Forestry Law No. 7575, the project will support the contracting of conservation easements for a period of twenty years under Article 22. To date, FONAFIFO has only contracted conservation easements under Article 69, for a period of five years. Under GEF co-financed conservation easements in Tortuguero, La Amistad Caribe and Osa Peninsula, these areas will have a contractual obligation of twenty years. In return for this commitment on the part of small- and medium-sized landowners in these three Conservation Areas, these landowners will receive highest priority for contracts for conservation easements. Furthermore, the Government of Costa Rica is committed to seek continued financing for these conservation easements throughout their twenty-year life.
The project should:
(a) empower small- and medium-scale private land owners in the conservation and management of forest ecosystems and in making choices that contribute to sustainable development;
(b) support the long-term viability of the ESP programme and promote increased institutional efficiency of FONAFIFO, SINAC, local NGOs promoting biodiversity conservation, and private sector associations; and
(c) benefit regional users of hydrological services by supporting the provision of high water quality and hydrological stability from forest ecosystems.
Important project benefits include the conservation and sustainable use of forest ecosystems in privately owned land outside protected areas. Replication of programme activities in other countries, including development of markets and private sector providers for environmental services, could further expand project benefits.
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