COSTA RICA

Costa Rica has one of the most ambitious and developed conservation programmes among tropical rainforest countries. More than 10% of the country is protected and the government has a target of protecting 18% of the country in national parks and a further 13% in privately owned reserves.

The government has initiated many programmes to promote sustainable development, including forest management plans for landowners, carefully managed eco-tourism and a scheme to protect rainforest my selling allowances to emit greenhouse gases (now adopted by the UN). Costa Rica is cited as a good example of economic development and forest preservation.

However, despite Costa Rica's strong environmental record, deforestation has been a serious concern. In the early 1990s, the country had one of the worst deforestation rates in Latin America. Clearing for agriculture and cattle grazing have been significant contributors, but illegal timber harvesting, particularly in protected areas, is an ongoing problem. Although not as serious as in some neighbouring countries, corruption plays a part in the illegal trade. In 2002, it was estimated that 34% of commercial logging in Costa Rica was illegal. The government has introduced a number of measures to combat the illegal trade, including a requirement to tag each log with its origin, bans on night-time timber transportation, and monitoring by government officials.

Costa Rica is one of 14 countries which will receive funds under the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, which will reward countries for preserving their forest cover. The countries will receive grants to build their capacity for REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), including establishing emissions reference levels, adopting strategies to reduce deforestation, and designing monitoring systems.

Costa Rica was the first country to pledge to become carbon neutral and may well be the first to achieve this.

DOCUMENTS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
31/05/2012	Payments for Environmental Services in Costa Rica: from Rio to Rio and Beyond Costa Rica has shown how a small developing country can grab the bull of environmental degradation by ...	IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development)
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21/12/2001	Illegal Logging in Costa Rica: an analysis for discussion (Executive Summary) The Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) was commissioned by the government ...	CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center)
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NEWS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
19/09/2012	LAC Forestry and Environmental Communicators Network formed A workshop of Latin American journalists and other communicators organized by the UN Food and Agriculture ...	IISD Biodiversity Policy & Practice
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02/02/2012	Forest conservation policies: what works and what doesn’t Policymakers looking to reduce deforestation in their countries have the right tools to do so today, ...	Eco-Business.com
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15/02/2011	Central America has highest rate of forest loss in region Guatemala City - Central America has suffered the highest rate of forest loss in Latin America over the ...	IPS News
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12/01/2011	Costa corruption: bribery & favors threaten Costa Rica's forests The Central American nation of Costa Rica has long been lauded for its efforts to protect the environment. ...	Conservation Magazine
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23/11/2010	Developing countries often outsource deforestation, study finds In many developing countries, forest restoration at home has led to deforestation abroad, according to ...	EurekAlert!
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26/11/2009	Africa: Fears forest proposals are 'human rights disaster' Copenhagen — The clean, ultra-modern chrome and glass lines of the Bella Centre, in the Danish ...	allAfrica.com
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24/09/2009	A goal for Copenhagen: keep the focus on enforcement Few seem willing to address the issue openly, but one of the toughest issues to address when delegates ...	GreenandSave.com
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02/07/2009	REDD readiness plans for Panama, Guyana approved but rejected for Indonesia The World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) has approved REDD readiness plans (R-Plans) ...	Mongabay.com
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24/07/2008	14 countries win REDD funding to protect tropical forests Fourteen countries have been selected by the World Bank to receive funds for conserving their tropical ...	Mongabay.com
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01/06/2008	Costa Rica: the first carbon-neutral country Costa Rica has pledged to become Carbon-Neutral by reducing or offsetting its emissions of greenhouse ...	Ahlan Wasahlan
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16/02/2008	Latin America: Deforestation still winning Mexico City - Never before have Latin America and the Caribbean fought so hard against deforestation, ...	IPS News Agency
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04/05/2007	New course at CATIE on policy and governance in regulation of natural resources Costa Rica - A new course called Policy and Governance in Territorial Regulation (Forest, Water and Soils) ...	CATIE (Costa Rica)
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26/07/2006	Costa Rican environmentalist receives conservation award On Monday, Costa Rican environmentalist Carlos Manuel Rodriguez received the Blue Moon Fund's first ...	Blue Moon Fund
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21/03/2006	Successful regional workshop on forest independent monitoring The first Regional Workshop on Forest Independent Monitoring took place in Honduras, from February 26th ...	ACICAFOC (Costa Rica)
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01/09/2005	Costa Rica: legalizing illegal logging and illegalizing legal logging Much is being said about illegal logging. In Costa Rica, the present governments forestry policy has ...	World Rainforest Movement Bulletin
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18/03/2005	Costa Rica: wildlife in danger San Jose - The peninsula of Osa, a strip of land in the southeast of Costa Rica and home to some of the ...	Global Exchange
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11/06/2002	Costa Rica cracks down on mining and logging The government of Costa Rica has created a new national park, lowered the boom on illegal logging operations, ...	Mines and Communities
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04/02/2002	Even Costa Rica has illegal logging Costa Rica has an international reputation for having one of the most environmentally conscious governments ...	Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
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