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Scaling up Climate Ambition on Land Use and Agriculture through Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans (SCALA) 

Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Country overview

Costa Rica is a Central American country with a varied topography that includes coastal plains separated by rugged mountains, including over 100 volcanic cones. It is home to around 5 percent of the planet’s biodiversity. Costa Rica is among the global leaders in responding to climate change, with a long history of environmental protection, sustainable development, and action on climate change mitigation. Costa Rica’s vulnerability to extreme climate events and natural hazards is a result of the presence of populations in areas prone to volcanic eruptions and unstable lands, degraded by wide-spread cattle ranching, or in poorly planned settlements prone to landslides and flooding. A total of 36 percent of Costa Rica’s land use is attributed to agriculture, and it accounts for 14 percent of the country’s employment. 

Costa Rica's climate change plans and priorities

Costa Rica’s National Climate Change Adaptation Policy (2018-2030) outlines the country's priorities with respect to agricultural sustainable production, namely: 1) the promotion of adaptation based on ecosystems outside the state's natural heritage, through the conservation of biodiversity in biological corridors, private reserves and farms under forest regime; and 2) promotion of water security in the face of climate change, through the protection and monitoring of sources and proper management of hydrological basins. The National Development Plan (2019-2022) reaffirmed the ambitious goal to promote a carbon neutral economy by 2021 and laid out strategies to promote renewable energy, reduce GHG emissions, and consider adaptation initiatives.   

In 2016, Costa Rica submitted its first NDC. Costa Rica’s National Climate Change Adaptation Policy (2018-2030), as well as the National Decarbonization Plan (2018-2050) and the NAMA coffee, NAMA livestock, NAMA sugarcane and NAMA Musaceae (banana), reflect some of the country’s key agrifood value chains: livestock, coffee, rice, Musaceae and cane sugar. The country’s NDC aims to consolidate an agricultural model that is based on sound approaches in existing policies and strategies. To date, the country has developed a National Low Carbon Livestock Strategy, a National Low-emission Coffee Strategy, and the Low Carbon Banana Strategy, which focuses on reducing risks and vulnerabilities in these value chains.

Overcoming barriers in the implementation of climate plans

Costa Rica has developed policies and prioritized implementing transformative action in value chains; however, knowledge remains a key barrier because transformative change requires the adoption of new technologies. A second barrier experienced in Costa Rica is the availability of financing mechanisms that reduce risks for different actors, including investors, in the value chain. Lastly, there is a need to strengthen the institutional frameworks that oversee these processes, mainly at the early stages. The COVID-19 pandemic was a huge challenge, but Costa Rica managed to keep the value chains in operation and reported growth in agricultural exports, while still maintaining adequate levels of supply to the national market during these challenging times. The pandemic exposed how valuable the agriculture sectors are and demonstrated the resilience of agricultural producers. 

SCALA in action

In Costa Rica, SCALA focuses on the coffee and beef cattle value chains, supporting the implementation of low-carbon climate solutions for sustainable land management through the application of Recarbonization of Global Soils (RECSOIL) protocols and certification standards that foster collaboration between different public and private actors. 

 

The RECSOIL tool, designed to improve and expand soil carbon sequestration initiatives, was successfully applied in 20 dairy farms of the Dos Pinos cooperative, 25 coffee farms of the Costa Rican Coffee Institute (ICAFE), and more than 40 public and private sector actors were trained in the practical application of the RECSOIL tool and protocols. 

  

SCALA, in collaboration with CORFOGA and INTECO organizations, has supported the piloting of the country's first technical standard for deforestation-free beef production and the development of supporting tools and training, contributing to the sustainable use of pastures, traceability, automated registration and verification system for livestock farms.

 

To this end, SCALA, in collaboration with the University of Costa Rica (UCR), has carried out an update and analysis of tree cover losses and gains related to cattle livestock in the Brunca region from 2019 to 2022, designing an application and automation system for on-farm use using the Costa Rican tool Monitoring Land Use Change in Productive Landscapes (MOCUPP). These results are now available on the National Territorial Information System (SNIT).  

*The infographic is also available in Spanish/Disponible en Español.

To support these results, SCALA also carried out a market study to determine the current and potential status of beef and differentiated dairy products in the country. In particular, the study allowed an assessment of the current conditions and possible strategies for the promotion of these products.  

    

SCALA has also played a key role in the development of a Gender and Social Inclusion Roadmap for Livestock Women in Costa Rica, in collaboration with national gender experts from FAO and UNDP, the Livestock Chambers, the private sector, and the participation of more than 120 women. The strategy provides valuable information on the realities and gender gaps in the livestock sector and will serve as a basis for future gender-sensitive interventions by SCALA and other projects in the country. 

  

In coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) and the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), SCALA supports the coordination and operationalization of the Agro-Environmental Agenda and the Sustainable Productive Agricultural Landscapes Initiative through tools such as the Effective Collaborative Action (AEC) and LandScale.

 

In addition, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, academic stakeholders, and the TRANSFORMA-INNOVA programme, SCALA has developed a study on the quantification and reduction of GHG emissions in livestock production systems, to be implemented in 2024, which will contribute to the improvement of the sector's Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system, together with technology transfer to producers, especially in the Livestock Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMA).

Moving forward – 2024 and beyond 

Moving forward, SCALA in Costa Rica aims to: 

 

  • Disseminate the results of the certification standard on deforestation-free beef, the national beef and dairy market study, and the application of RECSOIL in the country. 
  • Conduct a workshop on the ECA methodology to operationalize the Agro-Environmental Agenda, jointly implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. 
  • Assessment and training on GHG mitigation and quantification practices and technologies in the most common livestock production systems in the country. 
  • Development of Tier 2 emission factors and metrics for sustainability and enteric methane to strengthen the MRV system and the quantification and reduction of GHG emissions from the Costa Rican livestock sector, in particular the NAMA. 
  • Strengthen the operationalization of the Costa Rican livestock PITTA and NAMA initiatives through capacity building and improved prioritization and inter-institutional and intersectoral coordination processes.