Policies on Costa Rican forests and mountains
27.05.2015
In 2014, the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MEE), formalized the "Guidelines to Facilitate the Implementation of National Forestry Development Plan (NDFP) Costa Rica during the period between 2014 and 2018: Economic Recovery for the Production, Processing and Marketing of Sustainable Forest Products and revenue generation for the Rural Sector", which focuses on the following:
- Strengthen the capacity to facilitate and promote productive activity, especially in small and medium producers and industrialists.
- To improve legal security and reduce transaction costs to increase competitiveness and promote forest production.
- Provide the Sector with opportunities, economic instruments and financial mechanisms.
- Develop and implement a system of traceability and verification of the legality of forest products.
- Encourage national consumption of legal timber.
- Strengthen a structure that facilitates joint and forest governance to provide spaces for national, regional and local coordination.
- Promote in the forestry sector the development of better management of knowledge, capabilities, research, development, innovation and forest monitoring.
In order to reduce the loss of forests and mountains and to encourage the increase of forest coverage and protection, conservation, development, industrialization and management of forest resources, Costa Rica has been given the task and, in fact it is at the forefront in the region, to perform the actions to restore and conserve the forest cover. To do this in, 1969 the first Forestry Law No. 4465 published in Costa Rica and the General Direction Forest (DGF, for its acronym in Spanish) is created to perform these steps.
In 1979, they designed and implemented incentives and innovative financial instruments; including the income tax deduction, to encourage reforestation and Forest Credit Certificates (FCC) for the establishment of forest plantations, forest management, and protection.
The country has made great efforts to create Protected Areas, which now correspond to 166 different ones, representing approximately 26 percent (1.340.872 hectares) of national continental area, almost 3 percent of the exclusive economic zone, and 17.19 percent of national maritime territory.
With the publication of Law No.7575 in 1996, the Environmental Services Payment (ESP), financed mainly by the 3.5 percent of the single tax on fuel sand the Environmentally adjusted Levy for Water Use was created, which has compensated for the environmental services provided by forests and forest plantations.
Since 2006 biological corridors have been promoted and managed, and their primary function is to establish connectivity structures between state protected areas, cosystems and habitats, which require the participation of private owners. Until 2014, 37 biological corridors had been established.
Through a participatory process of various institutions and organizations in the forestry sector, the National Forestry Development Plan 2001-2010 (NDFP) was developed and formalized and the PNDF 2011-2020 was updated and formalized again in 2011, in order to ensure the permanence and increase of forests and forest plantations and consequently, the future production of their goods and ecosystem services.
If you would like to view this NDFP document access the following link: http://www.sirefor.go.cr/images/stories/pdf/plannacionafinalweb.pdf
News by Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación (SINAC) - Costa Rica
Photo: German Rodríguez
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MINAE. 2011. Plan Nacional de Desarrollo Forestal: 2011 – 2020. Ministerio de Ambiente Energía y Telecomunicaciones, MINAET. Primera Edición. San José, Costa Rica: Comunicaciones Milenio, 2011. 60 p.
MINAE, 2015. Lineamientos para facilitar la implementación PNDF de Costa Rica durante el período 2014-2018: Reactivación Económica para la Producción, Transformación y Comercialización de Productos Forestales Sostenibles y Generación de Ingresos para el Sector Rural. Oficio DM-199-2015. MINAE, Costa Rica. 9 p.
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