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 The funds will be used for the existing payment for the Environmental Services program, to expand its coverage in indigenous territories and programs to prevent forest fires. - Illustrative photo -  |
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Published
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Costa Rica will receive over the next five years $54 million from the Green Climate Fund, GCF, which recognized in November 2020 that the country's forests had captured 14.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from 2014 to 2015. GCF is a fund established within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, as an operating entity of the Financial Mechanism to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change. According to the Ministry of the Environment, these funds will be used for the existing payment for the Environmental Services program, to expand its coverage in indigenous territories and programs to prevent forest fires. In the 1980s, the country had lost most of its primary forest and only had 21% of its land under forest cover as a result of having the highest deforestation rates in the world. There is currently a 52% forest cover protecting more than a quarter of the territory, according to President Carlos Alvarado. In the past 25 years, the country has invested about $24 million per year in programs for the protection of forests. The plan is to expand the program by more than 500,000 hectares on private properties, including 150,000 hectares in Indigenous Territories, the government said. The government's goal is to maintain the reduction of emissions from deforestation and degradation at a level of 6 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year, until 2024.  In November 2020, a plan began to plant 200,000 trees in the northern zone of the country. Under the motto “Huella del Futuro” (or “Footprint of the Future” in the English language) the program started in San Carlos Canton, Alajuela Province. The action is part of the Biodiversity Finance Initiative which is a project of the United Nations Development Program with the goal to rehabilitate landscapes and ecosystems of nine cantons and generate green jobs, the government said in its statement. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the program has invested an estimated amount of $45,000 to develop this reforestation program. Also, $26,000 was invested to develop a fundraising campaign. The first contribution made has been that of the German Cooperation Agency for Development, GIZ, the European Union, EU, and the Central American Commission for Environment and Development, CCAD, in the Green Development Fund budget of $724,580, the government said. According to José Vicente Troya-Rodríguez, representative of UNDP, a national and international advertising campaign will be carried out to promote the fundraising program to meet the goal of planting 200,000 trees in 11 months. People interested in applying for this land protection program can call FONAFIFO at (506) 2545-3500. ------------------ What have you heard about expats developing green projects to protect the forest in Costa Rica? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com Professional's
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