Annual Report 2008
Local Efforts Help Pave Way for Landmark Deal in Costa Rica
Years of field study, strategic planning and community outreach by Costa Rican NGOs and community groups yielded dividends for the entire country in 2007, providing the foundation for a landmark debt-for-nature deal signed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Conservation International (CI), and the governments of Costa Rica and the United States.
CEPF grants played a supporting role, funding local conservation efforts over the past five years to establish protected areas, enable stakeholder participation and assemble vital technical information that contributed to swap design and negotiations.
The agreement, which forgives $26 million of Costa Rica’s debt, requires the country to invest that amount into tropical forest conservation measures over the next 16 years. Anchoring the swap is $12.6 million from the U.S. government, and $1.26 million each from CI and TNC.
CEPF support for this achievement in the Mesoamerica Hotspot came in multiple forms. On the Osa Peninsula, a 2004 CEPF grant to the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) funded the identification of conservation priorities and development of a zoning plan for connectivity between two national parks. That framework was also used in defining swap investments. INBio used a 2006 grant to help develop a biodiversity gap analysis process that swap negotiators used to define priority sites and activities.
“The work done to effectively prioritize conservation sites across the country was critical,”
said Vilma Obando, head of INBio’s Conservation Unit. “It was science-based, key government agencies participated, and stakeholders were actively involved to demonstrate where and why an area should be protected.”
Among the areas to benefit is the 60,000-hectare Maquenque National Wildlife Refuge, where a 2003 CEPF grant to Centro Científico Tropical helped a partnership of 20 NGOs
and government agencies to create the protected area.