Sustainable Forest Management, Biodiversity and Livelihoods: a good Practice Guide

GOOD PRACTICES

• Pioneering payments for forest environmental services (Costa Rica) 

• Source: Pagiola 2008 

• CASE STUDY

• GOOD PRACTICES

• Costa Rica’s Pagos por Servicios Ambientales (PSA) recognizes four environmental services provided by forests: mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, hydrological services, biodiversity conservation, and provision of scenic beauty for recreation and ecotourism.
• Landowners must submit a sustainable forest management plan, prepared by a licensed forester, describing plans for preventing poaching and illegal harvesting, and outlining monitoring schedules.
• Payments for landowners: US$64/ha/year for forest conservation plans, and US$816/ha over 10 years for plantations.
• As of 2005, about 270,000 ha were enrolled in the programme, primarily as forest conservation contracts.
• The PSA programme has been partly credited for helping Costa Rica, once having some of the world’s highest deforestation rates, to achieve zero net deforestation by the early 2000s.

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