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Costa Rica’s Reforestation Victory: Contemplating Sustainable Preservation

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Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Costa Rica is often referred to as the poster child for environmental conservation. The country has achieved a remarkable feat of reversing deforestation that had once threatened its rich biodiversity. With nearly 52% of its landmass covered in forests, the country has become a model for reforestation efforts globally. However, as the world grapples with the implications of climate change, Costa Rica is faced with the challenge of sustaining its success in reforestation. Building on Successful Policies Costa Rica’s success in reforestation can be attributed to its comprehensive policy framework that emphasizes sustainable development. The country has implemented policies such as the Forestry Law of 1996, which places strict regulations on the use of forest resources, making it illegal to cut down primary forests, among other measures. Additionally, Costa Rica has implemented programs such as Payment for Environmental Services, which incentivizes landowners to preserve forests and engage in sustainable farming practices. These policies have been crucial in reversing deforestation and promoting reforestation. However, to sustain this success, Costa Rica is continuously building on these policies by strengthening their implementation, especially in rural areas where deforestation rates are still high. Working with local communities, policymakers and conservationists, Costa Rica is promoting sustainable land use practices, monitoring and enforcing environmental regulations, and ensuring that the benefits of reforestation are equitably shared among all stakeholders. Leveraging Technology and Innovation Costa Rica is also turning to technology and innovation to help sustain its reforestation success. The country has launched initiatives that utilize remote sensing technology to track forest cover changes and inform policy decisions. For instance, the National Forest Inventory is a program that uses satellite imagery to map forest cover and monitor changes over time. Costa Rica has also implemented a reforestation program that utilizes drones and artificial intelligence to identify areas suitable for planting and monitor the growth of trees. These cutting-edge technologies are not only improving the efficiency of reforestation efforts but also creating opportunities for new technologies to emerge and support sustainable development. Furthermore, these efforts are promoting greater participation and involvement from local communities and are building a more diverse network of stakeholders in reforestation initiatives. By leveraging technology and innovation, Costa Rica is demonstrating how science and research can be harnessed to promote sustainable land use practices, while also demonstrating that technological advancements can be made with environmental preservation as a priority. Final Thoughts Costa Rica’s reforestation success is a remarkable achievement, but sustaining it requires continued efforts and innovation. By building on successful policies and leveraging technology, the country can ensure that its forests continue to thrive and provide crucial ecosystem services for future generations. As the world faces the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation, Costa Rica’s example serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration for other countries seeking to achieve sustainable development. The post Costa Rica’s Reforestation Victory: Contemplating Sustainable Preservation appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Costa Rica is often referred to as the poster child for environmental conservation. The country has achieved a remarkable feat of reversing deforestation that had once threatened its rich biodiversity. With nearly 52% of its landmass covered in forests, the country has become a model for reforestation efforts globally. However, as the world grapples with […] The post Costa Rica’s Reforestation Victory: Contemplating Sustainable Preservation appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Costa Rica is often referred to as the poster child for environmental conservation. The country has achieved a remarkable feat of reversing deforestation that had once threatened its rich biodiversity. With nearly 52% of its landmass covered in forests, the country has become a model for reforestation efforts globally.

However, as the world grapples with the implications of climate change, Costa Rica is faced with the challenge of sustaining its success in reforestation.

Building on Successful Policies

Costa Rica’s success in reforestation can be attributed to its comprehensive policy framework that emphasizes sustainable development. The country has implemented policies such as the Forestry Law of 1996, which places strict regulations on the use of forest resources, making it illegal to cut down primary forests, among other measures.

Additionally, Costa Rica has implemented programs such as Payment for Environmental Services, which incentivizes landowners to preserve forests and engage in sustainable farming practices. These policies have been crucial in reversing deforestation and promoting reforestation.

However, to sustain this success, Costa Rica is continuously building on these policies by strengthening their implementation, especially in rural areas where deforestation rates are still high.

Working with local communities, policymakers and conservationists, Costa Rica is promoting sustainable land use practices, monitoring and enforcing environmental regulations, and ensuring that the benefits of reforestation are equitably shared among all stakeholders.

Leveraging Technology and Innovation

Costa Rica is also turning to technology and innovation to help sustain its reforestation success. The country has launched initiatives that utilize remote sensing technology to track forest cover changes and inform policy decisions. For instance, the National Forest Inventory is a program that uses satellite imagery to map forest cover and monitor changes over time.

Costa Rica has also implemented a reforestation program that utilizes drones and artificial intelligence to identify areas suitable for planting and monitor the growth of trees. These cutting-edge technologies are not only improving the efficiency of reforestation efforts but also creating opportunities for new technologies to emerge and support sustainable development.

Furthermore, these efforts are promoting greater participation and involvement from local communities and are building a more diverse network of stakeholders in reforestation initiatives.

By leveraging technology and innovation, Costa Rica is demonstrating how science and research can be harnessed to promote sustainable land use practices, while also demonstrating that technological advancements can be made with environmental preservation as a priority.

Final Thoughts

Costa Rica’s reforestation success is a remarkable achievement, but sustaining it requires continued efforts and innovation. By building on successful policies and leveraging technology, the country can ensure that its forests continue to thrive and provide crucial ecosystem services for future generations.

As the world faces the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation, Costa Rica’s example serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration for other countries seeking to achieve sustainable development.

The post Costa Rica’s Reforestation Victory: Contemplating Sustainable Preservation appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

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Designing for better lives

Flavio Emilio Vila Skrzypek, a graduate student in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, wants to design cities without inequities.

Even though Flavio Emilio Vila Skrzypek left his native country of Peru to study at MIT, you can tell immediately that his homeland is close to his heart. Vila, who is pursuing a master’s in city planning, has made it his mission to improve land-use policy back home. “Property policies in Peru should learn from the failure of past policies,” he says. “Informal settlements, which have been established outside of the ‘formal systems’ of housing supply and are commonly referred to as slums, are seen as a problem, as a mistake in the way of urban growth. The state has accepted ‘slums’ as inevitable, but I want Peru to learn from these circumstances.” Vila’s career in urban planning began as an interest in architecture and art. “Architecture was an immediate match,” he says; he greatly enjoyed his architecture classes at the University of Lima. But after he graduated, the day-to-day life of a practicing architect came as an unpleasant shock: “To be honest, I rapidly learned that architectural design was not my passion. At some point, I knew I had to quit.” Instead, Vila got a job at the Ministry of Housing in Peru. “That was the moment I found out what I wanted to do in life. Working for my country was the best thing I could do. In my previous work, I had been working in the private sector for the profit of large corporations. Now, I was working to make my country better,” he says. Unfortunately, a budget cut ended his career there, but he found a role as teaching assistant and began to explore research — a path that would lead him to MIT. “The ultimate tribute” Vila’s first research experiences spanned a vast array of different design projects. In conjunction with various nonprofit organizations, he developed a water resilience proposal for a local municipality, designed a school for an indigenous community in the jungle, and generated a method to build mud dwellings for a town in the Andes. During the course of these projects, he witnessed a wide range of social and economic conditions across Peru. “I was born in Lima and I lived all my life in Lima. Visiting different indigenous communities in the Amazon rainforest and the Andes made me realize that these are the types of people that I want to work for,” he says. Vila began building a startup that focused on mitigating social conflicts between indigenous communities and mining corporations. After working there for several years he knew that, to have the biggest impact on his native country, he first needed to arm himself with knowledge. He says, “I knew I needed to become better in order to make this place better.” When he applied to MIT, Vila already had a specific research topic in mind: how environmental policy could shape the conflict between Indigenous communities and extractive industries like mining. Initially, he took on a project as part of MIT’s Enhancing Water Affordability project, using hotspot maps to understand water affordability issues in several cities across the United States. “However, the journey of the degree has taken me to another place,” he explains. Vila’s thesis work has pivoted to focus on the systematic inequity of urban systems, the structures of informal settlements, and developing policies to upgrade those settlements. Ultimately, he hopes to use his master’s to contribute to the decolonization of land and property regimes in Peru. His research as a Fulbright scholar at MIT is inspired, in part, by Rubina Maravi, a rural immigrant from the Andes whom he describes as “a humble and brave woman that raised me side by side with my mother.” Vila tells the emotional story of Maravi’s difficult peasant life as a squatter on land in an informal settlement in Lima. Her struggle to obtain a land title has lasted for decades, with no resolution in sight. He says, “to carry indigenous people like Rubina, who are considered so insignificant in Peru, into a space of research at the best university in the world is the ultimate tribute. It is giving them the space that they should have in life.” For Vila, living with two women from such different circumstances — his mother, an inherently privileged Limeña woman, and Maravi, an indigenous woman who lacked many of the advantages that his mother had — underscored the inequities in Peruvian society. He recognizes his innate good fortune because of his heritage. “I am super aware that part of the reason that I am at MIT is because I did not have to work during my childhood to help my family make ends meet. I grew up with sewage and electricity, a privilege that many in Peru did not have,” he says. A “cable to Earth” Vila conducts his thesis work under the guidance of Gabriella Carolini, an MIT associate professor of urban planning and international development. When he started graduate school, his technical skills in R and other programming tools were limited. But Carolini gave him a chance to learn. “I was committed to improving my R skills in the short term, and she gave me the opportunity,” he says. He is famous in his department for knitting during class and gifting his creations to family and friends. “I suffer from anxiety, so taking everything inside and channeling it into my knitting is super relaxing,” he says. His interest in knitting started when he watched Tom Daley, an Olympic diver, knit as a way to relieve his competition nerves during the 2020 Olympics television broadcast. He also noticed the contrast between Tom Daley’s calm demeanor and the fierce competitiveness of other athletes. “At the same Olympics,” he says, “I saw tennis player Novak Djokovic smash his racket when he lost a point. I realized that was not the kind of masculinity I wanted.” When Vila visited Peru in December 2021, his mother gifted him his late grandmother’s knitting needles and he taught himself the technique by watching YouTube videos. When offering advice to future students, Vila points out that a mindset of growth and open-mindedness is critical to the graduate school experience. The challenge of pursuing a degree leads to growth far beyond academic learning, he notes. That personal growth “will ultimately reveal your true self.” “I never closed myself to anything,” he says. “In life, I have always been bouncing between different things, from jobs in the private, public, social impact, and academic sectors. In that bounce, you eventually find your path. Now in my degree, I have been bouncing between different topics and courses. But in the end, you will find your way.” Vila maintains that open-mindedness when he contemplates his options for the future. He says, “the degree has been so immersive in so many areas of my life and has reframed my perspective on my future goals. The only certainty that I have right now is that I want to work for the developing world and more specifically, Peru. I don’t know in what type of organization: academia, the public sector, a think tank, an international organization.” Vila describes his work as his “cable to Earth,” adding, “I want my work to make someone’s life better. 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Costa Rica Reforestation Efforts Contemplate New Methods To Ensure Success

Costa Rica reforestation efforts have transformed the country from one of the most heavily deforested nations in the 1980s to a thriving ecotourism destination. This has provided travelers with an abundance of opportunities to explore its rich marine reserves and cloud forests in just one day. Costa Rica reforestation efforts have made it a top […] The post Costa Rica Reforestation Efforts Contemplate New Methods To Ensure Success appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

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However, this source of funding is anticipated to diminish by 2050 as the country moves towards net-zero emissions through the shift from public and private transportation to electricity. As such, the government is actively searching for alternative methods of financing the program. Those could include implementing new taxes or adjusting the existing ones. Tourists who come to experience the beauty of Costa Rica’s wildlife such as toucans, frogs, and may soon find themselves paying a charge on their hotel bill that goes towards aiding forest conservation. Costa Rica will also continue to urge developed countries, which are responsible for the majority of global pollution, to provide compensation for countries like Costa Rica that are doing more than their part to store carbon.  Last year, President Rodrigo Chaves of Costa Rica announced an investment of $16.4 million from the World Bank towards reforestation in the country. This is part of a larger program that aims to bring in a total of $60 million by 2025 for forests that are reducing carbon emissions, with the aim of doubling the amount of protected forest in the country. Costa Rica Reforestation Efforts – National Forestry Financing Fund (FONAFIFO) Jorge Mario Rodríguez Zúñiga, director of the National Forestry Financing Fund (FONAFIFO), believes that this financial contribution is a step in the right direction for the international community to do its part in preserving forests around the world. He expressed his hope that one day soon he would be able to declare that all privately held forests in Costa Rica are receiving incentives for their protection. “If it is beneficial to the world, then it’s only fair that the world should contribute towards conservation efforts,” he said. Demand for agricultural land had a drastic impact on Costa Rica’s forest cover in the 1980s, reducing it to just 21% of the country’s total territory. 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Despite the decline in funding that would come from reduced fossil fuels, Executive Director Mario Piedra welcomed the transition but noted that alternative sources of funding must be explored beyond the World Bank program.  He lamented that the lack of understanding has resulted in the meager amount of $7 or $18 per hectare per year for improving the sustainability of these areas. He further added, “This is not enough to ensure long-term sustainability.” Thus, a significantly higher investment is necessary for ensuring lasting changes. Rodríguez, director of FONAFIFO, acknowledged that $18 is not much but declared that the organization is working on finding supplemental funding to be able to offer payment for biodiversity as an environmental service. Meanwhile, the program provides reimbursement to those who had verifiable forest land dating back to 2018. Officials are striving to make it simpler for landowners to register through a website, with the government frequently utilizing satellite imagery as opposed to an on-site visit to validate the presence of the woods. Where PSA necessitates landowners to procure a forester in order to monitor their forest — at a cost of up to 18% of the government payments — the World Bank money does not require this. Rodríguez stated that FONAFIFO is determined to find a way to continue payments past 2024. He and Piedra are exploring the potential of accessing private capital markets in order to develop a system that would reward those who support conservation initiatives. FONAFIFO has been in discussions with Costa Rican tourism officials, as the industry is one of the key beneficiaries of forest conservation. Unfortunately, no tax currently exists for this purpose – and due to current economic challenges arising from the pandemic, now may not be the right time to implement one, according to Rodríguez. Costa Rica Reforestation Efforts – Support For The Tax Last year, an indication of tourists’ potential willingness to support a tax for Costa Rica reforestation efforts was seen in the successful fundraising from a voluntary program that gave them the opportunity to offset their vacation’s emissions, raising $600,000. The post Costa Rica Reforestation Efforts Contemplate New Methods To Ensure Success appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

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