Green Climate Fund Recognizes Costa Rica for Results in the Face of the Climate Crisis
Costa Rica became the first Central American country to be awarded funds by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), due to its reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), associated with deforestation in the 2014 – 2015 period.
The $54.1 million award will be given to Costa Rica under the modality of payment for results, within the framework of climate financing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This modality recognizes the efforts made by countries like Costa Rica to respond to the climate crisis and provides funds so that they can continue successful public policies.
These funds will be disbursed over the next five years (2021-2026) through key programs of the MINAE as the expand Payment of Environmental Services projects in indigenous territories and to strengthen forest fire prevention measures in rural communities through the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC), among others.
The President, Carlos Alvarado, reiterated Costa Rica’s commitment to continue working “so that the protection of the environment becomes a source of wealth that improves the quality of life of the people of our country, it benefits the generation of jobs in the communities and that it takes us at a good pace towards our goal of being a decarbonized country by 2050.”
International Leadership
As a world leader in sustainability, Costa Rica has stood out for implementing the Payment for Environmental Services (PES) project to reverse deforestation executed by the National Forestry Financing Fund (FONAFIFO), and for combating forest fires led by the National System of Conservation Areas of the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE). Both projects ongoing projects spanning more than 20 years.
After decades of continuous forest loss, Costa Rica managed to halt and reverse the rate of deforestation in the 1980s, in part thanks to the support of successful programs such as the PES. Today, thanks to the implementation of public policies and actions aimed at recognizing the importance of forests, the country has a forest coverage of about 52%, protects more than a quarter of its territory, and is home to 6% of the biodiversity of the planet.
“Once again, Costa Rica shows the world that environmental sustainability is economically viable and socially inclusive. It fills us with joy to be able to support the mobilization of important resources and thus move forward on the path of decoupling the financing of environmental protection from those fiscal revenues that come from carbon consumption” said José Vicente Troya Rodríguez, UNDP Resident Representative.
Source: Casa Presidencial