{"id":26926,"date":"2019-08-27T13:13:53","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T18:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=26926"},"modified":"2019-08-27T13:13:53","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T18:13:53","slug":"costa-rica-doubled-tropical-rainforests-just-decades-heres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/costa-rica-doubled-tropical-rainforests-just-decades-heres\/","title":{"rendered":"Costa Rica has doubled its tropical rainforests in just a few decades. Here\u2019s how"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Years of unchecked logging laid waste to two-thirds of Costa Rica\u2019s tree canopy, leaving its tropical rainforests facing an uncertain future. But the trees have returned and the resurrected forests support a thriving eco-tourism industry.<\/p>\n

Towards the middle of the 20th century, indigenous woodland \u2013 predominantly tropical rainforest \u2013 covered all but a quarter of the country. But then the loggers arrived. The forests were cleared as crews of lumberjacks freely converted Costa Rica\u2019s natural resources into profits.<\/p>\n

By the early 1980s, the destruction of two-thirds of the forests had ravaged the habitats of indigenous creatures<\/a> such as the golden toad and poison dart frog.<\/p>\n

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Following decades of decline, an unusual thing happened. The rate of deforestation slowed and eventually dropped to zero, and over time the trees began to return.<\/p>\n

Branching out
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\nWhat caused this dramatic reversal of fortune?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The simple answer is that Costa Rica began to realize the potential of its rich ecosystems and set about safeguarding them.<\/p>\n

Policy-makers restricted the number of logging permits<\/a> and created a national forestry commission to police forest activity.<\/p>\n

In 1996, a system of payments for environmental services was introduced to help reduce poverty, especially in poor rural areas. The National Forestry Fund was established in recognition that a healthy rainforest provides numerous benefits, which include removing and storing CO2 from the atmosphere, and water filtration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Tropical rainforests also harbour unknown quantities of natural resources that could be used to develop pharmaceuticals and natural medicines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The fund offered landowners per-acre financial incentives to conserve their land and prevent it degrading, which led to improved land management and reforestation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Both individuals and entire communities can benefit from the fund, which has helped create 18,000 jobs and indirectly supports a further 30,000. It is financed from several sources, including foreign investment and loans, as well as internal revenues from fossil fuel taxation,<\/p>\n

Safeguarding natural resources has become a priority for policy-makers who have extended protection to include secondary rainforests<\/a>, which regrow naturally after being cleared or degraded. More than half of Costa Rica\u2019s tree canopy is now secondary rainforest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Have you read?<\/span><\/h3>\n