<<< San Juan - La Selva Biological Corridor >>>

The proposed extension of the Biological Corridor as a connection between the Indio-Maíz Reserve, along the San Juan River in Nicaragua, and the Central Volcanic Range, will maintain a critical lapse in the vision of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. The Corridor will connect key habitats and documented wildlife corridors, as a way to prevent the isolation of species and native systems of those habitats. The expanse of the Corridor will allow the passage of species, such as the Jaguar and Harpy Eagle, which require large ranges to survive. The Corridor will be comprised of a matrix of privately owned lands focused on sustainable use that will provide structural consistency between the protected areas, principally, in the form of low impact forest usage.

The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama) and the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor

Through the establishment of private incentives managed by the National Fund for the Financing of Forestry (FONAFIFO), 53,750 hectares (22%) have accepted government incentives defining land use activities. Voluntary participation in incentive programs indicates that landowners are willing to modify land use with respect to government policy when participation is rewarded with financial incentives. However, the land holdings currently receiving incentives are widely scattered and consequently offer little value towards the maintenance of genetic connectivity, the principle objective of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.

Areas within the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor submitted to Environmental Service Payments (ESP) up to 2000

Logistical and structural limitations prevent incentives in their current form from achieving greater genetic connectivity. Many landowners have not participated in incentive programs because they do not hold title to their land, do not understand the application system, or do not realize that they are eligible for specific incentives (Carlos Herrera, FUNDECOR, pers. com., 2000). Furthermore, the incentives available for maintaining natural forest are much less attractive than those that actually decrease the area's biological corridor value, such as incentives for the establishment of exotic species plantations or for the harvest of natural forests (Baltodano, 2000; Chassot et al., 2001,a).

In addition to negatively impacting the corridor by encouraging the use of exotic species, the current incentives system also encourages non-sustainable forestry practices, such as the removal of up to 30-64% of the basal area of trees between harvest cycles and silviculture treatments to encourage selected species (Baltodano et al., 1999,b). Consequently, to achieve the objective of creating a biological corridor, it will be necessary to provide more lucrative incentives to make forest conservation and truly sustainable management of natural forests competitive with the short-term gains of forest degradation and/or removal. The incentives system must result in a mosaic of interconnected registered properties in order to consider the corridor effective.

The primary vehicle proposed for implementing the goals of a biological corridor is through an expanded program of environmental service payments. Applying and expanding the existing incentives program to encourage landowner participation not only of large-scale owners, but also small and medium scale owners (Baltodano, 2000; Vargas and Lizano, 2000) and providing technical support on sustainable land use options will be essential to achieving an effective corridor matrix. It is proposed that a focus be placed on addressing the growing market for environmental services and channeling those funds to expand the incentives program to promote the most appropriate land use activities within the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor.

As part of the commitments amassed by Costa Rica in different Central American presidential summits and through great national effort, environmental service payments have been prioritized in biological corridors, especially in those prioritized within the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (CBM, 2002 b). Forestry Law # 7575 (1996) establishes as an essential function of the State, vigilance over conservation, improvement, protection, administration and promotion of the country's natural resources, in accordance with the rational use principle for renewable natural resources. In accordance with said principle, the protection and improvement of the Republic's environment will be promoted through environmental service payments. The responsible entity for environmental service payments is the National Fund for the Financing of Forestry (FONAFIFO), (Zeledón, 1999).

Beneficiaries will be considered all those physical or legal persons, owners and possessors of forest that desire to access environmental service payments, lent to the common agreement with the Forestry Law in force, in exchange for the respective right in favor of the State, so that the State may commercialize through any of the local or international market mechanisms, the corresponding titles of said investment.

The beneficiaries that have the advantage of environmental service payments, in individual or global form will be subjects, with respect to the objective area of the compensation, to the following obligations (MINAE / SINAC / FONAFIFO, 2002):

To prevent and control forest fires

To prevent and support work to control illegal hunting

To not partake in actions of cutting or extraction of forest products in area that benefit from protection-based environmental service payments.

The recompense of the ESP for the mode of protection is $210 per hectare submitted to the project, paid out over a period of five years.

By means of Executive Decree # 30090 – MINAE (MINAE, 2002), criteria for the prioritization of conservation areas to receive environmental service payments (ESP) were defined, in the mode of “protection”, which will apply for the selection of the projects that will be considered in the ESP program.

Private areas embraced within the territories defined for the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor

Areas of influence under Decree # 25663 – MINAE relative to the protection of Great Green Macaw or Almendro populations (MINAE, 1996)

Forested areas that are found to protect water resources (Chaparrón)

Areas of scientific interest and preservation of endangered species (La Cureña Forest Reserve, Tamborcito)

Nicaragua – Costa Rica Frontier Corridor National Wildlife Refuge

Areas deprived of forests, product of agriculture and dairy abandonment

Areas of private property located within national parks, proposed corridors and other areas defined by the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, areas within protected zones, forest reserves, areas of swamps and Rafia forests and wildlife refuges

Areas of influence of Decree # 25663 – MINAE relative to the protection of the Great Green Macaw and Almendro populations (MINAE, 1996)

The ESP will be offered to all landowners located in the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor, according to criteria of prioritization established by the State, with emphasis on the three corridor nuclei (Tiricias-Crucitas, Cerros Astilleros-Loma Sardinal and Cerros Arrepentidos), without importance of the current condition of the land.

Ecosystem services provided by forest within the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor

A program of conservation easements will be established to supplement the incentives program. Conservation easements are legally binding voluntary agreements between two parties that establish clear restrictions on land use and development for indicated portions of land holdings. Under current law, the parties must be two neighboring landowners. For this reason, the purchase of small parcels in the area by CEDARENA, which has experience in creating and monitoring easements, is recommended. As a neighboring landowner, CEDARENA would then serve as an efficient and effective holder of easements for surrounding properties. Mutually voluntary and economically motivated conservation easements have produced concrete conservation results, already protecting over 1,000 hectares of private forests in Cost Rica (Chacón and Castro, 1998). Easements provide the advantage of being less expensive to conservation interests and more appealing to landowners than outright land purchase, and they allow the protection of a part of the property for landowners who swish to include only a designated area in the easement agreement. Easements will be explored as a conservation tool in areas of touristic use where scenic value is economically valuable to tourism businesses.

Currently, only a small portion of the land within the proposed Corridor benefits significantly from tourism. This portion lies at the southern extent of the corridor in the Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí region. Rafting, boating and wildlife viewing opportunities are the primary visitor attractions in this region (Chassot and Monge, 2002). More than 150,000 tourists visit the Sarapiquí region annually, which represents 15% of national tourism. Six hotels of more than twenty-five rooms already exist as well as a number of businesses and beneficiaries directed towards ecotourism activities (Carlos Echeverría, La Tirimbina, pers. com., 2002).

Initiating a campaign aimed at tourists, to protect rain forest and its attributes via donations for conservation easements, will target waterways and vistas frequented by tourists. Currently most river-oriented tourist attractions are located on the upper or lower Sarapiquí River. While Costa Rican law requires that fifty meters on either side of waterways be left forested, actual practices often remove vegetation up to the river itself. The economic value via tourism of maintaining a forested river corridor combined with the damage caused by soil erosion of deforested areas make this river an ideal focus for the easement campaign. Another prominent area for a potential easement campaign is the Cerros los Arrepentidos located just north of the principle highway leading to various tourist destinations. These hills welcome visitors with a view of a forested landscape as their first impression of the area. The aesthetic value of naturally forested hills, rather than pasture or tree plantation, is difficult to measure, but the first impression is likely lasting and encourages both repeat visitors and recommendations to visit the area.

The Executive Committee will assume the responsibility of coordinating the implementation of the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor. In this sense the committee will work together with the Foundation for the Development of the Central Volcanic Range (FUNDECOR) in the Central Volcanic Range Conservation Area (ACCVC). FUNDECOR has been established as a leader in the promotion of sustainable land use in Costa Rica. As a leader in certification of lands under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), this organization will guarantee that the lands under its direction will be managed in accordance with FSC standards of sustainability.

Since FUNDECOR is an established organization, it will have the capacity to move quickly to motivate the landowners in the Corridor to include their lands under the auspices of the government incentive programs. Under this scenario, FUNDECOR will manage the use of private lands via contracts with individual proprietors. These proprietors will receive the financial incentives of the government as well as the technical assistance and logistical support on the part of FUNDECOR, in payment for maintaining their lands in sustainable activities (FUNDECOR, 2000).

In the Arenal Huetar Norte Conservation Area (ACAHN), the Commission for Forestry Development of San Carlos (CODEFORSA) will play an equivalent role as that of FUNDECOR in the ACCVC. CODEFORSA is a leader in contracting of environmental service payments in the Northern Zone of the country and provides technical assistance to more than one hundred farms located within Maquenque National Park and the “Tiricias-Crucitas” nucleus.

Land contracted under incentives via CODEFORSA is visited regularly to confirm that sustainability standards are being met and the laws of Costa Rica are being respected. The landowners currently participating in CODEFORSA's programs do so under the auspices of environmental services offered, since the contract was made accessible and beneficial for small and large landowners. In the last few years, CODFORSA has come to develop successful reforestation programs using native species of the region.

FUNDECOR and CODEFORSA will promote initiatives in favor of habitat restoration of the Corridor with native species with benefits for biodiversity (Guindon and Palminteri, 1996; Meza, 2000; Scott et al., 1996; Janzen, 1999), according to their policies and procedures.

The aforementioned initiatives will receive the support and will be promoted by the Municipalities of San Carlos and Sarapiquí, as well as by the two involved conservation areas (ACAHN and ACCVC).

CEDARENA will initiate a campaign of conservation easements directed at touristic contributions in conjunction with local tourism organizations like the Sarapiquí Chamber of Tourism (CATUSA). The campaign will be implemented in a manner that efforts will produce sufficient capital to cover administrative costs of the campaign and produce funds for conservation easements. Hotel, guiding, rafting, boating and tourist package businesses will be solicited to promote this venture with tourists. International corporations looking for a “green” image will also be solicited to provide materials for the campaign in exchange for the placement of promotional logos.

Three blocks of habitat constituting16.71% (41,220 hectares) of the Corridor will be designated as corridor nuclei. These areas have been selected in part because of their special importance as Great Green Macaw breeding areas and/or migration areas, but also because they are strategically located to function as stepping stones for maintaining connectivity within the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.

The most extensive nucleus is that of Tiricias-Crucitas. This nucleus consists of 27,886 hectares, of which 2,054 hectares (7%) receive reforestation incentives and 2,894 hectares (10%) receive forest management incentives. This area does not receive forest protection incentives. Tiricias-Crucitas plays an important role as a buffer zone for the Indio-Maíz Biological Reserve and the El Castillo-San Juan Biological Corridor in Nicaragua.

The Cerros Astilleros-Loma Sardinal nucleus is made up of 9,043 hectares, of which 492 hectares (5%) are submitted to forest protection incentives, 276 hectares (3%) under forest management incentives and 202 hectares (2%) under reforestation incentives.

The Cerros Arrepentidos contains 3,838 hectares, of which 702 hectares (18%) are currently under forest management incentives, 166 hectares (4%) are under reforestation incentives and 17 hectares (<1%) are under forest protection incentives.

Corridor nuclei will be consolidated through incentive and conservation easements. Landowners will receive environmental service payments for forest protection ($210 per hectare) for placing their holdings under absolute protection and for agreeing to regenerate and protect natural forest habitat where their land is currently deforested.

Environmental service payments will offer a total of $42 per hectare per year to landowners in the corridor nuclei for absolute protection for a period of five years. The additional incentive demand generated by the consolidation of the 41,220 hectares within the corridor nuclei will require $8,656,200 for incentives from the existing program managed by FONAFIFO. It is assumed that for the first five years of the project, incentive programs will cover an average of 50% of these nuclei areas, but will gain participants over time. Therefore, for years 1-5, assuming 50% participation (20,610 has) incentives at $42 per hectare per year will cost a total of $4,328,100 to implement. Of this, the cost would be $865,620 per year. An equal amount would be necessary to cover the remaining 50% of the nuclei areas.

Distribution of incentive categories in the three nuclei of the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor

CODEFORSA and FUNDECOR will give special emphasis (in the Arenal Huetar Norte Conservation Area and the Central Volcanic Range respectively) to the establishment of incentive-based contracts with landowners within the corridor nuclei, with the support of the Conservation Areas (ACAHN and ACCVC) and the municipalities (San Carlos and Sarapiquí). No incentive within the corridor nuclei will be approved if it is not for absolute protection or corridor connectivity. The combination of connectivity and absolute protection within the corridor will offer $80 per hectare annually to the owners that participate in maintaining their land under absolute protection incentives. These incentives will be available for lands without concern of their current condition.

Compensation will come from the pact between the Costa Rican government and the German government, by means of the German bank, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW, Huetar Norte Forestry Program), with an amount equivalent to $10,000,000 to be distributed in financial incentives in the Northern Zone (MINAE, 2000).

The land within the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor that falls outside both the proposed national park and the corridor nuclei areas will receive greater emphasis from the national incentives program administered by FONAFIFO. Initially the corridor matrix will consist of small forest fragments and buffers along streams and rivers, which are both required by law and for forest certification. The long-term objective for the corridor matrix will be to create an area dominated by natural forest that is protected through environmental service payments or managed at a truly sustainable level that is fully compatible with the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor goals of genetic connectivity and biodiversity conservation (CBM, 2002).

Currently, 11% of the corridor matrix land is submitted to incentive-based land uses. It is proposed, that with a five-year goal, 25% of the corridor area will be submitted to incentives for forest protection and, within ten years, to submit 50%. Based on the current incentive rate of $42 per hectare per year, implementing the five-year goal of 25% (36,417 ha) of the Corridor under incentive programs will cost $1,529,514 per year (all of which could come from matching funds). A corresponding ten year goal of protecting or sustainably managing 50% (72,834 has, a difference of 36,417 has) of the corridor matrix, based on an incentive rate of $42 per hectare per year, would cost an additional amount of $1,529,514 annually.

The amount necessary for the consolidation of 114,054 hectares of land located in the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor nuclei and matrix is equal to $23,951,340. The financing to pay these incentives to landowners located within the Corridor will be generated by national sources (hydrocarbon tax), by the contract recently signed with bank of the German government (KfW) for an amount equivalent to $10,000,000 and other mechanisms developed by the government of Costa Rica.

Proposal

IMPLEMENTATION

Implementation of the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor