Overseas Property Investment

Costa Rica is one of the world leaders in ecotourism; in fact, the Tico Times reports that the first six months of 2008 saw an increase of 12.5 percent (89,178 tourists) over the same period last year. Because of this, Costa Rica is increasingly investing in environmentally friendly practices.

In addition to the Payment for Environmental Services (PES) programs mentioned previously, the Costa Rican government, in cooperation with the World Bank, is implementing carbon sequestration programs. “Carbon Sequestration” refers to projects that offset harmful emissions by capturing and storing carbon in a manner that prevents it from being released into the atmosphere.

The “El General” Agricultural and Industrial Cooperative Project was created in the Brunca Region in 2005. The project’s goal is to counteract 588,565 tons of CO2e emissions by 2017 through the reforestation of 4140 hectares (approx. 10,230 acres) of privately-owned lands in southeastern Costa Rica.

This will be accomplished by means of a three-year plan to reforest 1200 ha (3000 acres) of pasture lands with natural regeneration and 2,490 ha (6150 acres) of pasture with forest plantations, while agroforestry systems will result in the planting of 180,000 trees on 450 ha (1100 acres) of crop and pasture lands. The project will also generate additional ecological, wildlife, and landscape diversity benefits in the project area.

Together with the PES programs, this project is helping Costa Rica reverse the deforestation crisis of the 1970s, when nearly 150,000 acres/year were being cleared. Initiatives such as these have enabled Costa Rica to achieve its distinguished position as the world’s only tropical nation with a negative deforestation rate.