16/10/2021
Costa Rica wins prestigious environmental award Earthshot Prize
- The award is in recognition of Costa Rica's conservation model, which has allowed the country to safeguard a large part of its biodiversity in Protected Wildlife Areas, as well as the Payment for Environmental Services programme.
- Designed to encourage change and protect our planet over the next 10 years, the prize is awarded by the UK's Royal Foundation to winners whose solutions substantially help the environment.
- The country will use an endowment of one million pounds (more than 1.3 million dollars) to replicate in the sea the conservation model it has successfully implemented in terrestrial ecosystems, informed the president of the Republic, Carlos Alvarado, upon hearing the news that ratifies Costa Rica's world leadership in environmental protection.
- "This award is an opportunity to strengthen conservation in our national treasure, Cocos Island, and the waters of the Pacific and Caribbean," said Environment and Energy Minister Andrea Meza.
San José. For its successful conservation model, Costa Rica was awarded the Earthshot Award in the Protect and Restore Nature category, given by the Royal Foundation to encourage change and help repair the planet over the next ten years, a crucial decade for the Earth.
The announcement was made on Sunday 17 October by Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and The Royal Foundation at a simultaneous event in the 15 countries selected as global finalists, three in each of the five categories.
The Prize is launched after two years of work by Prince William and The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to develop a project that supports the global effort to protect and restore the environment and identify proven solutions to the biggest environmental problems facing the planet.
The organisation said that Costa Rica won the distinction - which entitles it to receive £1 million (over US$1.3 million) - for its Payment for Environmental Services (PES) initiative for communities and farm owners started in 1997, led by the National Forestry Financing Fund of the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), and for its successful conservation model, which has allowed a high percentage of biodiversity to be safeguarded in Protected Wildlife Areas (ASP).
"The country today demonstrates once again to the world that we are pioneers in successfully developing conservation models on land and thanks to this we have been winners of the Earthshot Prize initiative. We will invest these resources in replicating and strengthening these models in marine conservation; we know that we must be diligent and act now to counteract the impacts of climate change, or the effects will be irreversible," said the President of the Republic, Carlos Alvarado, upon hearing the news.
He explained that although 92% of Costa Rica's territory is marine, only 2.7% is under marine protected area schemes, so the Costa Rican government will invest the resources obtained with the award to replicate the terrestrial ecosystem conservation model in marine ecosystems.
On the Earthshot Prize, Prince William said on his website that "the plan is really to galvanise and bring together the best minds, the best possible solutions, to identify and tackle some of the world's biggest environmental challenges. We need to harness our ingenuity and our inventiveness. The next ten years is a critical decade for change. Time is of the essence, which is why we believe this ambitious global prize is the only way forward.
The Minister of Environment and Energy, Andrea Meza Murillo, explained that Wildlife Protected Areas have become an engine of economic development in the territories and one of the main tourist attractions of our country, so we must make greater efforts to achieve the financial sustainability of these ASPs, both on land and at sea.
"On the other hand, public conservation efforts have been able to complement very well with conservation efforts on private lands and especially with the Payment for Environmental Services scheme, which has been a very effective way of giving value to nature and benefiting different forest owners, both in indigenous territories and private landowners and producers. The time has come to replicate what has been done on land, in the sea. The country has been making efforts in marine conservation and now has modern instruments to strengthen the protection of marine biodiversity," he said.
"We are proud to have the resources from this award to promote a model of marine conservation, where we also promote economic reactivation based on the valuation of ocean resources and innovative schemes based on protected areas and payment for ecosystem services," she said.
The Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), José Vicente Troya, said that this award is a global recognition of Costa Rica's environmental achievements. We are proud and motivated by the joint work we have developed over the years with the country's authorities in strengthening public policy and environmental programmes. We have contributed to the Environmental Services Programme (PES), which has succeeded in reversing deforestation, increasing forest cover and maintaining a cash transfer mechanism that benefits particularly vulnerable populations such as rural women and indigenous peoples. We have also supported the creation, management, efficiency and financial sustainability of terrestrial and marine protected areas, the management of water resources and the mainstreaming of the protection and sustainable use of diversity in sectors of the economy, and we will continue to promote initiatives that foster the path towards green recovery in the face of COVID-19 and sustainable development, such as the decarbonisation of the economy and public finances.
Successful model of protection. The United Nations Development Programme nominated Costa Rica for the award in the category of protecting and restoring nature.
Costa Rica has 10 types of conservation zone categories, since the creation of the first one in 1963, when the focus was on protecting natural wealth in rural areas. In the 1980s, Costa Rica's conservation efforts succeeded in halting the deforestation prevalent in the country in previous decades and began a process of recovery to reach a forest cover of 52.4% of the territory by 2020.
The programme for the Payment of Environmental Services to communities and farm owners, initiated in 1997, consists of a financial recognition given by the state through FONAFIFO to owners or holders of forests and forest plantations "for the environmental services they provide and which have a direct impact on the protection and improvement of the environment".
With regard to the conservation of terrestrial ecosystems and compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals, Costa Rica has made significant progress on many points, particularly in the consolidation of the management of the National System of Protected Areas, which is considered an achievement because of the contributions that the PES make to the conservation of biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide and the contributions they make to neighbouring communities.