Proceedings of the Workshop - Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

2.3.5. Payments for environmental services (PES)
The Costa Rican government compensates landowners for important ecosystem
services provided by forests and forest plantations on their property by implementing a
payment for environmental services program (PES).
This mechanism is regulated by national law and provides financial incentives for
GHG mitigation, watershed protection, and biodiversity conservation, among others,
through the National Fund for Forestry Financing (FONAFIFO 2010).
Currently, the amounts to be paid for environmental services range from $US 1.3
per newly planted tree in agro forestry systems in a period of 3 years, to $US 980 per
hectare in a period of 5 years for reforestation (Costa Rica, 2010).
During the AMISCONDE project, the participation of farmers in the national PES
program was promoted, in order to maximize the benefit that producers could gain from
conservation efforts on their farms. We initiated an information campaign within the
communities and then recorded all interested persons who were eligible for the
program. The farmers were supported throughout the necessary registration with
FONAFIFO, the documentation of legal requirements and we further facilitated
technical advice by an accredited forest engineer who monitored and certified the
entire process.
Finally, farmers who met all requirements, signed a contract with FONAFIFO in
which they pledged to plant and maintain a defined number of trees in their
agroforestry systems, as established in the implementation plan previously elaborated
by the forest engineer with the approval of the land owner.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Environmental Education Program
Regarding the training sessions, one may conclude that a learning-by-doing
approach was more successful than formal instruction, as appreciated in the field,
where farmers put in practice what they had learned.
Four classrooms were built during the project to provide a sustainable option for
the environmental education activities. Currently the environmental community
organizations are responsible for these classrooms by securing financial support
through different donors in the region or promoting different fund-raising activities.
Environmental festivals attracted local governments, NGO's and other
organizations with political impact in the region, who took the opportunity to promote
their conservation activities in the area and strengthen the cooperation efforts between
different partners.
One key aspect observed throughout the project that should be taken in
consideration by any development project is the capacity-building issue. Using local
organization for the training ensured that currently, even though the project is no longer
in place, local organizations continue to deal with some of the issues set forth by the
project.
3.2. Biological connectivity
A total of 7 438 hectares within the region of the project were selected as an area
of biological connectivity (Canet 2003). Identifying these areas ensures the positive
impact on the protected area, where design elements of landscape ecology were taken
in consideration.
The focus of this selection of connectivity areas generated positive impacts: the
amount of reforested areas (more than 2 000 ha), capacity-building and instruction
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