Costa Rican system of payment for ecosystem services can help save the world’s rainforests
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 10 am Costa Rican time June 7th 2009
Legislators gathered at the Earth University in Guacimo this weekend considered how the Costa Rican system of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) could be applied in other countries in order to save the world’s rainforests.
The 18 legislators – from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, Ecuador, Gabon, Guyana, India, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda as well as Costa Rica – heard expert presentations about the Costa Rican system and also other successful systems from around the world. Among matters discussed were the following:
- There is an urgent need to save the world’s rainforest at the same time as switching the world economy to clean energy. While global warming has not been caused by the countries of the South, it is these countries which will nevertheless be affected the most.
- Costa Rica was congratulated in developing a successful system of payments for ecosystem services. The legislators were impressed that forested area in the country has increased from a low-point of 29 percent in the 1980s to over 50 percent now – and recognized that this has brought benefits not just to the country but to the whole world.
- Costa Rica was also congratulated for continuing to develop the system of payment for ecosystem services. While there still appears to be considerable demand from citizens wanting to join the system, legislators have not considered their job to be complete. In particular the participants at the hearing were impressed by the efforts of Costa Rican legislators to involve women and indigenous groups in the scheme.
- Participants were also very interested in other schemes presented by participants at the hearing. The participants recognized that each country possesses a unique set of circumstances and that financial incentives for forest conservation will take different forms in different countries. The participants heard about successful schemes in Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Tanzania and India which have all been developed to address particular circumstances in these countries.
- There was a recognition that the amounts paid for ecosystem services have to be worked out according to circumstances in the locality. In some areas – for example close to the highways – there will be a greater need for payments to protect forests. Furthermore in some countries some recipients will be totally dependent on payments for their livelihoods. In other localities this won’t be the case.
In order to move forward, the participants agreed the following objectives:
- Cross-party groups in parliament could be effective in promoting financial incentives for rainforest protection. The hearing participants noted that the Costa Rican system was supported by all major parties and that this contributed to the scheme being supported by the country’s citizens. Furthermore this cross-party support meant that there were no drastic changes to the scheme in the aftermath of elections. The legislators felt that such cross-party groups should be supported in other forested countries where they were already in existence and be formed where they were not. These cross-party groups, and interested individual legislators, should form a global network of parliamentarians from tropical forest nations working together on strengthening forest incentives. The e-Parliament will seek funding to play a secretariat role for such a network.
- National parliaments in tropical forest nations should initiate an expert review of options for strengthening financial incentives for forest conservation in their own country. An expert group should be instructed to examine examples of best practice, such as the approaches being taken in Costa Rica, India and elsewhere, and to investigate possible revenue sources.
- Legislators in the developing world can and must establish the financial incentives and initiate schemes in their own countries but there needs to be a close partnership with legislators in the developed world – who can help supply additional funding to schemes once the schemes have been established. The legislators expressed particular interest in rainforest bonds as proposed by Britain’s Prince Charles, as well as in the current negotiations on a system for Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD).
Several of the legislators expressed their commitment to taking action along these lines in their home parliaments.
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NOTES
The e-Parliament is an international forum which exists to spread and implement good ideas for legislation among the world’s democratic legislators. Please visit the website at www.e-parl.net
The World Future Council promotes the interests of future generations to the politicians of today. For more information please visit www.worldfuturecouncil.org
 The e-Parliament and the World Future Council would like to thank the SwedBio for funding this hearing. SwedBio is the branch of the Swedish Development Agency which is charged with protecting biodiversity. For more information please visit www.swedbio.com
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