Recovering Nation

In 1996, Costa Rica banned cutting down mature forests. After this ban the loss of forest decreased from a 2.2 percent loss per year to a 1.2 percent loss per year. Also, the Ministry of Environment and Energy has a program where they offer monetary incentives to farmers for not cutting down their forests and reforesting their land.

 

*The graph demonstrates the deforestation rate decrease between 1960 and 2005.

Coffee farmers in Costa Rica have also proven that not cutting down the trees can help them save money. When there are trees near agriculture there are more birds. When there are more birds, there are ultimately less pests and therefore less pesticides need to be used.

The forests of Costa Rica are undeniably beautiful. They offer an economical opportunity for the country, ecotourism. There has been a large push to reduce deforestation also simply for this purpose. There was actually a report published that stated that ecotourism has increased the living standards of the people of poverty by 16 percent. So, this has been an incentive to cut down less trees.

References

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=250d5560fb62483b92dbf94b8db4c689

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