The Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) and the National Forestry Financing Fund (Fonafifo) have launched a cooperation agreement to mitigate the carbon footprint of tourist travel.
Among the main objectives of this association is financing for environmental projects throughout the country or the recovery of forest cover with these funds, in addition to promoting cultural, social, and educational changes.
The initiative is available to both foreign and Costa Rican visitors and, ultimately, benefits all families and workers of the country, be it urban or rural, also contributing to the Decarbonization Plan.
Sustainable Initiative
The project consists that travelers, voluntarily, can register in an online tool to calculate the carbon emissions of their flight and then make a payment that Fonafifo will invest in different environmental projects throughout the country.
CO2 emissions vary according to short/long-haul flights and the class in which they travel (Economy or Business), that is, a person traveling for business on a long-haul flight will generate more carbon emissions than another in the Economy Class.
Eco-friendly travel
With the new online tool, around 14,000 hectares of forests could be financed/reforested. The results are measured through six indicators: number of trees planted through the association, number of hectares regenerated, carbon estimates through the association, number of families benefited, size of farms or country houses participating in the project, and the number of visitors that offset CO2 emissions.
Costa Rica is a country of little more than 51,000 kilometers, 12 climatic zones, and several microclimates, which concentrate 6.5% of the world’s biodiversity.
