The International Workshop for Exchange of Experiences in Mangrove Conservation and Restoration will be held this Thursday in the country for the framework of the Project Restoration, Conservation and Sustainable Management of the Mangroves of Costa Rica, Benin Against Climate Change, and the Costa Rica-Benin Mangrove Project. This will be the 4th workshop to be held in Costa Rica this year since previously the national experiences have been known and from countries such as Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador.
The workshop will allow the exchange of knowledge and experiences related to conservation, mangrove restoration, models of community participation and environmental education related to these ecosystems, which will include the participation of national and international experts, government institutions, civic organizations, and community groups.
With this workshop, the scientific exchanges that will be generated among 3 international mangrove restoration projects will be started with the support of the French Fund for the Global Environment (Philippines, Costa Rica-Benin, Senegal-Togo-Benin).
In addition, it allows the monitoring of the results of the national initiatives previously identified by the project Global Environment Facility (GEF) mangroves and the coordination of the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC), to work towards the goal of establishing a protocol national for the rehabilitation of mangroves.
Mangroves are essential ecosystems for the survival of numerous plant and animal species, some of them threatened. These environments are crucial in the fight against climate change. The integration of coastal wetlands and mangroves in the category of blue carbon sinks (carbon fixed in marine ecosystems) has been internationally recognized.
The project seeks to improve the mitigation and adaptation to climate change of the coastal wetlands of Costa Rica and Benin by restoring mangroves, ensuring their sustainable management and favoring exchanges of South-South cooperation. Transfers technologies and competencies developed in Mexico by the Autonomous University of Campeche, to Costa Rica and Benin to make the community restoration of pilot mangrove sites in a perspective of large-scale replicability.
The political responsibility for the project is the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE). The project management corresponds to SINAC. Fundación Neotrópica (New Tropic Foundation) assumes the technical and financial responsibility, as well as the facilitation of the entire project, which officially began this year and will be extended for the next 3 years.
