5 Dec 2024
Director - UNDP Nature Hub
In the 1990s, with the world’s highest global deforestation rates and less than 25% of the country’s original forest cover remaining, the formerly vast jungles of Costa Rica were being devastated by unregulated exploitation. I clearly remember my first visit to the country in 1992, feeling dismayed witnessing truck after truck carrying gigantic logs nearing 1m in diameter, each representing a hillside denuded, and pristine habitat degraded.
But Costa Rica’s government had a plan to save them, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was on the ground beside them.
Nominated for The Earthshot Prize 2021 by UNDP and one of the inaugural five Winners, Costa Rica showed the path to a regenerative and sustainable future — doubling the size of their forests and simultaneously growing their economy. The world has taken notice.
Andrea Meza Murillo, formerly Costa Rica's Minister of Environment and Energy with Carlos Alvarado, then President of Costa Rica and family accepting the 2021 Earthshot Prize Award to Protect & Restore Nature
Environmental protection is frequently presented as a trade-off: a zero-sum choice between benefits for the natural world or benefits for humans. But pitting people against the planet is not how we thrive. We wanted to nominate the Republic of Costa Rica because they showed how environmental protection and economic development can coexist and thrive.
Costa Rica exemplifies a dynamic wherein reinforcing benefits to people and planet are possible, and that all parties are better off from the symbiosis of bold choices and courageous leadership.
Selected in the Protect & Restore Nature category, The Earthshot Prize recognized how Costa Rica was helping to ‘turn the current pessimism surrounding environmental issues into optimism, by highlighting the ability of human ingenuity to bring about change – and inspire collective action.’
Costa Rica is clear proof that conserving, restoring, and sustainably managing land pays off — that what is good for nature is good for people.
For example, the investment in national parks and protected areas has boosted eco-tourism, which now accounts for a remarkable 5.8% of the GDP, and is a testament to the power of public policies anchored in land use planning and nature-based solutions.
In his acceptance speech for the Earthshot Prize, Carlos Alvarado, then President of Costa Rica committed: “Costa Rica will use the endowment to replicate in the sea the conservation model that has been successfully implemented in terrestrial ecosystems.”
Nothing succeeds like success, and Costa Rica has leveraged its momentum from land to sea.
Since winning The Earthshot Prize, Costa Rica signed an extension of its marine reserves into law which has increased its protected marine area from 3% of its ocean territory to the High Ambition Coalition target of 30%.
“Winning the Earthshot Prize in 2021 was not only a recognition of decades of environmental work, but also a catalyst to accelerate investment and innovation in nature-based solutions. Most importantly, it placed Costa Rica at the center of the global dialogue on mangrove restoration and reaffirmed that it is possible to achieve sustainable development without compromising our ecosystems.”
– Mr. Carlos Isaac Pérez, Vice Minister of Strategic Affairs at the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica
Costa Rica continues to be a leader driving not only positive changes within the country, but also the global environmental agenda.
Andrea is now the Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). From this Costa Rican understanding of what is possible, she now communicates this aspiration on a global stage. At the UNCCD, Andrea knows that land degradation affects up to 40% of the Earth’s surface, and half of humanity. As soil loses vitality, its ability to support and protect life also erodes.
Costa Rica is home to an incredible variety of life. Photo: Strawberry poison dart frog. Credit: UNDP/Adriana Dinu.
Costa Rica is home to an incredible variety of life. Photo: Yellow throated toucan. Credit: UNDP/Adriana Dinu.
Costa Rica is home to an incredible variety of life. Photo: Red-legged honey creepers. Credit: UNDP/Adriana Dinu.
Costa Rica is home to an incredible variety of life. Photo: Collared aracari. Credit: UNDP/Adriana Dinu.
UNDP has supported Costa Rican environmental policymaking and program implementation since 1973, including offering technical advisory services to the Ministry of Environment and Energy on institutional matters.
Initiatives, many of which have been supported by UNDP and financed by the Global Environment Facility, include Payments for Ecosystem Services, as well as the creation, management, and financial sustainability of terrestrial and marine Protected Areas. Additional initiatives include improving water resource management, chemical and waste management, mainstreaming biodiversity into economic sectors, and addressing the environmental impacts of agricultural commodities.
UNDP is actively supporting the government in implementing the National Decarbonization Plan and developing projects that help transition towards a green and blue inclusive economy.
These combined policies are game-changing in that they make Costa Rica one of the first countries in the world to reverse its deforestation, stop biodiversity loss, and increase forest cover to over half its total territory, all whilst increasing economic growth.
“As countries across the Central American Dry corridor are looking to adapt to a changing climate, cooperation between nations, and with valued partners like UNDP Nature, is ever more crucial to build drought resilience as a matter of sustainable development and environmental justice.”
– Andrea Meza Murillo
Costa Rica continues drive the protection of the natural environment. Credit: UNDP Costa Rica/Giancarlo Pucci.
Pedro García Rueda, explains the sustainable land-use and forest-management techniques he uses on his property. Credit: The Earthshot Prize.
Costa Rica continues drive the protection of the natural environment. Credit: UNDP Costa Rica/Giancarlo Pucci.
UNDP fully recognizes there is simply no sustainable human development without a healthy planet.
It is currently working on the 2026 Human Development Report that will unpack the relationship between Nature and humanity, fully embedding human development within our planetary systems. Our view is there is no trade-off between human development and conservation of nature. Rather, there is only one path to achieve both objectives, as they are closely interdependent on each other. And after all, humanity is part of nature. We are nature.
Now whenever I go back to the beautiful country that is Costa Rica, I feel hope for the world. The country has shown that we can have our cake and eat it too! We can have our forests and biodiversity, and human development at the same time.
We also appreciate the value of The Earthshot Prize as a catalyst for more recognition, more investment, more aspiration, and more action – both within Costa Rica, ‘a superpower of biodiversity’ with an estimated 500,000 known species, but also across the Central America region and globally.
We will continue to nominate countries and organizations that show true leadership and action for our planet.
—
Learn more about 2021 Winners Costa Rica and how UNDP Nature are driving nature-positive growth worldwide.
Header photo: Pedro García Rueda, a descendant of the indigenous Maleku people, protects the forests for future generations. Credit: The Earthshot Prize.
