Republic of Costa Rica

USE OF PRIZE MONEY

The Earthshot Prize money is being used to restore and protect species in Cocos Island National Park, training and equipping park rangers to control invasive species. Some is also being used to design a new ‘payment for marine ecosystem services’ model, taking what has worked for forests and applying it to the marine areas that make up 92% of the national territory.

KEY MILESTONES

Since becoming an Earthshot Prize Winner, Costa Rica continues to be an environmental leader. It has signed an extension of its marine reserves into law and increased the protected marine area from 3 per cent to the High Ambition Coalition target of 30 per cent. This has been made possible through the expansion of Cocos Island National Park and the creation of a Bicentennial Marine Management Area, which is three times the size of Costa Rica’s land territory.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPACT

The expanded Cocos Island National Park and its surrounding marine protected area will now cover almost 55,000 square kilometres, 26 times bigger than its previous size. In addition, the nearby Bicentennial Marine Management Area has expanded to 11 times its previous size, encompassing more than 106,000 square kilometres — roughly equivalent to the size of Iceland.

CONNECTIONS MADE

Through The Earthshot Prize, Costa Rica partnered with fellow 2021 Finalist Restor to track over 5,000 restoration and conservation projects, making it the first nation to publicly showcase its restoration and conservation projects on Restor’s platform.