BóDòMé - Group

Reforestation Project in Costa Rica

REFORESTATION
IN COSTA RICA

Costa Rica,
geologically one of the youngest land bridges between North and South Americas, has one of the richest flora and fauna in the world. High volcanic mountain ranges dividing the land into two parts are the main factor determining the biological diversity: the variety of altitudes, climate and humidity zones of the Cordilleras are the natural habitat of 12.000 species of plants and 237 species of mammals alone. The unparalleled abundance of flora and fauna attracts luxury tourists and backpackers alike - mainly from North America, but also from Europe (e.g. Spain and Germany). In 2006 the 1.6 million registered visitors set a new record of foreign currency income - 1.6 billion USD. With this result Costa Rica clearly takes the first place among the countries of Central America when it comes to tourism income. Panama comes second with the foreign currency income of 1.2 billion USD in 2006.

Saving the Rainforest
Tourism, the major source of foreign currency income in Costa Rica, is based on a number of national parks covering over 1/5 of the area of the whole country. Their existence is mainly the result of a political decision in the 1980s. It is then that the previously legal systematic slash-and-burn land clearance for the needs of agriculture and cattle breeding was stopped and further devastation of the rainforest was forbidden. In addition, reforestation subsidies were introduced. These steps were mainly dictated by the environmental awareness of the government. At the same time they helped to secure the basis of tourism and develop forest cultivation. However, after the state subsidies were cut down in 1996, the reforestation lost its momentum despite the growing demand for wood and wooden products on the international markets.

The Precious Teak Wood
The long-term wood production program inspired mainly foreign investors. Various species of noble woods are planted in Costa Rica and the most popular export wood is teak which originally comes from Burma. This noble wood not only grows fast - the first crops obtained by thinning can already be gathered after seven years and logging is possible after 15 - 20 years - but owing to its first rate properties it also fetches high prices - from 400 to 2000 Euro for 1 cubic meter. (For comparison 1 cubic meter of spruce wood which can be logged only after 60 years costs about 120 Euro.)

Tirol / Vienna in Costa Rica At present the reforestation project in Costa Rica is carried out by Austrian wood processing companies (Holzcluster from Tirol, BóDòMé from Vienna). Their local partner is Pan American Woods PAW, a joint stock company with a majority of Dutch shareholders (350 employees, turnover in 2006: 4 million USD). In 1988 PAW Company did the pioneer work planting teak trees in Costa Rica and now it owns over 3.800 ha large teak plantations on the hills of Nicoya peninsula in Guanacaste province on the Pacific Coast. After the trees are felled the wood is processed in their own floor factory. This mode of activity is now being extended with the co-operation with the Austrian partners. As this enterprise brings long-term profits to the local population, it is co-financed by the Austrian Development Agency ADA from the OEZA means. Matthäus Lill-Rastern, a forestry specialist from Innsbruck who has known Costa Rica for decades, has a vision of creating a network of partners. The core idea of the project is enticing the local farmers to use their experience and workforce for the production of high quality wood on their land. Optimising the wood processing technology is an important issue. The companies participating in the project are considering the possibility and profitability of producing "finger joint layer floor boards" from the wood belonging to the farmers. The objective is producing teak wood in affordable prices. There is already a plan of helping the farmers to survive financially the difficult period from the time the trees are planted to the time they are logged: from the planting year on the rights to logging the mature trees in the future will be sold. For this purpose the National Forestry Development Fund FONAFIFO will make its infrastructure available to the participants of the project. One more challenge remains: because PAW has FSC certificates for all its products, it can only process FSC wood. Therefore, the project includes providing effective aid in obtaining the FSC group certificates to the farmers.	Restoring the Rainforests Chiquita, one of the leading banana producers in the world, is also engaged in the reforestation project in Costa Rica. This American food corporation runs a private nature reserve on its banana plantation in the North-East of the country and keeps enlarging it by other forest areas of the Sarapiqui region. The farmers support this project by selling their land for reforestation. Over 1000 trees of 40 local species have been planted since 2003 in order to create a green channel necessary for the survival of endangered animal species. During the same time over 3.000 local people have taken part in ecology training courses. In addition, scientific research programs are in progress, some of them in co-operation with the University of Vienna. The initiative of Chiquita Company which is being supported by the Swiss supermarket chain Migros, the NGO Rainforest Alliance and the German Technical Co-Operation Association GTZ, also has an economic dimension: since the region situated far from large banana plantations offers little employment opportunities, the Nogal project team is supporting the foundation of small businesses. About 53 families are already profiting from the income of a small tailor shop or a small theatre company.

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