In 2014, Costa Rica joined the 20×20 Initiative through the Ministry of Environment and Energy, committed to restoring 1 million ha of degraded land. Costa Rica has currently embedded restoration into its 2021-2050 National Landscape Restoration Strategy to address the drivers of ecosystem degradation.

Costa Rica already completed its commitment to protect more than 30% of its marine area and freshwater by 2030. Based on this successful achievement, Costa Rica wants to ensure that every type of marine and costal ecosystem is protected or benefits from conservation measures.

However, existing spatial planning data to develop a national priority of sites with the highest restoration potential needs to be updated based on potential costs and multiple benefits.

Our project supports Costa Rican partners with the identification of priority sites for ecosystems’ restoration and the analysis of marine-coastal conservation gaps in Costa Rica.

Implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) and in collaboration with the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC) in Costa Rica, our project will contribute to ensure that at least 20 percent of Costa-Rican degraded freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems are under effective restoration by 2030 and that every marine and costal ecosystem is represented within the national system of protected areas.