Costa Rica: Sistema Nacional de Areas de Conservación (SINAC)

This division is aimed at promoting and administering the sustainable use of Costa Rica’s natural resources for the economic and social development of the country. It runs the country’s 11 Areas of Conservation.

Date Implemented: 1995

Status: In Force

References: http://www.sinaccr.net/principal.php

Costa Rica: Certified Tradable Offsets

Costa Rica: Rational Use of Energy Law

Costa Rica has adopted a U.S. based model of energy efficiency standards and labels for residential appliances. Designed to regulate their energy consumption, appliances must carry informational labels that give the model’s adjusted volume and annual energy consumption.

Date Implemented: 1996

Status: Mandatory

Costa Rica: Vehicle Transit Act

Costa Rica has instituted strict emissions requirements for imported vehicles and will not release them without an emissions statement from the country of origin.

Status: In Force; Mandatory

References: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1093.html

Costa Rica: Hydrocarbons Act

Seeking to promote sustainable economic development and environmental protection, this Act regulates the development, promotion and exploitation of oil and other hydrocarbons.

Date Implemented: 1994

Status: In Force; Mandatory

References: http://www.ec.gc.ca/international/costarica/2002ems_envlegis_e.htm

Costa Rica: Urban Planning Law

This law regulates the country’s housing and urbanization policies. It also establishes the National Plan for Urban Development, the Municipal Zoning Plans, Urban Planning, and Land Use. This Law prohibits land-planning schemes that do not follow the proscribed zoning regulations.

Date Implemented: 1968

Status: In Force; Mandatory

Costa Rica: Ley Nº 7200 para la utilización racional y uso alternativo de fuentes de energía, as modified by Ley Nº 7508 (1995)

This Law allows the participation of private enterprises in power generation where the sources are renewable (geothermal, hydro and solar are specifically mentioned), the capacity does not exceed 50MW, and 35% of the share capacity is locally owned.

Date Implemented: 1990

Status: In Force; Voluntary

Costa Rica: Private Forestry Project

This Project introduces incentives to promote and reward carbon sequestration activities on private lands. Participating landowners receive payments ranging from $45/ha/yr - $120/ha/yr depending on the type of land reforested (correlates to the owner’s opportunity cost of alternative uses of the land.)

Status: In Force; Voluntary

Costa Rica: Protected Areas Project

Program transfers private land into park or protected status.

Status: In Force; Voluntary

Funding Information: This Project is financed by a 5% tax on gasoline, CTO sales and contributions from the private sector, primarily hydrocarbon companies.

References: National Communication to the UNFCCC; http://www.forest-trends.org/documents/misc/CarbonCommodity.pdf

Costa Rica: National Plan for the Expansion of Electricity Generation

80-90% of newly installed generation capacity should be from renewable sources, not thermal plants.  

Date Implemented: 2000-2010

Status: In Force; Mandatory

Targets: The operation of electricity plants fueled by renewable sources could avoid the emission of 214,445 tons of CO2 by year 2009.