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Good practice Imported

Costa Rica's Marine Payment for Environmental Services — Mangrove Conservation by Gulf of Nicoya Mollusk Harvesters

Costa Rica · Puntarenas · See the Costa Rica profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 41% 47/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Costa Rica's first marine PES scheme pays Gulf of Nicoya mollusk-harvester associations for verified mangrove conservation, scaling from 157 harvesters in 6 associations (2024) to 544 harvesters in 15, backed by FONAFIFO, SINAC, INCOPESCA and World Bank/Earthshot funding.

157
Harvesters enrolled (launch) (2024)
544
Harvesters enrolled (current)
6 to 15
Associations enrolled
2,698.85 USD
Annual payment per association
Costa Rica's Marine Payment for Environmental Services — Mangrove Conservation by Gulf of Nicoya Mollusk Harvesters

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
FONAFIFO (Fondo Nacional de Financiamiento Forestal), with SINAC, INCOPESCA and FUNBAM
Period
2025–ongoing
Keywords
coastal ecosystems, fisheries, mangrove conservation, blue carbon

Context

In June 2025, Costa Rica's MINAE, SINAC, FONAFIFO, INCOPESCA and FUNBAM formalised the country's first marine Payment for Environmental Services scheme, extending the terrestrial PES model to coastal mangroves for the first time.

Activities

Organised mollusk-harvester associations in the Gulf of Nicoya receive quarterly, compliance-contingent payments for sustainable-harvest, restocking, monitoring and surveillance activities, administered by FONAFIFO with dedicated biological field staff.

Results

The pilot scaled from 157 harvesters in 6 associations (managing 6,000+ ha of mangrove) to 544 harvesters across 15 associations.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
FONAFIFO contract administrators, dedicated biological field staff, Inter-institutional Coordination Commission

Conditions for success

  • verified compliance with sustainable-harvest and monitoring activities
  • continued World Bank technical support and Earthshot Prize funding

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes Philanthropic / foundation funding

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

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