1. Activities to finance: For the year 2021, one modality to be financed will be considered; a-Recovery of Forest Cover (Recuperación de la Cobertura Forestal), which includes the activities of Reforestation, Agroforestry Systems (Sistemas Agroforestales) in Forest Harvesting Plantations (Plantaciones de Aprovechamiento Forestal), and Mixed Systems (Sistemas Mixtos). For this purpose, the following distribution is established:
The National Forest Financing Fund may vary the distribution established in the table above, according to the availability of the approved budget for the Payment for Environmental Services Program.
FONAFIFO is empowered to, in the event of having additional financial resources beyond the ordinary budget, address a percentage of the 2021 requests received, according to the modality and quantity of resources, as per the instructions of the MINAE authorities.
If a greater allocation of resources is available, according to Article 5 of the Law of Tax Simplification and Efficiency No. 8114 published in La Gaceta No. 131, of July 9, 2001, and other financial resources that FONAFIFO secures for the Payment for Environmental Services, they will be distributed according to the criteria of the financiers and FONAFIFO. In any case, the resources used for these purposes must be incorporated into the institutional budget or the FONAFIFO/BNCR Trust 544 and be approved by the Legislative Assembly or the Comptroller General of the Republic.
2º-Of the payment amounts per activity and other conditions:
2.1. Reforestation Activity: The conditions that will govern the processing of requests, for the recognition of environmental services in the Reforestation activity, PES + Credit pilot project, are the following:
- a)The amount to pay for the fast-growing species referred to as: Gmelina arborea, will be three hundred ninety thousand eight hundred thirty-one colones with 00/100 (¢390,831.00) per hectare, disbursed in a single 100% installment, which will be delivered in advance to the organization, provided that the beneficiary has consented through a formal document. For the Pilot Project, advance payment will be authorized provided that a guarantee is granted, covering the total amount of the advance, to the satisfaction of FONAFIFO.
- b)The National Forest Financing Fund is instructed to incorporate into the Payment for Environmental Services contracts for the Reforestation activity, the minimum acceptable values for making payments.
The National Forest Financing Fund will use the following reference values to process the payments corresponding to each year:
Table 1. Minimum reference values for diameter (DBH) and total height (Htot), expected per year for plantations of fast-growing species (Gmelina arborea, Vochysia guatemalensis*, Acacia mangium, others).
Table 2. Minimum reference values for diameter (DBH) and total height (Htot) expected per year for plantations of medium-growth species (Tectona grandis, Pinus sp, Cordia alliodora, Vochysia ferruginea, Eucalyptus sp, Cedrela odorata, others).
*The reference values come from data from permanent sampling plots of reforesting companies provided by the National Forest Office (ONF), data from plots provided by Forest Managers (Regentes Forestales) and recorded by FONAFIFO, both sets of data validated by Dr. Edgar Ortiz Malavassi, Professor at the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica.
Table 3. Minimum reference values for diameter (DBH) and total height (Htot), expected per year for Forest Plantations with Reduced Rotation Cycles (Plantaciones Forestales con Turnos de Rotación Reducidos, PFTRR), for the species Gmelina arborea and other species of the fast-growing group.
For the calculation of the total volume, the following equation must be used: Vtot = ?/4 * (DBH)² * Htot * Ff * N Where:
Vtot = Total volume per hectare expressed in cubic meters.
? = (pi) is the relationship between the length of a circumference and its diameter in Euclidean geometry.
DBH = Diameter at breast height of 1.3m expressed in meters.
Htot = Total height expressed in meters.
Ff = Form factor equal to 0.5.
N = Number of trees per hectare.
- a)The State, through FONAFIFO, will acquire the environmental services produced by forest plantations, understood as such according to subsection k of Article 3 of the Forest Law No. 7575.
- b)Specifically, the environmental services provided by plantations will be paid according to the annual growth of the biomass in accordance with the parameters established in this resolution. Said payments correspond to the total years of the agreed term; however, in order to allow the establishment of the plantation and its maintenance, it will be advanced during the first five years.
- c)Fonafifo may modify, when so requested, those contracts signed before the year 2011 that demonstrate having reached a minimum production of 13 cubic meters of mean annual increment per hectare. For such purposes, FONAFIFO may request the information it deems pertinent.
2.2 Activity of Agroforestry Systems (Sistemas Agroforestales): The conditions that will govern the processing of requests for the recognition of environmental services in the Agroforestry Systems activity are detailed below.
- a)The amount to pay will be one thousand four hundred ninety-three colones with 00/100 (¢1,493.00) per tree under the Agroforestry Systems activity established in Forest Harvesting Plantations (Plantaciones de Aprovechamiento Forestal, PPAF), financed through forest credit. The payments will be distributed as follows: 80% will be disbursed once the contract is signed and the trees have reached 36 months of age; the remaining 20% will be processed when the trees are 60 months of age, in the fifth year of the project.
- b)Mixed Systems (Sistemas Mixtos) in Agroforestry for small producers: The conditions for this modality are: When carrying out forest protection activities, a payment of thirty- six thousand eight hundred twenty-three colones with 00/100 (¢36,823.00) per hectare per year, for a period of five years, (here, if necessary, fractions of existing hectares will be calculated, up to the first decimal. When they are denuded or regenerating areas, a payment of twenty-three thousand five hundred eighty-nine colones with 00/100 (¢23,589.00) per hectare, per year, for a period of five years, will be recognized. When carrying out reforestation activities with timber or multiple-use species outside the forested area, a payment of two hundred ninety-nine colones with 00/100 per tree (¢299.00) per year for a period of five years; a minimum quantity of two hundred planted trees or identified existing trees, up to a maximum of two thousand two hundred trees, will be recognized. In this sub-activity, a single contract may be executed that includes the different activities and the term will be five years counted from the signing of the contract.
3º-Updating of the payment amounts. The amounts established per activity within the Payment for Environmental Services Program will be updated annually using the Consumer Price Index (CPI), calculated by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC), at the end of the previous year's period.