Payment for Environmental Services in Costa Rica: The National Forestry Financing Fund

FON- AFIFO’s general objective is to finance small and medi- um-sized producers, through loans or other mechanisms, to promote forest plantation and reforestation process- es, the establishment of forest nurseries and agroforestry systems, the rehabilitation of deforested areas, and also to benefit from technological advances in the use and industrialization of forest resources. The program now covers 500,000 hectares—more than 10 percent of the country—and has between 8,000 and 10,000 people en- rolled. The goal FONAFIFO is to expand the payments’ area of influence to one million hectares.