FSC Group Certification in Costa Rica: Oxygen for the World

Following the principle that conservation and productive development can coexist together, the Fundation for the Development of Costa Rican Volcanic Mountain Range (FUNDECOR) has charted new relations with the forests and people who live there. The incorporation of informal forest activities to formal schemes that include the forest management plans, has demonstrated new ways to make a better use of the forests and how to share the forest benefits of the forest to all people at different levels.

FUNDECOR is caracterized over the world as one of the first organizations to promote the markets for "environmental services" and with this concept, it has enabled people who live in Costa Rican forests to develop alternatives to use the forest through Group Certification under the Principles and Criteria of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

In other hand, with participatory practices, local development strategies and forest certification, FUNDECOR created the economic opportunity to promote the growing of a industrial-forest group in the region, where small wood producers can be connected to local and international markets. The result of this initiative shows that during 2002 the value of wood exportations was over 50 million dollars and, 50 per cent of the FSC certified wood was supplied by these small producers.

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