ECOLAND Forest Conservation Project in Costa Rica

On behalf of Tenaska, Inc., an independent power producer, TC+ES developed and implemented the Esquinas Carbon Offset Land Conservation Initiative (ECOLAND) Project in Costa Rica. The ECOLAND project was one of only seven projects approved in the first round of the U.S. Initiative on Joint Implementation (USIJI) and remained one of the few fully funded USIJI projects.

The ECOLAND project involved the purchase of 2,340 hectares of private holdings within the Piedras Blancas National Park of Costa Rica and legal transfer of this land to the Costa Rican National Park Service for permanent protection. These holdings were under imminent threat of deforestation, which would have resulted in the release of the carbon sequestered in the trees to the atmosphere. The ECOLAND project is notable both for its reliance on forest protection to promote climate change mitigation and its tremendous biodiversity benefits. Ecologically, the region is immensely rich with over 500 identified tree species, 500 animal species, and over 6,000 insects identified.

The ECOLAND project reflected a partnership among several entities including Tenaska Power Partners, a U.S. independent power producer; COMBOS, a Costa Rican nongovernmental organization (NGO) specializing in rainforest conservation; Regenwald der Österreicher, an Austrian NGO that promotes ecotourism in the Esquinas region; the U.S. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; the Costa Rican government; and Trexler Climate + Energy Services, Inc.

 

"The ECOLAND project would set an important precedent for cost-effective, long-term, and mutually beneficial North-South cooperation to promote tropical forest conservation, sustainable development, and greenhouse gas emissions goals...The ECOLAND project may be one of the last hopes for protecting lands within the Esquinas Park."

Minister Rene Castro, MIRENEM

 

" It is Tenaska's hope that not only will the ECOLAND joint implementation project be successful in protecting several thousand hectares of threatened tropical rainforest in Piedras Blancas National Park, but that it will also serve to mobilize additional funding to protect the entire park, one of the most important centers of biodiversity in Costa Rica."

Howard Hawks, President, Tenaska, Inc.