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ENVoo co THE WORLDBANK ENVIRONMET DEPARTMENT Public Disclosure Authorized Interdisciplinary Fact-Finding on Current Deforestation in Costa Rica Emst Lutz Public Disclosure Authorized Mario Vedova W. H6ctorMartinez Lorena San RomAn Ricardo VazquezL. Alfredo Alvarado Lucia Merino Rafael Celis Jeroen Huising Public Disclosure Authorized September 1993 EnvironmentWorking Paper No. 61 Public Disclosure Authorized This paper has been prepared for internal use. The viewsand interpretations herein art those of the author(s) and should not be attributed to the World Bank, to its affiliatedorganizations or to any individualacting on their behalf INTERDISCIPLINARYFACr-FINDING ON CURRENTDEFORESTATnON IN COSTARICA Ernst Lutz Mario Vedova W. Hator Martfnez Lorena San RomAn Ricardo VazquezL Alfredo Alvarado Lucia Merino Rafael Celia Jeroen Huising A CATIEWorld Bank Project Funded by the Dutch Fund for the Environment ACKNOWLEDGEMENIS Ernst Lutz is senior economistin :he Land, Water, and Natural Habitats Divisionof the World Bank's EnvironmentDepartment. Mario Vedovais Co-Directorof ProDesarrollo,a consultingfirm in San Jose, Costa Rica. Hector Martinez is a forester and a free-lanceconsultant. Lorena San Roman is an ecologistand former director of the national museumin San Jose, Costa Rica. She currentlyis Vice-Chancellorof Research at the National Universityof Costa Rica. Ricardo VazquezL is an anthropologistwith the Nati nal Museumof Costa Rica and lecturer at the Universityof Costa Rica. Alfredo Alva.ado is a professorof agronomyand soils as well as Director of the Agronomic Research Center of the Universityof Costa Rica. Lucia Merino is a demographer, formerlywith the Populationand EnvironmentProgram of the Costa Rican Demographic Association.Rafael Celis, a resource economist,formerly Director of the Sustainable AgricultureProgram at CATIE, is at present Co-Directorof ProDesarrollo.Jeroen Huisingdid his Ph.D work on the Atlantico regionand is currently a staff member at the Departmentof Surveyingvald Remote Sensingat the WageningenAgricultural University in the Netherlands. The authors are indebted to many individualsfor their assistanceduring the course of the surveyin Costa Rica. At the Bank, Mr. Binswanger,initially in his capacityas Chief of the AgricultureDivision for Mexicoand Central Americaand later as Senior Adviserfor the TechnicalDepartment of the Latin AmericaRegion, has supported and commented on 1se worlk His successoras DivisionChief, Michael Baxter, also helped see this task through to completionas did Mohan Munasingheand Colin Rees in the Environment Department.Susanna Hecht and James Shortle have provideduseful specificcomments on the initial drafts. During the reviewprocess in the Bank, many individualshav5 provided commentsand suggestionsincluding Bill Beattie, Luis Constantino,Robert Kirmse,Paul Knotter, John McIntire,Augusta Molnar,Jan Post, Robert Schneider,and Jeff Sayer. linda Starke providededitorial assistance. DepartmentalWorldng Papers are not formalpublications of the World Bank. They present preliminaryand unpolishedresults of country analysisor research that are circulatedto encouragediscussion and comment;citation and the use of such a paper should take into account its provisionalcharacter. The findings,interpretations, ana conclusionsexpressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors and should not be attributed in any manner to the WorldBank, to its affiliatedorganizations, or to members of its Board of ExecutiveDirectors or the countriesthey represent. Becauseof the informalityand to present the results of researchwith the least possibledelay, the typescriptnias not been prepared in accordancewith the procedures appropriate to formal printed texts, and the World Bank acceptsno responsibilityfor errors. i INTRDISCIPLNARY FACTI-FINDINGON CURRENT DEFORESTATION IN COSTARICA Table of Contents S1ne Study Objectives .... .1........................ Methods ............................... 1 DeforestationEstimates .............................................. 5 Logistics,Types, aid Methods of Forest Intervention .......................... 6 GroupsResponsible for Loggingand Clearing ............................... 9 Problemsof Survivalin the Forest Industry ................................. 13 Relationshipbetween PopulationGrowth and Deforestation ................. ... 14 Effects of Loggingand Land Clearingon Biodiversity,Water, and Soils ............ 15 Land Use after the Clearing of Forests ....................................18 EconomicAspects of Tree Harvestingand Processing ........ ................. 20 Bibliography . 24 Annex 1: Details on Methodo:agyand Sample Sites ArPex 2: The Systemof Permits Annex 3: PopulationDynamics Annex 4: Possibilitiesand Limitationsof Assessing Deforestationin Costa Rica with GIS Information ABSTRACr Rapid deforestationof tropical forests has receivedworldwide attention. Yet our understandingof the actual facts of deforestationtends to be limited,derived from satellite or aerial photographsor from case studiesof limited representativeness. Suggestionsfor policyand project interventionsare made in a context of limited informationand considerableuncertainty. To reduce this uncertaintyfor at least one case, the WorldBank and the Center for TropicalAgricultural Research and Teaching (CATIE) surveyed52 deforestationsites distributedacross Costa Rica to allow more accurate determinationof importantfacts about deforestation. Some of the key findingsof the surveyare: * Selectivelogging is estimated to affect between 51,000and 59,000 hectares a year, roughly1 percent of Costa Rica's land area. * Probablybetween 5,000and 10,000hectares of forestland a year are being converted to agriculturaluse through clear-cuttingand clearingof previouslylogged-over areas. This represents some 0.1 to 0.2 % of Costa Rica's land area. * The surveyteam found no evidenceof clearing by burning,even though this is probablyhappening to a limitedextent. * Some forest pl.ntations are being established,and there is some natural regeneration of forest in low-useor abandonedpastures. On a net basis,therefore, the lossof forest area is estimated to be smallat present. * Economicmotives of owners of the ft restlandare the drivingforce behind most of the conversionand selectivelogging. The main objectiveis to reali!e the gains from the timber harvestingor from subsequentagricultural production or both. Forest clearing to establisha stronger claim to the land no longer appears to be a motive,as it was in the past. * Environmentalconcerns tend not to be taken into considerationby the owners or the loggerswlu, assistthem when they are unrelated to on-site productivitybenefits. Owners,and in particular those that are verticallyintegrated, seek to activelylimit on- site damages. * Smallholderssquatting on publicor private land seem to play only a minor role in current land clearingor iogging.The surveydata cannot answer the questionwhether smallholdershave also r layed a minor role in the past. * The large reductionin forested area during this century has reduced habitats for flora and fauna. Fortunately,it appears lossesof biodiversityhave been small so far. There are some threatened species,but the national park system,while needing m strengthening,should be able to preservemost of the country'sbiodiversity, which is one of the bases for the nation's importantenvironmentally oriented tourism. * Negativeenvironmental effects on soils and water from land clearing and selective loggingappear to be much smallerthan sometimesasserted. The major sediment load comes from road construction.But under tropical conditions,dirt roads no longer used are generallycovered by vegetationwithin months,thus sharplyreducing erosion. Only a smallpart of eroded soil reached any waterwaysin the cases observed. All but the last of these findingsare specificto Costa Rica and should therefore not be generalized. The findingsof the surveypresent a more benignpicture than is usuallyassumed. Given the dearth of empiricalf.ats, hypotheseshave sometimesbeen advancedthat acquire the stLktusof fat by dint of repetition.Some of these hypothesesdramatize a situation that helps raise awareness.The data here suggest that the impactof current deforestationin Costa Rica is less serious than sometimesalleged, in part becauseof past decisionsto set aside large areas as national parks or reserves.But the findingsare not a teason for complacency.Instead, we believethat they can be used to direct policy and regulatoryinterventions more intensivelytoward the areas and problems-n Costa Rica where damagefrom current deforestationis most likelyto occur.Also, fact-findingstudies are encouragedelsewhere to provide a firmer informationbase for improvedmanagement. iv INTRDISCPUNARY FACT-FINDINGON CURRENTDEFORESTATION IN COSTARICA Costa Rica has a larid area of about 51,000square kilometers.The forested area has decreased from 85% in 1900 io 56% in 1950and 29% in 1987.More than a quarter of the land area is part of national parks and reserves,whose forests in 1987covered some 19% of the nation's land area. Deforestation is a major concernin Costa Rica. However,despite a high level of awarenessof this problem,information on the deforestationprocess has been sketchy.As a basis for improvednatural resource management,the Center for TropicalAgriculturai Research and Teaching(CATIE) in Costa Rica and the WorldBank agreed to carry out a field survey in 1991-92to determine key facts related to current deforestationin Costa Rica. StudyObjectves The specificobjectives