In Costa Rica, deforestation peaked in the 1980s; at that point in time the country had one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world.

However, according to the State of the World's Forests 2016, the country achieved a 54% increase in its forest area thanks to a large national effort, becoming a global example of reforestation success just over 20 years after deforestation peaked.

Forest cover has grown thanks to sustainable agricultural practices, reversal of deforestation and multiple forest policies and initiatives.

“Forests play a central role in combating and adapting to climate change, says Lucio Santos, Forestry Officer, REDD+/National Forest Monitoring Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean.  “Forests absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere, ensure water availability, protect against landslides, prevent desertification and provide alternative livelihoods for people. Their protection is crucial for our future.”

Currently, Costa Rica is globally recognized for its extensive tropical forests, great biodiversity and its efforts to improve the conservation and recovery of forests, without neglecting the development of the agricultural sector.

However, despite these achievements, until recently the country did not have a robust and harmonized monitoring system that would allow it to monitor the evolution of its natural resources in a comprehensive way.

For many years, monitoring of forest and agricultural resources were carried out in isolation, causing inconsistencies among the country's scientists and limiting the transparency of reporting under various international commitments related to climate change, biodiversity and desertification conventions.

“A fully functioning multipurpose National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) allows countries to track progress on climate action and effectively report on forest-related emissions and removals, as well as respond to their own forest data needs”, says Rocio Condor, Forestry Officer at FAO’s National Forest Monitoring Team. ”Building such a system is a complex national-scale effort as it should increase transparency and reliability of the information produced and ensure a long-term perspective, through participatory processes that include multiple stakeholders.”

In order to generate high-quality information to support national political decision-making concerning the management of natural resources, the National System for Monitoring Land Cover, Land Use and Ecosystems (SIMOCUTE) was developed. With this system the country has set a new benchmark for innovation.

SIMOCUTE was launched in 2015 and was promoted by the government. The government had called for the creation of a national system to monitor land cover, land use and ecosystems to facilitate the collection, integration, management and dissemination of data and environmental information at the national level.

The monitoring system offers educational and vocational training opportunities for students and young experts in the early stages of their careers. The integration of young experts—both men and women—into the planning and organization of the monitoring system is closely linked to capacity building and networking strategies the country has put in place.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) identified and presented SIMOCUTE as a case study through a technical online session organized by the project “Building Global Capacity to Increase Transparency in the Forest Sector (CBIT-Forest)”.

At the event, Rafael Monge from the National Center for Geoenvironmental (CENIGA) Information thanked FAO for highlighting the country’s progress in the development of SIMOCUTE:

“This gives us a lot of motivation and inspiration to continue with our work and also to share our experience with other countries that may face the same challenges we have had in order to build a robust national forest monitoring system and generate clearer, more transparent, accessible, and accurate forest data of our country.”

SIMOCUTE is the result of hard work led by CENIGA, together with more than 40 institutions linked to the monitoring of forests, land cover and land use in the country. These institutions include public institutions, national organizations, academia, and international cooperation, including the collaboration of FAO, the SilvaCarbon programme of the United States and other partners of the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI).

“SIMOCUTE is an excellent example of a multi-purpose system supporting both data provision for reporting and supporting national needs for decision making and land management,” says Julian Fox, National Forest Monitoring Team Leader. “It provides relevant, transparent, reliable and credible data and it makes data accessible to both national and international stakeholders. At FAO, we are honoured to support Costa Rica on the continuous improvement of the SIMOCUTE NFMS, and are very pleased to share SIMOCUTE as an example of a sustainable National Forest Monitoring System.”

SIMOCUTE allows users to monitor changes in land cover and use, analyse the state of various ecosystems, biodiversity, agricultural and forestry production. It also considers existing monitoring systems and initiatives in the country, with the aim of integrating and harmonizing them into a more robust system. In addition, SIMOCUTE will contribute to climate action and the country’s pledges under the Paris Agreement by making available robust and transparent data and information that will enable the country to make decisions and report on its progress at the international level.

Related documents:

Forest data and transparency: “Zoom” in on Costa Rica’s experience - Questions and Answers

Presentation by Rafael Monge, CENIGA

Presentation by Lucio Santos, FAO

Presentation by Rocio Condor, FAO

Webinar recording:

More information:

Website: http://www.fao.org/in-action/boosting-transparency-forest-data/en/

Project Brochure: http://www.fao.org/3/ca7424es/ca7424es.pdf

Case study Costa Rica: http://www.fao.org/3/ca8618es/ca8618es.pdf

Voluntary Guidelines on National Forest Monitoring: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i6767s.pdf

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