LandScale
Validation of the groundwater recharge model used by FIFCO applying other reference methodologies.
Costa Rica, a pioneer in reversing its deforestation rate through the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) Program, faces a new challenge: the accelerated urbanization of the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM) has degraded key watersheds that supply water to hundreds of thousands of people and to productive sectors such as beverages, electricity, coffee, and dairy. To address this problem, public and private actors created the Agua Tica water fund, with the goal of implementing restoration and conservation activities in the watersheds that provide water to the GAM.
The LandScale pilot is being implemented in the GAM with two main components. First, the IUCN and FUNDECOR are working on a rigorous, verified assessment of the current state of landscape sustainability at scale to demonstrate the broad impact of Agua Tica's activities and identify priority investment areas. Second, the pilot activities link Agua Tica's efforts with other public and private initiatives in the territory, including the NAMA plans for the coffee and livestock sectors, and restoration initiatives by coffee companies and cooperatives.
LandScale functions as an articulating framework that allows for the measurement of landscape sustainability across diverse and interconnected land uses—cloud forests, dairy production, coffee, sugarcane, industry, and cities—to ensure that collective efforts generate positive change at scale. Additionally, it serves as a communication tool for existing funders and a means to attract new members and investors to the Agua Tica fund.
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